All the recent rains may have leached
nutrients out of your soils, such as
calcium and nitrogen. You should take
time to spread some control-release
fertiliser about the garden. When the
weather bureau suggests we may get a
week of rainless weather, you’ll need to
apply a light spread of lawn fertiliser
and water it in.
If you haven’t done it yet, prune your
azaleas to keep them nice and compact,
and give them a feed with azalea
fertiliser. Spray them with a systemic
insecticide (like Confidor) to protect the
leaves from the dreaded azalea lacebug
The wet humid weather is heaven for
vegetable caterpillars and grasshoppers.
They can strip leafy green veggies over-
night. Hand remove or spray once a
week with something like as pyrethrum,
Dipel or Success. Remember that water
washes off any sprays – so retreat after
rain or overhead irrigation.
Watch out for fruit fly in your tomatoes.
You can protect your tomatoes by using
an insect exclusion bag or by a chemical
spray designed for the job. You can use
a baited trap – but most only capture
the male flies, and so are best used as
an indicator of fruit fly activity. A more
recent product is Eco-Naturelure which
attracts both the male and female fruit
flies and contains a natural insecticide
to kill them. My advice is not to spray it
onto the plants you want to protect, as
it will attract the fruit flies to them
before killing them. I’d suggest spraying
a nearby fence or other structures
nearby to lure the flies away from your
precious fruits.
Fertilise your bananas and cut out any
suckers you don’t want. For each
mature plant, you should have one
sapling and one sucker. Regularly
remove yellowing leaves to keep the
clump tidy.
Paw paw trees which have grown too
tall can be cut back now. Cut the stem to 1m off the ground and cover the cut top with a large can.
Prune back your grevilleas by a third
and feed them with a low phosphorus
fertiliser. This mimics being burnt off in
a bushfire, and stimulates them to grow
more branches – more branches means
more flowers.
Don’t forget to slip-slop-slap when you
go out in the garden, even if it is for a
short period. Try to do most of the work
in the mornings or the afternoons, so
that you miss the heat of the day. Take
a water bottle with you too – keeping
well hydrated is just as important.
Tidy up the garden for Santa – he
doesn’t think too highly of a messy
garden.