- IT’S your last chance to prune hydrangeas back almost to ground level. Use the cuttings to propagate new plants.
- Citrus leaves may develop a yellow colour. This is because the cool soil slows down nutrient uptake through the roots. You can boost them with a foliar spray of a fertiliser with trace elements.
- Pinch out the tips of your sweet pea plants to make them bush up and produce more flowers later.
- Lift dahlia tubers, brush the soil off and store them in sawdust to prevent them from rotting. Split up old clumps of daylilies. Replant them around the garden or give some to a friend or neighbour.
- Mound soil around potatoes already growing, to prevent pest attack and to stop the surface growing potatoes from going green.
- Cut the old stems of asparagus down, top-dress them with well-rotted manure or compost and mulch.
- Early bindi-eye may start to appear and if so, hand removal is easy, or spray with an appropriate herbicide.
- Rose planting can be done this month. Plant them in a sunny position in soil enriched by compost and animal manure, and a little bit of rose plant fertiliser will help.
- Now’s the time to plant tomatoes as there are less pests around. If you want to grow tomatoes, you should firstly apply some dolomite to the soil. This will have the twofold effect of raising the soil pH and also minimising the likelihood of blossom end rot by adding calcium. Incorporate a general fertiliser into the soil before planting out the seedlings. There is an enormous range of tomato plants available and the choice is limited only by your imagination. Water the seedlings in with a seaweed solution to help prevent root shock. Once the plant is well established, small, weak side shoots should be pinched out to ensure that all the energy goes into the stronger fruit producing side shoots. A light coating with a Tomato Dust every fortnight will help stop any pests and diseases, however, if it rains or you water from overhead, they’ll be washed off and will need re-dusting. Mulch around the tomatoes to prevent weeds from robbing water and nutrients. Don’t disturb the soil around the plants and they have shallow roots. Maintain regular deep watering (weekly) and feeding (fortnightly) and your bushes will grow copious tomatoes for you.
Vegetables
Plant Asian greens, asparagus, beans, beetroot, broad beans, broccoli, cabbage, capsicum, carrot, cauliflower, celery, chilli, cucumber, endive, garlic, kohl rabi, leeks, lettuce, onions, parsnip, peas, potato, radish, rhubarb, shallots, silver beet, spinach, spring onion, sweet potato, turnip and tomato.
Flowers
Plant alyssum, amaranthus, bedding begonia, boronia, Californian poppy, carnation, chrysanthemum, cineraria, cosmos, dianthus, gerbera, gaillardia, gazania, Iceland poppy, kale, lobelia, marigold, pansy, petunia, phlox, portulaca, roses, snapdragon, statice, verbena, viola and zinnia
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