With Brownie
- Watch out for leaf miner in your citrus trees. Recent new growth is susceptible to this burrowing caterpillar. Spray every two – three weeks with a pest spray or white oil to control the problem.
- Grape vines will be growing and bunches of grapes forming, so keep up the water to ensure plump juicy fruits. If birds are a problem, cover the whole vine with netting or the bunches with individual pest exclusion bags. Green Harvest has a good range (www.greenharvest.com.au)
- Prune your poinsettias by two thirds to promote strong growth for next autumn.
- Plant seed or seedlings for Christmas dinner, especially colourful, leafy lettuces like red mignonette, butter beans, golden button squash and cherry tomatoes.
- Vines – flowering or fruiting – will be growing quickly, so keep training them so that they grow where you want them to (not the other way around).
- The warmer weather is perfect for planting tropical fruit trees, such as babaco, longan and tamarillo.
- Flowering kangaroo paws may need stacking to support them if feeding birds make them bend.
- Dig lots of compost and manure into the spot where you will be planting herbs and then watch the new seedlings go crazy.
- Pruning edible figs can be carried out. Figs are only produced on new wood of the new growth.
- Give your house plants a dose of liquid fertiliser. Take some cuttings to pot up as Christmas gifts.
Vegetables
Plant asparagus, silverbeet, capsicum, pumpkin, choko, zucchini, shallots, cucumber, beans, eggplant, lettuce, okra, radish, spring onion, tomato, sweet corn and sweet potato.
Flowers
Plant alyssum, amaranthus, torenia, bedding begonia, gomphrena, cosmos, gerbera, marigold, gazania, petunia, coleus, portulaca, carnation, salvia, zinnia, aster, celosia, sunflower, impatiens, calendula, californian poppy, chrysanthemum, dianthus, gaillardia, gloxinia, phlox and snapdragon.
Main image: Citrus leaf miner
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