Grow any herbs now – except for
basil (it’s too early) and
coriander (it’s too late).
• Grevilleas will be flowering
away. Cutting flowers for inside
the house will promote new
growth and better plant health.
• Pruning of edible fig trees can
be carried out. Be very vigorous
– one-third can be cut off. Figs
are only produced on new
wood of the new season’s
growth. Give them a good feed
of general fertiliser.
• It could be a few months before
we get good soaking rains and
the usual drying September
winds will suck the moisture
from bare soil, so mulch your
gardens to keep in the available
water.
• Dig up and divide canna lilies.
Water them in well with a
seaweed solution.
• It’s a good month to start the
fruit orchard – plant mango,
pawpaw, avocado, custard
apple, carambola and sapodilla.
• Spray your flowering mangoes
with Mancozeb or a copper-
based fungicide to prevent the
disease anthracnose.
• Watch out for rampant lawn
weeds – especially bindi-eye,
clover and flatweed (or cats ear).
• Look out for aphids on new rose
growth. Rub them off, hose them
off or treat with a pyrethrum
spray.
• Broadcast some gypsum powder
over your lawn to open up the
soil structure.
• New growth on citrus is
susceptible to leaf miner – a tiny caterpillar that burrows in
the leaves. Treat with white oil.
• Plant edibles ready to pick for
Christmas dinner – lettuces like
Red Mignonette, butter beans,
golden button squash and
cherry tomatoes are a good
selection.