Now’s The Time To Start Planting, Pruning And Fertilising.
September and October are the months to knock your garden into shape! If you’re wondering where to start, our list of timely spring gardening tasks should point you in the right direction. Now’s the time to start planting, pruning, and fertilising to prepare your garden for summer.
SPRING GARDENING TIPS
- As everything starts to grow and flower, fertilising is crucial. Feed all plants, including the lawn, and especially hungry fruits and vegetables, roses, gardenias, and hibiscus.
- After fertilising, re-mulch garden beds to keep down weeds and to protect the soil during summer.
- If hedges have grown too tall or too wide, whip them into shape now, when recovery will be rapid. Most [hedging plants] When to prune.
- Re-pot cymbidium orchids, using special orchid potting mix. Also, re-pot indoor plants; trim any tatty, dead, or yellow leaves, wash and feed.
- Lay new lawns or renovate patchy lawns now.
- Plant summer annuals, including petunias, torenias, salvias and begonias.
- Reprogram irrigation timers and check that the lines are fully functioning.
- Hurry to plant new shrubs and trees so they can establish themselves before it gets hot.
WHAT TO DO IN THE VEGETABLE GARDEN IN SPRING
It’s full steam ahead in the vegie patch, so plant as many summer vegetables as you can. Tomatoes of all types, capsicums, chillies, cucumbers, eggplants, beans, Asian greens, spring onions and essential summer basil should go in as soon as the soil is warm. If you have space, plant zucchini, pumpkins, cucumbers, sweet corn, and melons, too.
Passionfruit or Choko vines are a productive way to cover an ugly shed or fence. In warm areas, try growing your own ginger or galangal. Prune citrus trees and plant new citrus now.
WHAT SPRING BLOOMS TO PLANT
Many beautiful Australian native plants – including Waratahs, Kangaroo paws, Bottlebrush, and Everlasting Daisies – are in flower now.
Blossom trees, Spring bulbs, Wisteria and Jasmine are the flowers most readily associated with spring, but there’s also fabulous colour from Bearded Iris, Azaleas, Clivias and Sweet peas, followed by Roses.
