september, october, november

September

Time to:

• Deadhead flowering plants as they finish to encourage new blooms to flourish.
• Cut back

  hibiscus

  plants by one third and feed for healthy new growth to emerge.
• Prune unruly shoots and branches of

  camellias

  .
• Fertilise any bare-rooted fruit trees that were planted in winter.
• Stake newly planted trees in windy regions.
• Improve your soil to get ready for new plantings by digging through compost or

  cow manure

  .
• Transplant trees and shrubs, now is your last chance until autumn.
• Feed all your

  citrus plants

  , they love a fortnightly dose

Buy now:

• Native trees such as

  bottlebrush

  are flowering, so go to

  Flower Power

  and select your favourite colour.
• A range of colourful annuals to brighten up your garden for spring.
• Complete lawn fertiliser to keep your grass lush and green.
• Vegetables and herbs for a bountiful and tasty homegrown harvest.
• Mulch to spread all over your garden and potted plants to conserve water.
• Pots and potting mix to plant up beautiful spring annuals.
• Complete fertiliser to keep your lawn lush and green.

• Water crystals

  to dig through your garden and add to potting mix when planting.

Sow and plant now:

• Flowers –

  Alyssum

  ,

  begonia

  ,

  carnation

  ,

  chrysanthemum

  ,

  dahlia

  ,

  marigold

  ,

  petunias

  .
• Vegies –

  Beetroot

  ,

  capsicum

  ,

  cucumber

  ,

  lettuce

  ,

  pumpkin

  ,

  tomato

  .

Recent and popular releases:

• Bloomer bowls
• Mixed herb bowls

• Convolvulus cneorum

• Anigozanthos

  ‘Rampaging Roy Slaven’

Pests and diseases:

• Pink wax scale – pink waxy blobs found on the midribs of leaves and on young twigs of citrus, magnolias and ivy.
• Scrape off with an old toothbrush or fingernail.
• Spray with horticultural oil.
• Zinc deficiency in citrus – new leaf growth is small with yellow areas.
• Try and make the soil more acid if it is alkaline by adding sulphur.
• Spray the leaves with a solution of

  zinc sulphate

  and water.

Organic gardening

• Add a handful of well-rotted compost into planting holes before growing tomato crops.

October

Time to:

• Start a new garden bed by loosening the soil, adding compost and manure, water well and leave a few weeks before planting.
• Plant roses if you forgot to in winter. Select from roses that will be in leaf and flower now.
• Water gardenias with a solution of

  Epsom salts

  to stop their leaves from yellowing.
• Plant climbers for screening.
• Service and oil your mower in preparation for fast lawn growth.
• Loosen your soil with a garden fork so spring rain can easily penetrate it.
• Prune

  lavenders

  , even if they are still blooming, this will stop them getting leggy.
• Fertilise native plants with a fertiliser formulated for native plants.

Buy now:

• Spring is the best time to plant natives such as

  lillypillies

  ,

  eucalypts

  and

  boronia

  .
• Top dressing for levelling out any uneven lawns.
• Control release fertiliser for your potted plants.
• Secateurs for spring pruning.
• Disinfect after pruning diseased plants to prevent any likelihood of spreading problems.
• White oil to control aphids and scale on plants.
• Iron chelates to stop the leaves of gardenia and murraya yellowing.
• Hedging sheers to keep your hedges neat, tidy and healthy.
• Gloves, sprayers and wheelbarrow for all spring garden maintenance.

Sow and plant now:

• Flowers – Boronia, coreopsis, everlasting daisy, geranium, impatiens, rudbeckia, sunflower, zinnia.
• Vegies – Artichoke, mustard, radish, silver beet, sweet corn, zucchini.

Recent and Popular releases:

• New range of Homegrown vegetables; passionfruit, rockmelon, watemelon, pumpkin, zucchini
• Roses
• Star jasmine
• New Guinea impatiens ‘Sonics’

Pests and diseases:

• Common slater – can chew young shoots and roots.
• Remove sites where they breed such as damp piles of decaying wood.
• Use slug and snail bait.
• Beet rust – small yellow-brown spots appear on older silver beet and beetroot leaves and spread to younger ones.
• Remove any diseased leaves from plants and destroy.
• Spray with a wettable sulphur on the upper and lower surface of the leaves.

Organic gardening:

• Mulch your food garden with sugar cane or lucerne to feed the soil as well as reducing evaporation and suppressing weed growth.

November

Time to:

• Plant as many vegies as you can fit into your garden.
• Last chance to plant summer and autumn flowering bulbs such as dahlias, gladiolus and nerines.
• Check drip irrigation systems and replace broken parts and clean any blockages.
• Cut lawns as high as you can to help shade the soil and reduce water loss.
• Stand pot plants in saucers of water on hot, windy days to stop them wilting.
• Feed rose bushes with blood and bone, water well.
• Divide and re-pot orchids if they have formed a dense clump.
• Plant red and white annuals for Christmas colour.

Buy now:

• Sweet bite tomato seedlings, plant them in an open and sunny spot.
• Hydrangeas to brighten up shady areas in your garden.
• Fertiliser for your lawn, water well before and after applying.
• Compost and cow manure to prepare soil for summer planting.
• Heat-loving herbs such as basil,coriander and chilli.
• Fruit and flower fertiliser for all fruit and vegetables.
• Pyrethrum spray to protect your roses from aphids.
• Australian native plants that can tolerate drought periods once established.

Sow and plant now:

• Flowers – Ageratum, cockscomb, coleus, gerbera, phlox, snapdragon, vinca, waratah.
• Vegies – Bean, Chinese cabbage, carrot, okra, parsnip.

Recent and popular releases:

• Gardenias; magnifica, ocean pearl, radicans
• Cordyline rubra
• Magnolia ‘Little Gem’

Pests and diseases:

• Psyllid – very common on lillypillies, bumps on new growth appear.
• Prune off the effected growth if the infestation is low and destroy.
• Spray with a solution of maldison.
• Black spot on roses – black spots appear on the leaves of rose plants.
• Decrease humidity around plants, burn any diseased leaves.
• Spray on a regular basis with triforine during warm weather.

Organic gardening:

• Make sure your worm farm gets plenty of shade and is kept moist by gently wetting it down.

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