Spring In The Garden - October
October signals mid-spring and there is plenty to do in the garden. Spring crops and flowers will be starting to appear so it's time to plant more to ensure a continuous supply of delicious veges, juicy fruit and fragrant floral displays that will last you into the summer months!
Keep filling your patch with delicious spring veges including salad greens and herbs. Hawke's Bay Anniversary / Labour weekend is traditional planting time for tomatoes, so get yours in for a bumper crop of flavoursome tomatoes in summer!
Continue planting a variety of berries for summer snacking and desserts. Plant up pots with citrus to enjoy trees laden with juicy lemons, oranges, limes and mandarins ready to be plucked from the branch.
Plant vibrant blooms in the vege patch to brighten things up. Flowers in the vege garden also encourage bees, helping pollinate vegetables like tomatoes and beans!
KITCHEN GARDEN
- Now that the danger of frosts is over, seeds of tender vegetables can be safely sown directly into your garden beds. Sow your favourites such as beans, peas, carrots, radish, beetroot and spinach. Eggplant, lettuce, cauliflower, cucumber, courgettes, peppers, pumpkin and tomatoes can also be sown now into trays or directly into the ground.
- Transplant any vegetable seedlings from trays into your garden. Prepare the soil by digging in generous amounts of compost and a dressing of Palmers General Garden Fertiliser.
- Control slugs and snails with snail and slug bait or use Quash or Blitzem which is safer around kids and pets.
- Liquid feed all plants with Seasol fertiliser which gets absorbed by plants quickly giving instant results. Repeat every 10 to 14 days as liquid fertilisers don’t last in the soil for long.
- Plant passionfruit, rhubarb and tamarillos.
- Feed all citrus trees with Palmers Citrus Fertiliser.
- Spray potatoes, fruit trees, grape vines and vegetable plants with Champ DP or a Copper Oxychloride to prevent fungus diseases. Spray citrus trees just before blossoms burst open with Champ DP to control verrucosis, melanose and brown rot.
- Dust cabbages and cauliflowers with Derris Dust to prevent white butterfly caterpillar.
- Plant new herb plants, including parsley so that new plants are established before existing plants go to seed.
- Herbs and vegetables in pots need Palmers Premium Tub and Container Mix as it contains water crystals to help retain water.
LAWNS
- Apply Palmers Lawn Fertiliser for lush lawns this summer.
- Spray now with Turfclean to kill broad leaf weeds and Yates Prickle Weed Killer for Onehunga weed and be prickle free this summer.
- Sow new areas of lawn now. Tui Superstrike range of lawn seed has varieties to suit dry or hard wearing areas, or easy care for those who want to mow lawns less.
FLOWER GARDEN
- Spray roses with Yates Shield to prevent fungus diseases and pest damage on your blooms.
- Feed all roses with Palmers Rose Fertiliser now as they start on their biggest growth period.
- Plant new roses and use Garden X Compost and a long term slow release fertiliser like Osmocote at planting time.
- Prune back spring flowering shrubs after flowering and remove dead blooms from rhododendrons.
- Feed acid loving plants such as camellias, azaleas and rhododendrons after flowering with an Acid fertiliser.
- Sow seeds of your favourite flowering annuals directly into the ground such as Alyssum, Marigolds, Cosmos, Nasturtium and Sunflowers. Sow into trays for transplanting later; Carnations, Dahlia, Petunia and Gerberas.
- Plant out seedlings of flowering annuals for cheerful summer displays.
- Plant perennial and summer flowering bulbs such as Dahlia, Begonia, Gladioli and Calla Lily.
- Plant up hanging baskets and terracotta pots with flowers for summer.
- Add a layer of mulch around all plants to conserve moisture and check that your watering systems are working.
- Liquid feed all flowering annuals and perennials with Seasol, and feed flowering shrubs with a side dressing of Palmers General Garden Fertiliser.
HOUSEPLANTS & CONTAINER GARDEN
- Repot houseplants if you haven’t already done so including orchids after flowering.
- Increase watering of all plants in containers or pots as the weather warms up, adding Miracle Grow or Nitrosol at each watering which will give you healthier plants and flowers.
It's time to to tidy up your Greenwaste wheelie bin. Give the team at Bay Enviro Bins a call and they’ll talk you through the best option for you!
Sources: Tui Garden + Palmers Garden Centre