Tips and Tricks

• Don’t plant hydrangeas next to grasses or succulents. Instead group plants together that have similar watering needs to save water.
•  Pansies and violas will flower longer if regularly deadheaded. It’s a finicky job but worthwhile.  Fertilise regularly with Yates Thrive Flower & Fruits.
• Pebbles or gravel make excellent mulch. They last forever, don’t blow away and can look very smart against certain plant groupings, especially grasses and succulents.

Jobs to Do

• Ensure that all trees and shrubs have had their annual spring feed. Use a general purpose fertiliser unless you have lots of azaleas and camellias, which do better with a specific fertiliser. Proteas in the ground should not receive any fertiliser.
• Plan for Christmas! You’ve got 6-7 weeks to get colourful pots and bowls looking good.
• Repair bare patches in the lawn with either seed or grass seedling plugs. Rake over the soil to loosen it to a fine tilth, scatter the seed mixed with coarse sand for even spread, and then cover with lawn top dressing. Keep well-watered with a diluted Seasol solution.

In the Flower Garden

Water misers

Euphorbias are perfect perennials for dry weather gardening. There are many varieties with stunning heads of colourful bracts – often in lime green. Plant with colour-contrasting shrubs. Look for E. martinii, E. characias (pictured) or the new white-flowered ‘Diamond Frost.’

Pruning time

Tidy up azaleas, camellias, most natives and other shrubs such as diosma. Gardeners generally don’t prune hard enough! Better pruning equals better flowering!

Cherry pie time

If you like the sweet smell of ripe cherries, try [itals]Heliotrope, often called cherry pie for its fragrance. These mauve, purple or white-flowered, woody perennials flower for months on end. Plant them with some grey-foliaged plants for colour contrast.

Lawn tips

Set lawn mower blades higher as the weather warms, for lusher-looking grass, and no ‘scalping’– bare patches of exposed soil which allow weeds to invade. The grass will also require less water as the soil will be damper as it has a thicker cover.

 Hydrangea care

Stunning heads of pinks, whites and mauve/blues are a tradition of early summer gardens. But hydrangeas are thirsty. For best results place water storage crystals deep in the soil all around the drip line, use a soil wetting agent on the surface and have a mulch at least 7 cm thick. Water slow and low!

In the Vegetable Patch

Viola

Plant the small-faced violas in the vegie patch to bring a bit of colour and of course they’re great to eat in salads.

Lemon fragrance

Plant lemongrass for use in Asian cooking. It’s easy to grow and forms a fragrant grassy clump. Use the foliage for fresh tea infusions, and the bulbous inner root stem finely sliced in stir-fries, soups and salads.

 Herb grouping

Plant herbs in groups with similar water needs. Mediterranean-style herbs such as oregano, thyme, French tarragon, savoury, sage and rosemary all need less water and food than parsley, coriander, basil, chives, dill, chervil and rocket. Keep mint separate in a semi-shaded, damp spot.

Chill out

As the weather warms, a fantastic range of chilli plants becomes available. Check the ‘heat rating’ on the back of the label – the higher the number out of 10, the hotter it is! Grow in full sun and feed regularly until the fruit is setting.

Strawberry tales

Cut off any runners from strawberry plants to plant out elsewhere. Eventually the mother plant can be discarded. Plant strawberries in a slightly raised position with sugarcane mulch tucked around so that the ripening fruit hangs down onto clean mulch.

Leaf miner

Citrus leaf miner is an annual nuisance, easily identified by squiggly lines on distorted new leaves. It needs to be controlled at an early stage. Spray from now at fortnightly intervals using Eco-oil or Yates PestOil.