September Jobs

It’s time to give the lawn a little love!

Aerate compacted areas with a garden fork, or for severely compacted spots, considering hiring a corer.

Don’t forget to de-thatch and follow up with a lawn fertiliser.

Hang fruit fly traps and spray the foliage of susceptible plants, like stone fruit and tomatoes with eco-naturalure. Repeat weekly or as required for effective control.

Feed garden beds with Dynamic Lifter to give both and soil and plants a boost. Mix in compost or well-rotted manures and water in well.

Refresh and repot all potted plants, including indoor specimens. Lightly trim back the rootball and repot into fresh mix. Water with a diluted seaweed solution.

For frost-free zones, let’s get planting! All the leafy greens, including Asian vegies, spinach, rocket, silverbeet and lettuce. And of course, summer vegie favourites like tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, capsicums and chillies, and if you have room, pumpkins, too.

Protect new seedlings against the snails and slugs by putting out snail bait around garden beds. Do not heap or apply to edible plant parts.

Plant dahlia tubers in a sunny, well-drained spot. Enrich the soil with compost and organic matter before planting.

Divide and conquer clumping perennials, like salvias, sedums, plectranthus, gazanias and euphorbias. Dividing will help rejuvenate the existing clump and you also end up with new plants for the garden.

Top up garden beds with an organic mulch, like pea-straw or sugarcane, which enrich the soil as it breaks down.

Fill bare patches in the garden with flowering shrubs, like correa, lavender or low-growing banksias and grevilleas. Look for potted colour at the local nursery – petunias and snapdragons are an easy way to give the garden a quick garden pick-me-up.