Spring is here, it's time to bring your garden back to life!
It seems like we’ve been waiting forever to see the end of our very cold winter, and while we’re still going to get some cooler showery days we are finally seeing some sunshine and temperatures approaching 20 degrees. Our gardens certainly think it’s spring, there is flower and new growth everywhere!!
Get ready to plant those Summer veggies...
All the summer veggies are in stores now and even though you might be itching to get out and plant everything the soil is still too cold to put tomatoes, capsicum and chilli straight into the ground. We need the soil temperature to be up around 20 degrees (another couple of weeks away at least) so in the interim, you can put these up into 140mm or200mm pots and grow them on. Last year my tomatoes were nearly 50cm high and flowering before it was warm enough.
Sweet basil is running a bit late this year due to the cold weather but will be here soon so keep an eye out for that. We have some great-looking combo packs of leaf lettuce in the garden centres at the moment ready to go. Remember to feed lettuce fortnightly with liquid fertiliser as they need to grow quickly to remain sweet.
Citrus is another plant that needs to be planted in warm soil, they have been known to “sulk” for three or four years and do nothing if planted into cold soil. Most of our new season stock has arrived in store but again wait to plant. Simply keep them in their pots, watered, and in a warm spot for a couple of weeks. This does not apply to stone fruit, they can be planted any time of the year. There are still a few holes in the range at the moment as suppliers are waiting for them to develop roots before they will send them out.
Perfect Time To Start Fertilising Your Garden
Fertilising should be on your agenda this month. Pretty much everything in the garden will be looking for a feed; fruit trees, roses, flowers, bulbs, ornamentals, and indoor plants all should or could be fed now. Spring flowering bulbs need fertiliser to help them set next year’s flowers, summer grass lawns are starting to move and need a boost, and fruit trees are now either flowering or just finished and need a feed to help them develop fruit. Roses also are putting out plenty of new growth so give them a feed too, Sudden Impact for Roses is the industry go-to fertiliser for roses and is fantastic. Citrus should be given a light feed every month right throughout the year.
An application of a seaweed solution now will be very beneficial in promoting a healthy vigorous root system too. Pots and garden beds can all be treated.
Flowering ornamentals, whether trees or shrubs, can be seen around the suburbs at the moment. If you need to give any of these a trim wait until they have finished flowering before you do so.
Control Those Weeds!
As always weeds are going gangbusters so keep plugging away at controlling them before they develop flowers and set seed. I’ve spent quite a bit of time in my garden hand weeding and collecting snails as I go. If you‘re planting out new season petunias and the like don’t forget to put a light sprinkle of snail bait around them at the same time.
Final Note
As I said earlier spring is definitely happening and it’s a lovely change to be able to get out and enjoy the garden without having to put on extra layers and the beanie. Be mindful now that it is a bit sunnier that you will need to be SunSmart, wear a hat and apply sunscreen.
Ask one of our knowledgeable garden staff members for advice if you have any questions regarding anything having to do with your garden, indoors or out. We would be pleased to lead you on the correct path. Call us on 1300 165 165 or visit your local store.