February continues to bring hot summer days, and plentiful crops of
tomatoes, cucumbers, capsicums, silver beet, celery, beans etc etc.
But it is time to start thinking and preparing to plant the autumn garden.
- Put rosemary cuttings in a vase of water on the window sill and
they will sprout roots quickly
- De-head your chive flowers and put the flowers on a paper towel
to drop their seeds and plant into the garden after a couple of
weeks
- Pumpkins and squash are flowering as they prepare to bear fruit
- I left one of my rocket plants to seed completely and now I have
a 1 metre square of rocket self-seeded as a result
- Plant seedlings of cabbage, cauliflower, brussel sprouts,
celery, silverbeet,
spinach and leeks.
- Plant more lettuce seedlings as you harvest to keep the summer
salad supply going.
- Sow seeds of beetroot,
broccoli, brussel
sprouts, cabbage, carrots,
cauliflower, celery,
cress, lettuce, leeks,
spring onion,
radish, silverbeet,
spinach and parsnip.
- Sweet corn, tomatoes,
eggplants, cucumbers,
courgettes, garlic, onions,
early carrots, new
potatoes, peas, beans,
and lettuces all come ready for harvest.
- Pick sweetcorn when the tassels have begun to dry.
- Pick cucumbers and
courgettes as they come ready (every day) to encourage continuous
fruiting, and before courgettes turn into marrows!
- Thin carrots and eat
the finger sized thinnings.
- Spray tomatoes,
potatoes and courgettes
with Champ Copper Spray to prevent fungus diseases.
- Powdery mildew on cucumbers and pumpkins can be controlled by
spraying with Fungus Fighter.
- Use Derris Dust to prevent white butterfly caterpillars on
cabbages and cauliflowers.
- Feed seedlings with a side dressing of General Garden
Fertiliser.
- Feed citrus trees with Citrus Fertiliser applied around the drip
line and watered in.
- Start planting spring flowering bulbs; daffodils, freesias,
anemones, ranunculus, sparaxis, ixias, grape hyacinths, tritonia and
lachenalia.
- Prepare autumn flower beds prior to planting by digging in
compost and General Garden Fertiliser.
- Plant out annuals in the garden and containers; alyssum,
cornflower, linaria, lupin, pansy, primula, stock, sweet pea, viola
and wallflower.
- Sow seeds of alyssum, aquilegia, arctotis, bellis, candytuft,
cornflower, delphinium, dianthus, godetia, gypsophila, honesty,
larkspur, linaria, lobelia, lupin, nemesia, nigelia, pansy,
polyanthus, scabiosa, snapdragon, stock and wallflower.
- Dead head perennials and flowering annuals as flowers finish.
- Stake tall perennials.
- Water all by thoroughly soaking once a week.
- Shallow watering encourages shallow root growth.
- Control thrips on gladioli, azaleas, camellias and other shrubs
with Super Shield.
- GENERAL WATER vegetable and ornamental gardens, containers and
lawns.
- MULCH to conserve moisture and reduce weed growth.
- WEAR A HAT, SLAP ON THE SUNSCREEN.
