(Compiled by Lyn McCallum)
Keep all your beds well mulched against the hot dry windy days we are still experiencing. Many materials make a good mulch – coarse compost, chipped branches, grass cuttings, bark chips, leaves, straw, pebbles, even newspapers, can be used, but take care that water can penetrate the mulch! If you are using green material, add a fertilizer rich in nitrogen such as Bounce Back, as the green cuttings from lawns etc. will deplete the soil of its nitrogen.
Turn your compost heap regularly, about every 6 – 8 weeks, and keep it damp (but not too wet). If space allows, divide the heap into two sections. This will enable you to let one section mature, whilst you are adding your kitchen and garden waste to the other.
If you have an irrigation system in use, check that the sprinkler tops are not blocked and are still reaching the plants that they should. If not, some judicious pruning can remedy this, or else add extensions to the standpipes.
Keep up the deadheading of summer flowering annuals. This and the application of a fertilizer such as Rapid Raiser, will prolong their flowering period. It is not too late to fill in any gaps in your garden with late flowering annuals such as zinnias, gomphrena and marigolds.
Once your perennials have finished flowering, they can be cut back lightly, thus helping to keep the plants tidy and well shaped. Crowded clumps can be thinned by pulling out old flower stems and filling the gaps with well-rotted manure or compost. Foliar feeding penstemons, day lilies and alstromerias will help them produce more flowers.
Dahlias need regular watering, as well as feeding with a liquid manure, or a foliar feed. Check that they are securely staked and keep a sharp eye out for slugs, snails and twig wilters!
Roses should have been lightly pruned during the month of February, to ensure a flush of blooms in late summer. Keep the bushes well mulched and watered and give each plant a feed of 3.1.5 Organic or Sudden Impact.
Watch out for aphids, which can be rubbed off between finger and thumb, or sprayed away with a strong jet of water.
Although hydrangeas are probably now past their best, it is a good idea to give them a feed of Bounce Back or Humac (Kraggroei) and top up their mulch. Cut back any flowerheads that have gone brown, with a long a stem as possible.
Give your container plants a feed of either Bounce Back, Rapid Raiser, Nitrosol, Organiksol, or Seagro. A teaspoon of magnesium sulphate (Epsom salts) dissolved in 5l of water and applied to the plants would also be beneficial. Top up the containers with fresh soil and a layer of mulch.
Remember to give the foliage of azaleas and camellias a spraying of water on very hot days. This is the time the buds for next season’s flowers are formed and it is essential to keep the plants well watered to minimise the risk of bud drop. Mulch well with an acid mulch or peat, or leaf mould made from oak leaves or pine needles.
Check your lawns for lawn caterpillar and if present use Omo, well watered in, to bring these destructive little pests to the surface. (See Feb. Gardening Tips.)
Fertilize the lawn for the last time before winter with a general-purpose fertilizer such as Upsurge to strengthen the grass and build up reserves for winter. Once the weather starts to cool down, begin to reduce the length of the grass by lowering the height of the mower blades.
Lift and divide overcrowded white evergreen arums this month. Agapanthus can also be split and divided now, but don’t split the clumps into very small pieces, otherwise they may take a long time to flower again.
Now is the time to pick herbs for drying for winter use. Tie up bunches of thyme, marjoram and sage with raffia or string and hang upside down in a warm place to dry out. Once dry, store in airtight containers and use as required.
Basil does not dry well. Freeze the leaves in a little water. Alternatively, brush the leaves with a little cooking oil, place between plastic, seal in a bag and freeze.
Collect seeds of summer flowering annuals such as cleome, sunflowers, Nicotiana sylvestrus, cosmos and marigolds. Choose a warm dry day and let the seeds dry completely before putting in paper bags or envelopes. Don’t forget to label!
Citrus trees should be fed with Bounce Back or 3.1.5 Organic this month. An application of magnesium sulphate (Epsom salts) – 1 teaspoon dissolved in 5l of water – would be beneficial. Check trees for scale and if necessary spray with oleum.
Start preparing your vegetable patch for winter growing vegetables such as leeks, onions, broccoli, cauliflower and spinach. Incorporate well-rotted manure, compost, hoof and horn and bounce back, water well and leave to allow for the germination of weed seeds. Remove these as they come up and the ground will be ready for a fresh crop of vegetables. Remember to practice crop rotation.
Browse through Spring bulb catalogues and plan what to plant for a colourful display. Prepare the ground for planting – incorporate compost, bounce back and hoof and horn into the soil, digging over lightly, but don’t be tempted to plant out the bulbs yet! It is best to wait for the cooler autumn weather to set in.
