Larry Smith and the Riverside Gardens team talk about all things pots, plants and pruning in their weekly gardening column.
It is great to see the weather starting to get that little bit warmer each day, although I do love the clear, frosty mornings — so long as we get the sunny days that usually follow. We certainly have had a few amazing frosty mornings these past few weeks of winter. Some mornings, the frosts have been so heavy that we have been able to lift our frost cloths off as a solid sheet and stand them upright on their side.
As the days get warmer, though, you realise that there are a few winter tasks that need to be completed to prepare your garden for the coming spring. It is also the last chance to take advantage of the bare-root planting season for roses, deciduous ornamental trees and fruit trees. So, make the most of the beautiful weather this weekend and enjoy time in the garden.
If you are going to be growing your own veggies this summer, you should be digging over the veggie patch now, incorporating a bit of manure, compost and maybe some blood and bone as you go. We will have the first of our summer seedling range arrive next week, but only the tougher ones such as capsicum, lettuce and spinach. It is also time to plant asparagus, rhubarb crowns and seed potatoes. We still have a stock of Dutch cream, white star, red lady, King Edward and sebago potatoes left, and purple phantom asparagus and red dragon rhubarb.
It is time to spray your deciduous trees and roses with lime sulphur before they break dormancy. This will help control mites and some other pests and diseases.
To control peach leaf curl, you should spray with a copper spray now when the flower buds start to open and again at about 80 per cent petal drop. This applies to both peaches and nectarines.
Spraying broad-leaf weeds in your couch, buffalo and kikuyu lawns now can work out quite economical as the happily growing weeds stand out against the yellowed dormant grasses. This means that you can do spot spraying rather than having to spray the whole area to make sure you get everything. Then, in the following few weeks, when you fertilise your lawn, you are not feeding the unwanted weeds as well.
Check your irrigation now. Don’t wait until you notice the garden needs a good drink, only to turn it on to find that it has sprung a leak, the drippers and sprinklers are blocked or broken, or the controller has dropped its program.
Make sure all your winter pruning is completed, as the new season of spring growth is about to burst out in a real rush. It would be a shame to have it all grow where we didn’t want it and to have to cut most of it off, causing us to miss out on the main growth period of the year. However, the pruning of Japanese maples should be left until they are in leaf because they tend to sulk if pruned when dormant. Flowering trees such as ornamental cherries and plums can also be left until after they have put on their magic display of blossom in spring.
Feeding your gardens now ensures that the plants have all the nutrients they require to grow as much as possible over the spring months. In newer gardens, it is also worth bringing a small sample of soil in to have the pH checked so you know that the fertiliser you are applying is going to be available to the plants. Organic base fertilisers such as rapid raiser, bounce back or blood and bone will give you great results. They may smell a little, but once watered in, the smell soon dissipates, and you have the benefit of not only feeding the plants but also building up micro-organisms in the soil.
If you are thinking of adding camellias to your garden, both camellia sasanqua and camellia japonica varieties are in flower in the garden centre, so now is a great time to check out the colours and flower types to see what will work with your design.
Finally, if you are looking for some colour around your outdoor living space for Christmas, it is time to plant up those pots. Plants such as pansies and violas, which are in stock now, will still be flowering at that time but will finish soon after. Petunia, marigold, impatiens, lobelia and alyssum, coming in from next week on, will all be in their prime at Christmas and continue through to next winter.
Now, I know some of you are going to say, why would I try to ruin one of our nicest weekends in a while? To you, I say don’t worry, why don’t you just come out and enjoy a round of mini golf in our gardens instead? To the rest of you, I say happy gardening.
Enjoy the exercise, enjoy the meditative peace, enjoy being creative. Either way, I am sure you will enjoy being out in a garden in the sunshine.
Have a great weekend.