Summer is fast approaching. Now is the time to prepare and plant for Christmas and the coming warmer months. Summer is a time great of the year for entertaining and some effort now will ensure that your garden and living areas are looking bright, colourful and healthy as you enjoy your summer living.
Plant now for Colour
There is a huge selection of seeds, seedlings, cell packs, and potted colour available to plant now for a colourful Spring and Summer. Petunias, Marigold, Vincas, Alyssum, Dianthus, Cosmos, Gerberas, Salvias, Snapdragons, and Sunflowers are some of the favourites.
There is an abundance of fruiting trees, berries, small fruits, herbs, and vegetable seeds and seedlings to plant during the Spring. A visit to Harmony will have you excited about the options of growing your own fresh and healthy food at home.
Pots, containers and hanging baskets should be planted now. There are great plants available such as geraniums, cape daisies, impatiens, petunias, and calibrachoas that will reward with bright, colourful summer displays. Always use a premium quality potting mix. Water pots and hanging baskets regularly. Feed weekly with a liquid food such as Powerfeed or Maxicrop, or a soluble plant food such as Bloom Booster or Flourish.
Plant annual summer flowers such as alyssum, celosia, cosmos, impatiens, lobelia, nasturtium, marigold, petunia, phlox, portulaca and zinnia.
Roses are looking fantastic. Fertilise with a formulated rose food and watch out for aphids and thrips.
New season’s Hydrangeas are beginning to flower and are excellent spring/summer colour for pots and those shady parts of the garden or entertainment areas where we spend our summer days.
Mulch garden beds. This will have the gardens looking great for Christmas and help with water retention and weed control, check watering systems and complete any maintenance needed before the summer arrives.Use a quality water retention granules or solutions to make the most of every summer drop.
Tomato Time
Now that Hobart Show day has passed... its a great time to get your tomato plants cracking, we experienced cooler than expected weather this October, so if you didnt get your tomatos planted then dont worry, it was probably for the best. Early November is a great time to make the most of the warmer soil and get the tomatoes ready to go!
Time to get busy in the veggie plot, this is probably the most important month for sowing or planting vegetables including asian greens, beans, beetroot, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, capsicum, chilli, carrot, cauliflower, celery, cress, cucumber (careful not to over water) eggplant, kohlrabi, herbs, leek, lettuce, okra, onions, parsnip, peas, pumpkins ,squash, radish, spinach, swede, potato, strawberries, sweet potato, tomato, turnip, zucchini and sweetcorn- phew what a busy time eh!
Spring brings enormous activity in the garden, keep an eye for aphids already being reported on Geranium, Peaches ,Cherry trees and Roses. Aphids can be controlled by using the low toxic Eco Oil
- Use Powerfeed soil conditioner to increase drainage in clay soil and improve plant performance.
- If Azaleas are looking sick check for leafminer and treat .
- Camellia ,Azalea and Rhododendron can be fed with acid loving plant 'Flourish' fertiliser as they complete flowering
- Keep on top of weeds! Be wary if you let them go to seed the problem will worsen. If spraying any weeds with herbicide then consider the new Biodegradable Easy See Dye we have available at Harmony, it helps identify missed areas and over application whilst saving money on wasting your herbicide.
- Set codling moth traps and replace old ones with refill as apples, quinces and pears start to flower.
- Feed citrus and spray with Scale Gun to control sooty mould.
- Now is the perfect time to start a herb garden! Use our herb and veggie growing mix!
- Apply saturaid to lawns and garden beds ,this will improve the waters efficiency by up to 50%
- Mulch fruit trees with sugar cane mulch or pea straw
- Re-pot aquatic plants and feed.
- Feed fushcias with a high potassium enriched fertiliser.
- Lawn grubs numbers will be starting to ramp up now feeding on your lawn creating brown patches and unhealthy green grass, ask us how to treat
- Prune old flowers off Proteas to encourage bushy growth and more flowers next year.
- Repot cymbidium orchids as they finish flowering.
- Lift the mower blades. A longer lawn will help to shade the roots, cool the earth and hold onto water
Lawn Time
Lawns are the ultimate living carpet. The warmer temperatures and increasing daylight hours of Spring is the green light for lawns to grow. Now is the perfect time to rejuvenate your lawn. Now is the time to control weeds, top dress, and fertilise with a premium specialised lawn food. Lift the mower blades now for a longer lawn and a stronger, deeper root system. As well as seeing great results now, these actions now will help to prepare your lawn for the summer months