Autumn is the perfect time to resurrect or sow a new lawn. Start by adding Lawn Starter Fertiliser with your seed and sow as directed.  Each lawn seed will benefit from the nearby fertiliser granules and the result will be better germination, rapid root development, balanced leaf growth and a much healthier, stronger new lawn.

• • Use a metal rake to remove thatch (dead) layer from the lawn and feed with Lawn builder fertiliser
  • Now is the time to start tidying flowering shrubs. When flowering has finished dead head and prune out any dead, damaged or diseased branches shrubs such as lavender and daisies can be pruned by one third.
  • Apply Powerfeed to clay based lawns to improve soil drainage.
  • Clear out and lime veggie beds. Remember to rotate your crops so you don’t plant the same thing in one bed each time. This helps to reduce pest and disease as well as nutrient deficiencies.
  • Collect up organic debris material for compost. (Autumn is a great time to start a compost heap as there is plenty of material to use eg. Prunings)
  • Plant garlic cloves, beetroot, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, celery, leeks, lettuce, potatoes, cabbage, silverbeet, radish and peas.
  • Prune raspberries, removing old wood almost to the ground.
  • Fertilize native plants with Osmocote for natives.
  • Prepare garden beds for bulbs using organic compost and bulb food.  
  • Plant Alyssum, Bellis, Cornflower, Dianthus, Linaria, Poppies, Ageratum, Cinerarias, Delphinium, Foxgloves, Marigolds, Pansies, Statice, Stock, Sweetpea, Primula, and Polyanthus.
  • Check citrus for scale, sooty mould is a good indicator.  Treat with pest oil or scale gun
  • Indoors: check for mildew and leaf scorch.  Mealybugs can be treated with confidor.  Re-pot rootbound plants.
  • Divide old Iris.  Replant, fertilise with blood & bone and water well for good growth and flowers.
  • It’s a good time to transplant evergreen trees and shrubs, eg. Rhodos, camellias and azaleas.

Camellias start to bloom anytime from now right through to early October making a great splash of colour within the garden. Sweet Jane is a recently released hybrid camellia available at Harmony, which represents a giant step forward in camellia breeding.

Sweet Jane is an Australian bred Camellia, which produces a magnificent floral display for up to five months of the year. Sweet Jane produces masses of rose pink buds opening to white medium sized blooms blushed with a soft pastel pink, right through from Autumn to early spring and is currently the longest flowering camellia variety.

With a strong upright, compact habit Sweet Jane makes an outstanding garden plant and is perfect for container planting, hedging, topiary and screening. Sweet Jane also makes an ideal focal point in a courtyard or patio screening.

The Australian Camellia Research Society has selected Sweet Jane as an outstanding variety of excellence to commemorate the dawning of a new millennium in camellia breeding.

Did you know?

The PH of your soil is extremely important in Camellia growing, if the PH is too high or low this will trap nutrients within the soil making them unavailable to the plant. At Harmony we have a premium potting blend with the ideal ingredients for Camellias to ensure optimum plant growth .