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What another lovely month in the garden! There is plenty to do, and weather to enjoy the fresh new growth and abundance of flowers.

KITCHEN GARDEN

Vegetables

• Fill containers with Tui Tomato Mix and plant smaller varieties of tomatoes such as ‘Tommy Toe’, ‘Sweet 100’ and ‘Tumbling Tom’. Sweet basil and tomatoes are good to grow together as well as to eat together so plant a few of these in the same pot.
• Zucchini are quick and easy to grow in a sunny, sheltered spot. Dig in Blood and Bone and compost prior to planting. Avoid wetting the leaves and fruit as they are susceptible to powdery mildew, applying water directly to the root zone.
• Chilli seeds can be sown straight into a pot or garden bed or buy seedling plants from the garden centre. One or two plants will be enough for most families. For mild flavour harvest when green or wait until they are fully coloured - they just get hotter. In a warm, frost-free area they will survive and continue cropping for several years.
• Sow dwarf and climbing beans. Scarlet Runner beans need a warm sheltered position to ensure a good fruit set.
• Sow sweetcorn into ground that has plenty of added compost. It is advisable to sow in 2 or 3 short rows or blocks rather than one long one as plants will support each other and pollination to give setting of the seed is better. As seed germinates, thin to about 15cm apart. Hoe to keep free of weeds but not too deeply as the roots are near the surface. Mounding up the soil around the plants will help stop them being blown over.
  Sow directly into the garden beetroot, broccoli, carrots, cucumbers, leeks, pumpkin, radish, silverbeet, spring onions, swede and turnips.
• When six good leaves have formed on the runners of courgettes, cucumbers and pumpkins pinch out the tips. Pinch out again at intervals to ensure there will be plenty of fruiting laterals and train them up a trellis.
• Newly sown seed needs consistent moisture. Fill open seed drills with water several hours before sowing.
• Plant out celery, egg plants, peppers, potatoes and tomatoes.
• Regular planting of salad greens every few weeks will ensure a constant supply over summer.
• Thin out the previous months sowings and side dress with a general fertilizer.
• Mound up potatoes.
• Side dress cabbages, lettuces and spinach with a fertilizer high in nitrogen ie blood and bone or sulphate of ammonia.
• Use a push hoe to keep remove weeds. This also helps to conserve soil moisture.
• Keep well watered to maintain steady growth. Mulching will help preserve soil moisture and should be carried out after heavy rain to be effective over the drier months. Fertilise with blood and bone before applying.
• Place Tui Quash everywhere in the garden where snails like to hide to prevent them getting into your crops.
• Look out for white butterflies laying eggs on brassicas. Dust your plants with Derris Dust to kill the caterpillars.

Herbs

• Lemon verbena can be clipped back to help the growth of lateral branches. Propagate these cuttings for additional plants.
• Coriander seeds can be sown in seed trays and given warm conditions to germinate. Sow new seeds every three to four weeks for a continuous supply over summer.
• Plant basil seedlings in pots to be grown indoors or on a windowsill. Water basil in the heat of the day to make plants really thrive. Do not overwater. It will not grow if temperatures drop below 10C and below 4C will kill it.

Fruit

• Apples – Trim large, leafy and non-productive branches out to let sun into the centre, ensuring a better and tastier crop.
• Fruit on nectarine, peach and pear trees should be thinned to a number that the tree can expect to carry and develop. Old trees carrying a heavy crop of fruit will benefit from a dressing of fertilizer.
• Pear and cherry slug can cause damage for fruit trees and related ornamentals and blossom trees. The slug graze the top of the leaf surface, leaving them looking chewed and tattered. Spray with Yates Success.
• Berryfruit such as blackberry and boysenberry should be sprayed with Bravo for dry berry disease.
• Spray citrus trees with Champion Copper for verrucosis. Insects can be controlled with Target or Nature’s Way Insect Spray.
• Strawberries will be starting to fruit. Water is needed if the fruit is to be plump and tasty. Cover plants with bird-netting to protect fruit from being eaten by birds. Keep plants free from competing weeds.
• Yellow pustules on raspberry leaves are the first sign of rust. Later these will turn black. Spray with Yates Nature’s Way Fungus Spray at the first sign.

ORNAMENTAL GARDEN

• Snap off finished rhododendron flowers. Apply a thin even layer of mulch out to the drip line of each plant to enable the surface roots to spread and keep cool over summer.
• Trim back shoots on roses which have had flowers cutting to three or four buds below old flower heads or to the first proper outward facing bud with five leaves.
• Plant heat hardy perennials with silver leaves- they will require less watering over any hot dry spells. The large furry leaves of Stachys byzantina ‘Big Ears’ make dense mats of foliage, smothering out weeds and trapping in moisture – a living mulch. The summer flowers will attract bees and butterflies.
• Zantedeschia or calla lilies planted now will provide displays of intense colour in summer. Plant the tubers in pots or a sunny part of the garden that is well drained and enriched with compost. Liquid feed regularly and they should flower in about 8 weeks.
• Plant gladiolus to late summer flowering.
• Amaryllis bulbs can be planted in a warm, sheltered position or grown as an indoor flowering plant.
• Prune once flowering rambling roses after flowering as winter pruning will cut off the following years flowers.
• Prune perfumed lilacs after flowering, feed with Rose Fertiliser and, a few weeks later sprinkle some Lime or Dolomite lime around the plants.
• Sprinkle lime or Dolomite lime around the base of lavenders every couple of years.
• Children (and adults too) love monarch butterflies and what better way to attract them to your garden than having several swan plants. Pick up 2 – 3 plants to keep your caterpillars fed over summer and cover one with fine netting to give it the chance to grow larger without getting demolished by the very hungry caterpillars!!
• Containers will need daily watering as the weather gets warmer and plants are growing quickly.
• Prepare for the coming summer by checking or installing a watering system. Remove competing weeds and spread new mulch over garden beds. Sprinkle on Blood and Bone and only apply mulch after heavy rain. Don’t make the mulch layer so thick or dense that it ends up acting as a barrier to water penetration.
• Plant up hanging baskets now so they will be ready to give as stunning Christmas presents. Always use the best potting mix when planting up baskets and include extra watering crystals to help prevent them drying out. Be right on trend with baskets of herbs, salad greens or tumbling tomatoes.

Read more about ROSES - planting and care - click here >>