Everything in your garden should be blooming and buzzing and it’s important that you keep your garden maintained and prepare it for the hot summer, so it can continue to look good all summer long.
The most important tip in November is to apply Ezi-Wet Soil Soaker to the whole garden again.
Soils can dry out very quickly at this time of the year, so it is important that you mulch your garden and pots to ensure the soils stay moist.
Roses and Flowering Plants
With your roses coming to the end of their beautiful show, remove the fading and wilting flowers. This process, known as dead-heading will encourage further blooms in the summer.
Feed your Gardenias, Azalea’s, Camelia’s and other acid loving plants in November as well as adding the all important soil wetter and mulch for improved watering in the hotter weather. Use Richgro’s Rose, Gardenia, Azalea & Camellia Premium Fertiliser Plus or for those organic gardeners Organics Rose & Flower Plant Food.
Watch for Azalea Lace bug and treat with Richgro Bug Killa if infested.
Natives
As a general guide prune spring flowering shrubs such as Callistemon (Bottlebrush) after they have finished flowering. This includes pruning spring flowering varieties.
Mulch or top up Mulch to protect plants against weather extremes and keep soils moist.
Fruit and Vegies
Repeat harvest lettuce varieties require a soil rich in fertiliser so they grow fast or they will taste bitter. At this time of the year plant a new crop every 3 weeks to ensure a continual supply of fresh new leaves.
Citrus have finished flowering and now are putting their energy into the tiny developing fruit. It is time to thin this fruit to ensure large quality fruit for the following year. This means removing a portion of fruits from trees to result in larger yields & better fruit quality.
Start a program of feeding fruiting plants every 4 -6 weeks throughout the growing season, which is from August to May. Use the Plant feeding alert on the Richgro App as a reminder.
Treat insects that start to attack your lovely vegetables and fruit with Richgro Beat-A-Bug Naturally Based Insect Spray. Apply this at the first sign of attack and then keep in a good routine of spraying over the leaves (don’t forget underside) every 10-12 days during the pest season.
Lawn and Turf Maintenance
A soil wetter is as important for maintaining a healthy lawn as it is for the general garden. This encourages the roots to grow into the soil and be protected from the harsh sun. As you cannot mulch your lawn it is important that the roots are protected. Ants also love dry soil, so keep your soil moist to avoid infestations in your lawn.
Lawn Beetle larvae is active and can cause dead patches on lawn. Check that it is the larvae causing the damage and not dry patch. If the dead patch of lawn comes away easily, this might be a good sign you have lawn beetle larvae.
Top dress to level out any holes and dips.
Potted Gardens
Why not plant a Vertical Garden this November. These can hide unsightly walls, provide food for the family and can be done indoors or outdoors.
General Garden Maintenance Tips:
- Apply Ezi-Wet to your entire garden, pots and lawn. Including your vegie garden. Don’t wait until it is too hot.
- Mulch garden beds to keep in moisture and control weeds. Beds that aren’t mulched will dry out quickly.
- It’s best to fertilise a little and often rather than all at once and then not at all. This also reduces the risk of burning plants from too much fertiliser.
- Be sure to treat insects which will be thriving at this time of year.
- Ants will be on the march if they aren’t already. Ants love dry soil, so keeping your soil moist and mulching should avoid infestations in your garden and lawn.
