Rest and relax in the cool of your garden!

January often brings weather extremes with conditions bouncing from hot and humid with storms to dry and hot with the threat of bushfire. Gardeners need to be on their toes, ready to respond to changing conditions. Whatever conditions are prevailing, mid-summer is a productive time with active growth and lots to harvest.

Enjoy the bounty and green respite offered by the garden by performing small garden tasks such as harvesting produce, picking flowers, checking for pests and weeds and watering in the cool of the day – early morning or late evening.

Holiday care for gardens

One of the drawbacks of a garden is leaving it when you go away on holiday. If you are away for more than a few days, and particularly if the weather is hot, arrange to have someone pop in to water the garden and pick the produce.

Before you go, give the garden a deep water, apply Seasol and top up mulches. Also, mow the lawn and harvest fresh produce that may spoil in your absence.

To make it easy for your volunteer to water, group potted plants together in a sheltered spot near the hose. Highlight new plantings or special plants that need extra care. For larger areas, provide a watering system or sprinkler on a timer. Make sure the hose is long enough to reach all areas that need watering.

Offering a harvest of fresh produce or flowers from the garden is an incentive to encourage someone to visit and check on the garden each day so be generous.

Liquid feed regularly

Rapid summer growth draws on a plant’s nutrient resources and also takes nourishment from the soil. To keep plants growing and producing flowers and fruit, keep feeding and watering. Also, harvest produce as soon as they are ripe for maximum taste and deadhead spent flowers or prune for an indoor vase display.

Pay particular attention to productive plants such as leafy greens which are constantly being harvested, or rapidly growing plants such as pumpkins, cucumbers, beans and tomatoes that can run out of food.

PowerFeed PRO SERIES Plant Food Tomatoes & Vegetables is an easy way to feed all plants and also revitalise hungry soils.

Liquid feed every 7-10 days and watch them grow. Mix 50mL of concentrate per 9 litres of water (standard watering can).

Getting shade fast

While a spreading tree is the best source of shade for a garden, trees take time to grow. If your garden is new and exposed to hot sun, create a shady haven with one or more of these ideas.

• Erect a shade sail (this is a good option to shade part of a swimming pool or outdoor eating area) or invest in a temporary gazebo.
• Build a pergola and plant a climbing plant such as star jasmine, potato vine, wisteria, climbing rose, hardenbergia, pandorea or jasmine to grow over the structure to provide summer shade. Shade the area with shade cloth while you wait for the climbers to grow.
• To get climbers established, plant them in a sunny spot, keep plants well-watered and fed with a liquid fertiliser such as PowerFeed PRO SERIES for Roses & Flowers.
• Look at existing tall plants in your garden including large shrubs. Carefully removing lower branches from established plants may create enough shaded space beneath the canopy for a chair and table.

Summer rose care

Roses flower throughout summer but may be experiencing a lull in flowering during January. To encourage more blooms over the months ahead, lightly prune roses, removing spent flowers and cutting stems back to new shoots.

Feed with a complete rose food such as Seasol plus Nutrients Roses & Flowers. Dig it into the topsoil and water well. Within six weeks, new growth and flowers will reward your efforts.

If aphids are attacking new foliage, they can be controlled by encouraging beneficial insects such as ladybirds (adult and larvae) that feed voraciously on aphids. Aphids can also be physically removed by being squashed or hosed off a plant or sprayed with an organic pesticide such as EarthCare White Oil insect spray.

If possums are a problem, try covering new growth and buds overnight with shade cloth to protect them. Remove the covers each morning.

Five important jobs for summer

1. Regular deadheading prevents plants from seeding and encourages longer flowering periods. After pruning, ensure that you feed and water plants to help maintain blooming.
2. Check fruiting plants regularly for pests and protect soft fruit crops from fruit fly (in fruit fly zones) and birds. Apply PowerFeed PRO SERIES for Fruit & Citrus regularly every two weeks to help promote flowering and fruiting for a larger yield of tasty produce.
3. Recent plantings require extra care, especially during hot and dry conditions. Check these plants daily and water them as needed.
4. Ensure indoor plants are positioned properly for summer. If they are too close to a north-facing window, their foliage may burn from direct heat. Move them to a safer location and feed them regularly with PowerFeed Indoor & Potted Plants.
5. Watch out for scale and aphids on roses and vegies and either remove them by hand or spray with EarthCare White Oil insect spray.

Coping with wet soils

A rainy summer can bring about casualties in the garden as plants succumb to root rot due to poor soil drainage. Others may develop fungal diseases if humid conditions prevail.

Plants from Mediterranean regions, such as many culinary herbs, lavender and other silver-leafed plants along with some Australian native plants and citrus are often adversely affected by wet soils and excessive humidity. Plants can die, dieback, or just look unsightly.

To combat poor drainage, look at raising garden beds to encourage better moisture flow away from the roots.

To raise a garden bed, remove existing plants and install a garden edging to support the higher soil level. Raising soil levels by around 30cm above the natural ground level can dramatically improve growing conditions.

Plants coping with wet soils

Prune away overhanging growth to allow better air movement around plants. If wet conditions are being made worse by water inundating planting areas, work out how to install drains to direct water flow away.

For special plants that you don’t want to lose, consider transplanting them into a pot using a premium potting mix such as Seasol Advanced Potting Mix and water them in with Seasol to reduce transplant shock.

Where waterlogged soils are a recurring problem and soil and drainage improvements aren’t possible, consider making the area a bog garden or a pond area or simply planting species that cope with wet soils such as cannas or liriope.

For more tips follow our waterlogged garden guide.