Embrace the beauty of a spring garden!
There’s nothing as wonderful as a perfect spring day but often the weather in early spring swings between warm and sunny and cold and windy. However, as the days get longer and September unfolds, take time to enjoy the sheer beauty of spring in our gardens.
Get planting tasty homegrown vegies
As the soil warms and days get longer, most gardeners are overcome with the urge to grow vegies. It is also a great way to provide nutritious food with a very low carbon footprint.
Vegetables to be plant now include tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, potatoes, sweetcorn, pumpkin, zucchini, lettuce, silverbeet and herbs.
If your area is warm and frost free, sow seeds or plant seedlings straight into garden beds or containers. Work organic matter and homemade compost and/or Seasol Super Compost into the soil before planting.
If the area is still cold, start seeds of tender plants in containers in a warm sheltered location or indoors and transfer seedlings into individual pots using a premium potting mix such as Seasol Advanced Potting Mix. Apply Seasol to new plantings including seedlings to reduce transplant shock.
Looking after citrus
Citrus trees are in bloom too and are quick to form fruit with the arrival of spring warmth. Orange trees have clusters of beautifully scented flowers. After flowering, fruit forms quickly so it’s a critical time for care.
Remove weeds from around the tree canopy and top up organic mulches to deter future weed. Feed citrus with a complete citrus food such as Seasol plus Nutrients Fruit & Citrus and water it in well. Keep trees well-watered throughout spring and summer.
Despite our care, some tiny fruit will drop as citrus are prone to forming too much fruit. Excessive fruit drop however is caused by exposure to cold winds or a lack of water. To help citrus thrive, grow them in a warm sheltered spot so they get full sun but not cold winds.
Watch out for citrus leaf miner on new shoots. Affected leaves are marked with silver, wriggly lines are caused by tiny insects feeding on the leaf tissue. Prevent damage by spraying new growth with EarthCare White Oil insect spray. Badly damaged growth can be trimmed off.
Did you know…September 1 is Wattle Day
One outstanding spring plant is the wattle, which has its own day of celebration, Wattle Day. Golden wattle (Acacia floribunda) is Australia’s National Floral Emblem and is one of the spring flowering wattles.
While some wattles become weedy (including the golden wattle) and some are short lived making way for other plants to grow, the heavy pollen produced by wattle flowers isn’t usually the cause of allergies.
The fast growth of many wattles makes them an ideal choice to establish shelter belts, privacy screen or shade in new gardens. Use wattles as nurse plants to get slower growing longer-term plants growing. Wattles also provide food and shelter for wildlife adding to their usefulness.
Take a visit to your local hardware garden centre or check our wattle guide for some of the beautiful named varieties of wattles for planting as shrubs, trees or ground cover plants.
September blossom trees are flowering
Enjoy the dainty white, pink or cerise blossoms that smother flowering peaches, pears, cherry blossoms and crabapples. Most blossom trees are small to medium in size that suit any garden as a feature or shade tree.
While the blooms of individual trees may be short-lived, planting several different types will provide a succession of flowers from late winter right through spring by liquid feeding them with PowerFeed PRO SERIES for Fruit & Citrus. Once flowering finishes on ornamental blossom trees, give them a light prune and regular applications of Seasol to keep them looking good.
If you have an orchard with deciduous fruit trees such as apples, pears, plums and cherries they will be in bloom too. On a sunny spring day, the flowers will be buzzing with bees as they carry out the important work of pollination which in turn produces fruit. Leave fruit tree pruning until after the crop is harvested in summer or autumn.
Five important jobs for early spring
- Apply a general all-purpose fertiliser such as PowerFeed All Purpose including Natives to all the garden.
- Visit a local open garden, park, bushland or flower show to really enjoy the beauty of spring.
- Give the lawn a boost by removing weeds and applying Seasol Lawn Care to revitalise soil and strong growth.
- Deadhead flowers and apply Seasol Biochar with Zeolite to boost soil and plant health.
- Keep an eye out for emerging weeds and pull them out while they are young – well before flowering or setting seed.
Step up watering
While weather can be variable in spring, it is important to get ready to water the garden when hot conditions arrive. Be ready with the hose, watering can or watering system to get water to thirsty plants.
If watering hasn’t been a priority, check that hoses are working well and have all their attachments. Make sure that hoses can reach all plants, adding extra length if necessary by using a hose joiner. Also check for splits or damage to hoses. Damaged areas can easily be cut out and the hose rejoined to extend its life.
Also operate watering systems and inspect the outlets to ensure they are all working well and reaching the roots of plants. Blocked sprinklers and drippers should be unblocked or replaced.
Planet-friendly pest control
Keep an eye out for the good guys in the garden who are working hard to rid your garden of pests before you reach for a garden pesticide. These are natural predators that hunt down and kill pests. Many are easy to find at work in the garden including ladybirds and their young munching on aphids on rose and citrus shoots. Also watch for predatory wasps hunting for caterpillars.
Beneficial predators are also at work in the soil but are not so easy to see. In healthy soils, beneficial nematodes that target hard-to-control soil-borne pests such as cutworms and the larvae of cockchafers and beetles (often called curl grubs) will be busy in soils.
Plants in containers or garden beds may wilt or die as their root systems are attacked by the pest. Birds and bandicoots are natural predators as are many soil-borne organisms.
