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- Keep weeding those milk thistles out of your garden this week. They may seem benign but
they harbour the leaf hopper that spreads various viruses into your vegetable garden,
particularly "Big Bud" onto Tomatoes and Eggplant.
- If you have a sheltered spot in you vegetable garden then plant a punnet of Basil
seedlings. If you prefer seed, you’ll need to do that under glass or under a cut out
PET bottle, but make sure you have plenty of ventilation or they will rot off. I find
seedlings a better proposition, since they transplant easily and you crib at least four
weeks at this time of year over seed.
- In the vegetable patch, time to plant the overlooked silverbeet and red beet, carrots,
parsnips and radishes while soil temperatures are low. I sow the seed into a shallow
furrow formed by a rake handle depression and spread the seed thinly, then backfill with
sharp sand. Gives the germinating seed an easy path as they emerge and makes weeding easy,
because of the sandy row markers.
- I noticed thrips on my daylilies over the weekend, so look out for the tiny blighters on
other plants. I’m keen to try my chilli-garlic spray on them to see if it works. Has
anyone had success using any safer sprays than the usual sap-sucking trio of
Rogor®, Mavrik® and Folimat®?
- The weekend warm weather has already dried areas of my garden out, so be aware that your
lawn may soon need watering. I know that seems hard to believe, but on close inspection
its really only the annual grass that looks healthy. Some regard that as a weed, but it is
the main grass on the Football Park oval!
- If you want to have your potted hydrangeas flowering abundantly by Christmas, keep them
in the morning sun until mid October, then whisk them around to a more shaded aspect. The
leaves will go almost yellow in disgust, but will flower beautifully. Plenty of time later
to remedy the leaves and feed them, but there is no substitute to budding development
other than spring sunshine.
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