• Hardy bedding plants to go in now are the grey leaf white flowering salvia ‘Victoria White’ is a beauty for this area. It’s a very strong salvia and takes our dry summers better than most of the red cultivars. Plant the red salvias by all means but only if you have a micro-irrigation watering system that will give them a humid afternoon on most days!
• Another very tough bedding plant is the Vinca, more correctly known as Catharanthus rosea. The Dynasty™’ series have all the white, pink apricot and rose shades you’d expect and they really are tough. I’ve had a few in pots for two years now in full sun and they have flowered for 9 months of the year. Fed with nothing more than Neutrog’s Rapid Raiser™ for an organic buffer and Cultisol for a potassium fix.

· Only the brave plant seedlings at this time of year, especially if you plan to be away for a week or two. Anyhow, in the veggie plot it is time to plant the late tomatoes and ‘Burnley Bounty’ is the best late variety for this area. No others even come close. Bred at the famous Burnley College of Horticulture in Melbourne (as it was known then).

• If you are not venturing away and want to plant a new colour bed then Petunias are really the go. They love the sun and the heat, but nip them back as soon as you plant them, to get the best set of laterals that will flower their heads off for months to come. There is hardly a poor variety for this area, since they all do well, even in containers.

· Pick of the Petunias in my opinion are: ‘Groovy’ a local mix of deep red and deep blue, ideal for Norwood football fans! ‘Witchcraft’ is another local mixture of pale shades with a few deep ‘Groovy’ colours for contrast. For those with Tuscan desires, the ‘Waltzing Petunia™’ of pale shades or ‘Waterfall’ with soft blues will please you.

· Grapevines that cover a pergola are very prone to powdery mildew on the developing fruit at present, due to dense canopy in most cases. Since spraying is not really an option on fruit your aim to eat soon, thin the canopy to expose the fruit to some sunlight and allow air to circulate more freely.

· If mulching your roses or vegetables remember to add some blood and bone or water soluble fertilizer to the mulch or else the watering and mulch breakdown causes a short term nitrogen draw down on your plants, resulting in yellow leaves and poor flower and fruit set.

· If you have a weedy lawn and maintaining it is nothing more than watering and mowing it, now is the ideal time to feed it. Water well before hand and using ground up organic pellets or water soluble lawn nutrients, give it the twice over! Most weeds cannot complete with a well-fed sward of lawn, no matter what sort or how rough it is. A healthy green lawn is the best New Year present of all to hit a ball around on or just have a roll around with partner or whoever