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- Time to plant Sweet Basil for those summer salads and Italian tomato
dishes and savories. Find a well drained site with lots of sun and protected
from the wind. They need plenty of liquid fertilizer, but if using animal
wastes as a diluted tea, keep it off the leaves!
- Seedlings of eggplant, capsicums, chillies and tomatoes can be planted now
into the hottest and sunniest part of your garden. Don’t mulch them until
we get a run of days over 30°C, since nights are still too cool and the
humidity in the mulch causes fungal diseases.
- There are some lovely miniature roses around this year, for those who
think they have filled their garden. Best aspect about miniatures, there is
no detailed pruning required. Grab the whole plant with leather glove donned
and remove the lot above your thumb! They thrive in pots of at least 25cm
(10") diameter and as deep, located where they get morning sun.
- If you are trying to colour co-ordinate your garden by Christmas, I
suggest you try to get a copy of my latest title in the Gardening Australia
collector’s series "Colour your Garden" available from
newsagents for less than $5.00.
- Don’t overlook Vincas in your bedding schemes or for containers. Much
hardier than Petunias, they thrive in hot spots as well as last three years
and only grow to 35cm plus they never need pruning. Also called Catharanthus
roseus, the ‘Sunseeker™’ range are stunning and the locally blended
‘Little Mixture’ is a classic (pity it has such a dull name).
- If you are trying to establish the ultimate cottage garden with colour
co-ordinated perennials, I picked up a pack of six different packaged
cottage plants for Annie’s garden recently with planting instructions
marketed as ‘Romantic Cottage Hats’. I got the white-blue pack, but
there was a pink pack too and they give the exact planting distances to
achieve the desired effect. How easy is that?
- The newly released rose ‘Olympic Gold™’ is proving very hardy to
local conditions and is the equal of ‘Iceberg’ in its resistance to
black spot and fungal disease. It is quite a bit more expensive than other
potted roses, but the colour and vigour make it a good investment.
- Do not over-water your tomatoes at present since the fusarium and
verticillium wilts are already striking down those cultivars that have no
resistance. You can tell when your tomatoes succumb to fungal wilts, because
they don’t revive when watered.
- If you start loosing tomatoes to wilts, remove the offending variety
immediately and replace with a resistant type like Dynamite™, Mighty Red,
Supermarmande or Vivian (called Joy in Victoria and sold locally in Floriana’s
blue punnets).
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