Cornflowers have the most stunning deep blue flowers and unlike most bedding plants cannot be grown from seedlings in punnets since they don’t transplant well at all. Best the dig a patch in full sun with good drainage and then rake it to a fine tilth and sprinkle the seed over that area and lightly rake the seed in. Water periodically, but not obsessively, as they grow on the dry side. The small grey leaf seedlings soon appear and when they reach 20cm pinch their tips out to encourage laterals to develop. That way they produce the best head of flowering spikes in early spring.

There are some modern aids in the garden that many would not be without, but drip-feeding your lemon tree is one labour saving device you could do without. The other is the organic pellet. Great for a lawn or mixed shrub bed, but on citrus they supply nitrogen and little else. Good for leaf growth but little else. Citrus are big feeders and they like their balanced nutrient as a water soluble soaking in a trench at the edge of their spread into what we call their root feeder zone under the drip pattern of their leaves.

For juicy lemons and oranges in winter, feeding them now is essential. I’d recommend the specially formatted water-soluble citrus food and sprinkle it into a trench and flood irrigate, then mulch with straw. Then the other requirement is a foliar spray with Zinc and manganese. They come in a pack together and you need warm water and a spray after dark or at least after the sun is off the foliage. Wash your spray gear well after use as zinc corrodes your metal surfaces quickly.

Red Spider was the name given in years past for an infestation of the Two spotted mite Tetranychus urticae. The little blighters can make a real mess of roses in the shade, fuchsias, azaleas and a host of other soft leaved plants. Easily detected by the tell-tale spider web they weave they are quite difficult to eradicate. Kelthane is the top end bliztem spray treatment. Water-soluble sulphur (sold locally as microfine) is effective in cool weather and in shaded areas. An effective non-chemical control can be gained by painstakingly misting the underside of affected leaves, where the mites disperse to regroup next door.

Tree Dahlias are starting to put on a growth spurt, so that’s when they need feeding or else their autumn-winter show will be a bit dismal. They respond best to watering with seaweed or kelp extracts on a fortnightly basis and a slow release fertilizer that’s high in potassium and if you use organic pellets use them sparingly! Some lanky Tree Dahlias may also need a stake before they loose a stem.

There’s an insidious Carnation budworm that has become common in this area this year and if you grow the lovely carnation or any of their dianthus relatives, you may need to treat them or expect worse next year. A single khaki caterpillar with a black stripe down its side eats into a young carnation bud and leaves a hole so that the flower does not develop, even though the empty calyx does. Anyhow control seems effective with a spray of Confidor onto the foliage, being systemic you’d expect to have to do that every three to four weeks. They pupate in the soil, so control then is practically impossible.

Leaf blister sawflies are having a lively time this summer due to cool growing conditions and soft foliage on many of our gum trees. Spraying is not really practicable, but picking the affected leaves and disposing of them in a sealed bag in your waste bin seems realistic. Doing nothing will only see them rapidly multiply next spring and summer.

Downy mildew on lettuce has been common in the hills this summer. This fungal condition is exacerbated by water lying on the leaves for extended mild periods. The secret to avoiding it is to space your lettuce well apart. If growing Cos, keep lettuce seedlings 20cm apart and for Iceberg types at least 45cm. Water with a weeping hose at low pressure, not overhead in mild weather. Plant some more right now and feed with nitrogen nutrients to keep them growing rapidly!

I summer pruned Annie’s roses seven weeks ago and fed them and guess what… they are back in flower in 53 days. It works a treat. Annie’s roses are smothered in blooms this week and lots more buds to follow, with no signs of mildew or aphids. Admittedly as cut roses the stems are a bit short, but as shrub roses for a display, they are stunning. For late flowering cultivars you might even try it now to flower 13th May.

Raspberries have now finished cropping but some have late flowers due to this cool summer, so prune those blooms off. Then prune the two year old canes out. That’s the dark brown canes and with a leather gauntlet they can be twisted off easily, while leaving the one-year-old green stems, as those produce your raspberry crop later this year. In spring feed with super phosphate and potassium sulphate, top-dressed with organic pellets.

Steve sprayed for curl leaf on his peaches or nectarines last spring, got pretty good control but has had to hand pick the odd leaf all summer. That’s normal Steve, but it may be worthwhile to spray again in a few weeks, so that there is less risk of the fungal spores over wintering. Also don’t mulch the leaf fall from those affected trees and put it back as mulch under the same trees. Better use it well away from the peach and nectarine; otherwise you are just reintroducing the leaf blistering spores again.

It’s time to prepare a patch for Sweet Peas. Select a spot in full winter sun and erect a support of at least 3 metres tall, then dig the soil and top dress the surface with garden lime at the rate of about 100 grams per square metre. Then into the rows that you will plant your seed 15cm apart line out superphosphate at the rate of 30grams per running metre and cover with a low mound of 5-10cm high. Into that mound you plant your seed 3cm deep.