Longer, warmer days. Abundant new growth.

Lots of buds, blooms and blossoms.

The Garden Springs to life in September!

Roses

Roses planted in August should now be blooming beautifully. Enjoy the beautiful colours and fragrances throughout your garden.

Remember to fertilise garden plants monthly with Organic Xtra, and top up with Nitrophoska for fantastic blooms. For pots, use a slow release fertiliser for Fruiting and Flowering.

Watch out for Aphids and Caterpillars nibbling on new buds. These can easily be treated with a Neem or Dipel spray to minimise damage.

You may notice some neat, symmetrical holes in your rose leaves. These are made by the female leaf cutter bee, who cuts neat circles from soft rose leaves to line their nests.

Leave them bee as they’re valuable visitors to your garden diversity!

 

 

Neil has some great tips for growing Roses in pots –  check out his helpful video on How to Grow Roses in Pots

Plant for the Bees!

Planting a range of flowers in your garden will give our favourite pollinating friends plenty of choice to forage. Some of our great performing Limberlost favourites include

Cosmos, Basil and Asystasia. These are just a few fabulous plants that our bees will love.

 

Kitchen Garden

Your kitchen garden will be filled with fabulous harvests of fresh herbs and vegetables such as tomatoes, chillis and capsicums. There’s still time to plant short crops such as radish, corn and lettuce before the end of the season, and fresh herbs such as parsley and basil to have them at best harvest as we move into the warmer weather.

Vegetables in the Curcurbit family are loving our longer, warmer days.

Zucchini, Cucumber and Pumpkins are very productive plants at this time of year, as the air is warmer and drier, they are less prone to mildew that can slow plant growth. Zucchini and Cucumber will grow quickly once pollinated, so harvest regularly for small, tender fruits.

Pumpkins will love a large space to grow or a sturdy trellis to climb.

Curcurbits produce both male and female flowers that produce large crops when assisted with hand pollinating.

Female flowers are easily identified by their miniature fruit underneath the flower, while the male flower will have a single stamen inside the flower.

Hand pollinating is easy, simply remove the petals from the male flower and rub pollen over the inside of the female flower, and your work is done!

Eggplants are a great perennial vegetable to grow in your garden. Planting now will ensure a bountiful crop throughout the wet season.

Corn crops are beginning to establish faster in the warmer weather. Grow in blocks of at least 20 plants for best pollination and formation of cobs. Give your corn stalks a shake as flowers develop to allow pollen to drop onto the silks to form large juicy cobs.

 

Fruit trees

Avocado are continuing to flower. For best fruit set, keep a regular supply of water and monthly fertiliser available, and top up with layer of organic mulch to keep a consistent supply of nutrients heading to the rootzone.

Citrus are producing fresh new growth. Keep an eye out for damage to fresh new foliage from leaf miner. While it won’t affect fruit production, they look unsightly.

White oil is a good preventative on new foliage, deterring egg laying moths, and treatment for the miner once hatched.

Enjoy fresh mulberries from your backyard tree as it produces new growth flushes. Best eaten fresh from the tree, or make the most of a bumper harvest by freezing until you have enough for delicious jams!

Mango, Lychee and Longon will be in flower. Hold off fertilising and water until fruit has set on the tree.

Enjoy the mild, sunny weather of September in your garden.