Gardening Australia’s Summer Garden Tips

COOL

‘Tis the season to harvest spuds. Once foliage has lost colour and the potato stems begin to flop, lift the tubers, dry them out and store them somewhere dark. Hoe hoe hoe into weeds, especially the dreaded yellow flowering cape weed. Lift these weeds from the ground and place upside down, roots and all, under plants to act as a marvellous mulch. English lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) is flowering fantastically now, so take the time to appreciate the colour and delicate fragrance of these old-fashioned faves, and if you don’t have one – get one in!

TEMPERATE

Protect your pot plants while you’re away this summer. Mulch the top of the pots, sit them in a saucer of water (or the bathtub) and you’ll be set! Get crafty and turn old paper into gift tags or decorations that are impregnated with seeds - your very own seed paper that can be planted after it’s been used. Check the fact sheet for instructions. In the vegie patch, make sure you keep tip-pruning herbs like basil, rosemary and oregano to slow down the flowering and produce even more delicious foliage, perfect for festive feasts!

SUBTROPICAL

Fruit flies are in full force in the subtropics at the moment, so don’t let them spoil your productive party. Place exclusion netting or bags over susceptible fruits as they ripen. Give your worms a happy holiday and relocate their accommodation into the shade for the summer. Place a wet hessian sack in the top of the farm to keep these critters cool. It’s the most wonderful time of the year to enjoy the colourful calyx of the NSW Christmas bush (Ceratopetalum gummiferum). White flowers give way to stunning carmine sepals, making this a fab feature tree

TROPICAL

In the tropics, the Christmas orchid (Calanthe triplicata) is in bloom now, it’s showy, pure white clusters of flowers on metre long stems. Stunners in pots, contact your local orchid society to track one down. It may be hot, but it’s the perfect time to plant snake beans. These climbers are heavy croppers, and adore the heat so whack in a trellis, pop in some seeds and watch them grow! Give the gift of conservation with a potted aniseed myrtle, a rare native rainforest tree. Syzygium anisatum edible, highly aromatic foliage, and is an excellent small tree for home gardens.

ARID

Peaches and nectarines are starting to fruit, so if it looks like your tree has a whopping crop, it’s a good idea to thin fruit now to improve eventual fruit size and quality. Get your vegie beds prepped for another round of planting in early February and sow a crop of green manure to improve soil health, vitality and water retention. It’s a pressie for your patch Fertilising stressed plants can tip them over the edge, so if your plants are struggling through summer, give them water, compost and mulch, but don’t be tempted to give them a feed.