Yates Growing With You Australia - Summer 2020 by Yates Gardening

SUMMER 2020

Summer

flowers & vegies

WHAT TO SOW & GROW NOW

Christmas COLOUR

EUREKA! Growing luscious lemons

swooning over

succulents SUMMER

lawn care makeover Plus holiday garden prep, gifts for gardeners, tasty tomatoes & more!

Summer SURVIVAL GUIDE

for the garden

Gardens can suffer from heat stress, lack of water or both during hot dry periods. We canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t change the weather but there are a few things we can do to help protect our gardens through tough weather conditions and beyond.

PENETRATE

Use Yates Waterwise Soil Wetters in coir peat, concentrate or hose-on format, to help water penetrate dry soil and get direct to the root zone.

STORE

PROTECT

Spray plant foliage with Yates Waterwise DroughtShield to protect your plants from harsh conditions and reduce moisture loss.

RE-USE ADD MISSING NUTRIENTS

TO GREYWATER

Use Yates Waterwise Water Storage Crystals to help plants withstand dry weather conditions and infrequent watering by storing water at the plant's roots.

Use Yates Greywater Fertiliser, to re-use greywater successfully by adding missing nutrients, so you can feed home garden plants and lawns.

G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S

Yates is a registered trademark of DuluxGroup (Australia) Pty Ltd

Letter

FROM THE EDITOR

Summer is brimming with much anticipated backyard harvests of vegies and herbs like tomatoes, zucchinis, cucumbers, beans, sweet corn and basil and some delicious stone fruit from our young orchard. Keeping the naughty cockatoos at bay is a constant challenge and I’m dreaming of installing a large net structure over our entire food forest. For the moment it’s me running out into the garden (often in my pyjamas), arms waving madly and screeching. It’s fortunate I have enthusiastic gardening neighbours who appreciate my cockatoo scaring techniques!

delicious fruit. With backyards shrinking and more people living in apartments, it’s more important than ever for people to learn how to grow edible plants in small spaces. In addition to information on how to grow 50 different edible plants, the book includes important details about what to grow and when, special care for potted plants and loads of fabulous photos. I’m very fortunate to be supported by Yates and Harper Collins Publishers in my book writing adventures and I hope that lots of lovely gardeners, both current and gardeners-to-be, will be inspired to grow some of their own fresh food.

Zinnias, sunflowers, nasturtiums, buddleja and cosmos are gearing up for a floral festival and are a welcome sight during summer. It’s lovely to wander out into the garden in the cool of the morning to see the bees foraging in these flowers and also pick a few stems to bring indoors. After a spring filled with vases of sweet peas, freesias, jonquils and daffodils, it’s lovely to be able to continue picking home grown flowers during summer.

Have a wonderful summer in your gardens,

I am pleased to report that our Araucana chickens, Lady Gaga and Heihei, have started to lay their gorgeous blue shelled eggs. I’m a proud chicken mum! Having raised them from week old fluff balls, they’re super friendly too and come up for a cuddle. Chicken cuddles are a perfect way to start a day! One of the things that has kept me wonderfully busy this year has been writing another gardening book and I’m very proud to reveal that ‘Yates Top 50 Edible Plants For Pots and How NOT to Kill Them’ will be available in early December. It’s all about how to grow your own food plants in pots, from fresh vegies, herbs and spices to a wide range of

Angie Thomas

Editor, Horticultural Consultant to Yates

Indoor Orchid care made easy! Orchids are an ever-popular indoor plant. Yates has made it easy to pot (or re-pot) and feed them with a range of indoor orchid plant care products.

POTTING To give your orchids the perfect foundation, use Yates® Specialty Potting Mix Orchids. It is specially formulated as a small to medium grade coarse mix that provides good drainage which is important to orchids. It also contains biostimulants for plant and root health and controlled release fertiliser that feeds orchids for up to 6 months!

NO MESS FERTILISING Yates® Thrive® Plant Food Spikes Orchids are specially designed to feed orchids where they need it most, at the roots. Each plant food spike contains slow release nutrients that feeds orchids for up to 2 months. It’s easy to use and out of sight – simply insert into the potting mix and sit back and relax!

READY TO USE LIQUID FERTILISER Yates® Thrive® Liquid Plant Food Drippers are specially formulated to help easily feed indoor orchids. Each dripper contains the right NPK balance to feed indoor orchids for 4 weeks. To use the dripper, simply snip off the tip of the dripper and insert into the orchid potting mix. They are perfect for those who want an easy and convenient way to feed orchids! Ideal for when indoor orchids need a quick boost feed! Yates and Thrive are registered trade marks of DuluxGroup (Australia) Pty Ltd.

WHAT'S INSIDE

SUMMER GARDENING ESSENTIALS

SUMMER VEGIE & HERB CARE

GIFT IDEAS FOR GARDENERS

It’s time to get busy in the garden! Learn about key summer gardening jobs to keep your garden looking fantastic.

Getting the most out of your summer vegie patch.

Buy something special for the gardener in your life.

LAWN REPAIR & CARE

VEGIES & HERBS

SUMMER LOVING

Fixing lawn bare patches & giving the lawn a quick & easy weed tidy up.

Keep the fresh, home grown produce coming with lots of delicious vegies & herbs to sow & grow in summer.

Add summer colour to your garden with eye-catching flowering trees & shrubs.

SUMMER LAWN HEALTH

EUREKA!

Complete care for the soil underneath your lawn.

Grow your own juicy, tangy lemons.

LAWN PEST FOCUS

DEVIL’S IVY 101

Tips for caring for one of the most popular indoor plants around.

SUMMER CITRUS CARE

INTERVIEW WITH AN INTERIOR PLANTSCAPER

Learn about sod webworm & how to protect your lawn from this damaging caterpillar.

Our top tips for keeping your citrus healthy during summer.

When indoor plants are your private & professional passion.

LAWN PEST WATCH

WASP PATROL

SWOONING OVER SUCCULENTS

Controlling destructive grasshoppers & lawn armyworm

How to control common pest wasps.

Feast your eyes on 3 top succulents - agaves, echeveria & sedums.

SUMMER ROSE CARE

STOP THE SWAT!

FABULOUS FLOWERS TO SOW & GROW

How to keep your roses looking fabulous over the warmest months.

Controlling annoying flies & mosquitoes during the summer entertaining season.

Keep the blooms coming with our handy guide to what to sow in summer.

PETAL POWER

Bring vibrant floral colour into your summer garden with calibrachoa & bidens.

HEAVENLY HOME GROWN TOMATOES

Grow the tastiest tomatoes at your place.

CHRISTMAS COLOUR CREATIONS

Add pizzazz to your Christmas festivities with fabulous flowers.

GARDENING IN DIFFERENT CLIMATES

Handy summer gardening tips for around Australia.

PREP YOUR GARDEN FOR CHRISTMAS & THE HOLIDAYS

Quick & easy tips for sprucing up the garden for Christmas.

G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S

SUMMER GARDENING

Essentials

Summer can be a challenging time for gardens (and gardeners!) around Australia, from parched soil and scorching hot temperatures to intense humidity and drenching monsoonal rains. With a few gardening tips and tricks, it can also be a celebration of vibrant flowers, a time to enjoy lots of delicious home grown produce and a chance to relax and recuperate with friends and family on a lovely lush green lawn.

Ensuring plants are getting enough moisture is key to keeping lawns and gardens thriving during summer. Over time, and particularly during hot and dry conditions, soil and potting mix can become water repellent. This can result in moisture pooling on the surface and not moving down into soil or potting mix evenly and effectively. To make the most of any irrigation and rainfall, using a soil wetter helps break down the waxy, water repellent layer and enables moisture to penetrate down into the root zone where it’s needed.

BEFORE

The Yates® range of Waterwise® Soil Wetters can be used on garden beds, lawns and potted plants to help fix water repellency and promote improved moisture levels in soil and potting mix. Yates Waterwise Concentrated Soil Wetter is a liquid formulation for mixing in a watering can and applying over soil and potting mix. It also contains added seaweed and trace elements to promote healthy plant growth.

AFTER

Yates Waterwise Soil Wetter is a coconut fibre (coir peat) based wetting agent that is applied by hand around the garden and potted plants. Coir peat also adds valuable organic matter to the soil and helps hold water at the root zone.

Lawn lovers tip!

You won’t see it, but soil underneath lawns can also become water repellent. It’s quick and easy to fix with hose-on Yates Waterwise Soil Wetter. The handy 2L pack will treat 130m2 of lawn.

DroughtShield To help plants cope with stressful summer conditions, foliage of sensitive and wilt-prone plants like hydrangeas can be sprayed with Yates® Waterwise® DroughtShield™. It’s an anti-transpirant that forms a protective, biodegradable polymer film over the leaves, reducing moisture loss from the foliage as well as helping to reduce sunburn. Apply Yates DroughtShield prior to predicted hot weather, before going away on holidays and also over plants prior to transplanting to help reduce transplant shock.

Mite control Mites, often called red spider or two-spotted mites, love summer’s hot dry weather. Mites are very tiny pests that are difficult to spot with the naked eye. They can attack a wide variety of plants, including tomatoes, roses, strawberries, beans, azaleas and indoor plants. The first symptoms include yellowing or mottled leaves and as mite colonies increase, they form masses of spidery like webbing. Yates Nature’s Way® Vegie & Herb Spray is an insecticidal soap, made from natural vegetable oils, that is very effective against mites. It works by contact action so good coverage of the mites is important, including underneath foliage where mites often hide. Spray plants every 5–7 days to keep mites under control. Yates Nature’s Way Vegie & Herb Spray will also control other common summer pests like aphids, mealybug and whitefly and is approved for use in organic gardening.

Easy feeding As we race around preparing for Christmas festivities and holiday adventures, don’t forget to give the garden a well-deserved feed. It will encourage healthy green growth and promote lots of beautiful summer flowers. Yates Thrive® Natural All Purpose comes in a quick and easy hose-on applicator, so you can feed and nurture your garden in a matter of minutes. It’s a complete plant food that contains more than 50% natural ingredients (including fish, seaweed, blood and bone and humates) plus fast acting nutrients, bio-active microbes to unlock nutrients in the soil and microbe boosters for soil health. A 2L pack feeds 100m2 of garden beds and lawns.

Water saving During the hottest months we need to make the most of every drop of water. Greywater from the laundry or shower can be collected and used to water the lawn and garden. Add Yates Greywater Fertiliser to your greywater to help neutralise the alkaline effect of soaps and detergents on soil pH, help kill unwanted microbes in the greywater and reduce the potential negative effects of greywater on soil quality. Yates Greywater Fertiliser also contains the nutrients nitrogen, potassium and chelated iron to promote healthy plant growth. G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S

LAWN

Repair & Care Bare spots in lawns can be as a result of many different factors, including lawn insect pests, diseases, drought and wear and tear from kids and pets. In addition to ruining the look of the lawn, weeds are opportunistic and will quickly invade bare patches in the lawn if you don’t repair them. Summer is a great time for repairing bare patches with lawn seed, as new grass seedlings can establish quickly with regular watering. To prepare the bare patch for repair: »

Remove any dead grass or weeds and gently cultivate and loosen the soil to create a nice soft and crumbly surface for the seeds to grow in.

Yates Lawn Seed Repair contains a premium blend of turf seeds that are ideal for patch repair in both sun or shaded lawns, creating a rich green, fine textured grass cover. Yates Lawn Seed Repair also contains slow release fertiliser that will feed the new patch as it establishes and a natural wetting agent to promote better water absorption into the soil and aid seed germination.

It’s very important to water the patch regularly while the new grass establishes. Watering the patch several times a day may be required in hot, windy or dry weather.

Scatter Yates® Lawn Seed Repair over the patch and gently rake into the surface.

And as we’re all keen to enjoy time in our backyards over summer, it’s time to control any untidy, prickly or invasive weeds in the lawn like thistles, catsear and capeweed. You can easily control the most common broadleaf weeds in lawns, before they take over, in only a few minutes by using hose-on applicators. »

If you have a couch or kikuyu lawn, apply easy to use hose-on Yates® Weed’n’Feed®. If you have a buffalo lawn, it’s important to choose weed killers that are safe for buffalo. Yates Buffalo PRO® Weed’n’Feed has been specially designed for buffalo lawns. Both Yates Weed’n’Feed and Yates Buffalo PRO Weed’n’Feed will also give the lawn a quick burst of nutrients to promote healthy rich green growth.

If you prefer using a pressure sprayer, dilute Yates Lawn Weedkiller Bindii & Clover Concentrate or Yates Buffalo PRO Weed Killer Concentrate in a sprayer and apply over weed affected lawn areas. These concentrates can also be applied using a watering can.

For small lawns or small patches of weeds, Yates Lawn Weedkiller For Lawns Spot Spray is a handy ready to use spray for controlling broadleaf weeds in non-buffalo lawns.

Summer lawn health The health of soil and the lawn’s root system, hidden below the surface, plays an important part in creating a beautiful, lush green lawn. Healthy soil, that also absorbs moisture evenly and effectively, promotes a strong lawn root system and helps lawns flourish over the long hot months of summer.

Root care Munns® Professional Root Regenerator™ Soil Improver combines a range of soil improvers, including seaweed and humates, as well as microbes, to assist nutrient uptake and stimulate deeper lawn root development. Stronger roots help achieve a healthier lawn, including during periods of drought. Munns Professional Root Regenerator can be used all year round on all lawn types and is applied over the lawn via a pressure sprayer or hose-on applicator and then watered in to move the root regenerating ingredients down into the root zone.

Soil wetting Making sure moisture is getting down to the lawn’s root system is vital in keeping the lawn healthy. Sometimes the soil underneath the lawn can become water repellent (hydrophobic) and moisture doesn’t penetrate evenly or effectively into the root zone. Munns Professional Smart Wetter™ Lawn Wetter contains a combination of two professional grade wetting agents, plus seaweed. It alleviates water repellency and increases water availability in the soil, helping to keep water in the root zone for longer. Easily apply Munns Professional Smart Wetter Lawn Wetter over the lawn using a pressure sprayer or hose-on applicator and then water in well.

NEW MUNNS® PROFESSIONAL CONCENTRATES Introducing NEW Munns® Professional Concentrates, a range of new liquid lawn fertilisers that will take your lawn to the next level

•

Best kept secrets of the professional turf industry to achieve FAST results

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Suitable for ALL lawn types

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HUGE coverage ranging from 500m2 to 1000m2

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Professional range to take your lawn to the next level and incorporate in your care regime

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Seasonal lawn care programs available on munns.com.au

Learn more at munns.com.au Munns and M it must be Munns logo are registered trade marks and Green Dominator, Smart Wetter, Lift Off and Root Regenerator are trade marks of Munns Lawn & Garden Company.

Sod Webworm By Denis Crawford

Do you have brown patches in your lawn that seem to be getting bigger? You might have a sod webworm infestation. Sod webworms are the larvae (caterpillars) of moths (Herpetogramma licarsisalis) native to Australia, tropical Asia, central and northern Africa, and some Pacific Islands. In Australia sod webworm is found throughout Queensland, in NSW as far south as Batemans Bay, and in the top end of the Northern Territory. Sod webworm was once viewed as a sporadic pest of pasture, sports fields and parks, but is now considered a serious pest of warm-season lawn grasses especially during the warmer months of January to April. It is the larvae (caterpillars) which cause all the damage. Larvae when first hatched are tiny (1–2mm long) creamy coloured caterpillars with dark-brown heads. When fully grown they’re about 25mm long and pale greenish-brown, with two brown raised spots on each body segment, and a brown head. The adult moths are harmless nectar feeders and may be drawn to outside lights at night. Adult moths are active at dusk and fly low over lawns when preparing to lay eggs but hide in long grass and shrubs during the day. Female moths lay their eggs on grass blades or in lawn thatch (sometimes singly, sometimes in clusters) in the evening. Eggs hatch and the larvae grow through 5 moults in about 2 weeks during warm weather. Larvae feed on grass blades and debris at night and hide in lawn thatch during the day in webbing tunnels made of bits of grass and silk.

The entire life cycle can be completed in as little as 6 weeks during warm weather. There may be as many as 4 generations per year in northern tropical regions, and 2 or 3 generations further south. Sod webworms can damage warm-season lawn grasses such as couch, kikuyu, buffalo, and broadleaf carpet grass. Small larvae chew on leaf edges leaving notched and ragged grass blades. Mature larvae consume entire leaf blades and may defoliate patches of turf. Brown patches may appear, and close examination will show green grass blades have all been eaten off and the thatch exposed. If left untreated the brown patches will increase in size. Excessive fertilising may result in thick thatch which encourages egg-laying moths. If this occurs dethatch your lawn, reduce fertiliser use and water deeply rather than frequently. Mowing when grass is long results in lots of debris build-up on the ground, which sod webworms like to tunnel in or pupate in. Avoid this by mowing the lawn regularly. Sod webworm can be controlled with Yates® Grub Kill and Protect For Lawns. Regular monitoring of your lawn and applying Yates Grub Kill and Protect for Lawns at the first signs of any damage will ensure that a major infestation of sod webworm doesn’t occur ‘overnight’.

G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S

Lawn pest watch Grasshoppers and lawn armyworm are two common causes of lawn damage during summer. There are different forms of grasshoppers, the most common being brown, around 1.5cm long and having no or insignificant wings. You may be familiar with the snapping and buzzing sound that grasshoppers produce as they jump. Grasshoppers are chewing insects that can damage lawns by rapidly devouring grass leaves and stems. Grasshoppers often eat leaves from the edge inwards, can cause ragged holes or brown patches in the lawn. Grasshoppers can be particularly troublesome during periods of drought, as home gardens unwittingly provide them with both habitat and food. When there are lots of grasshoppers, their behaviour can change and form a swarm and large numbers of grasshoppers can cause rapid defoliation.

In addition to bare patches, if you see birds pecking at the lawn, it can be a sign that lawn armyworm may be present. The birds are searching for the caterpillars. TIP: You can monitor for lawn armyworm by placing moistened hessian bags or towels on a small section of the lawn overnight, near damaged areas. Check underneath the next morning for hiding caterpillars.

Baythroid® Advanced Insect Killer for Lawns can be applied over the lawn using a garden sprayer or watering can to control lawn armyworm. It’s best to apply in the late afternoon, as lawn armyworm usually come out to feed after sunset.

Baythroid® Advanced Insect Killer for Lawns contains a concentrated synthetic pyrethroid that is effective against grasshoppers. Apply over the lawn using a garden sprayer as soon as grasshoppers are detected. Adequate coverage of the lawn is essential for effective control. Lawn armyworm are caterpillars of night-flying moths which lay their eggs amongst turf leaves. The caterpillars grow up to 4cm long and range in colour from green to brown, with darker and paler stripes running along their back and sides. Adult moths are brown and attracted to lights at night. There can be multiple generations of armyworm in a year, with caterpillars being most active during summer and autumn. In large numbers, armyworm can advance like an army (hence their name), strip the turf foliage and cause rapidly expanding bare patches.

Yates Grub Kill & Protect For Lawns can also be used to control destructive lawn armyworm. Apply these granules over the lawn using a spreader or by hand. Yates Grub Kill & Protect contains ‘acelepryn’ technology, as used in the professional turf industry.

Yates Grub Kill & Protect For Lawns will also control other common summer lawn pests, including sod webworm, black cutworm and Argentinian scarab larvae, helping to take the guess work out of which lawn pest you have.

G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S

SUMMER

Rose care

IT’S COMING UP ROSES! Keep your roses in fragrant and fabulous condition with our top summer rose care tips: Summer can bring heat, hot dry winds and high humidity, which all affect the health and appearance of roses. And if your roses have developed leggy or sparse growth and spindly stems it’s a sign that your roses need a summer prune. Summer pruning roses refreshes and reinvigorates the plants and they will respond in a matter of weeks, putting on new growth, ready for another flush of flowers. In fact, you can time rose re-blooming if you have a special event coming up, as they’ll flower again around 6–7 weeks after pruning. Perhaps time your rose pruning so you’ll have beautiful home grown blooms to give your Valentine on February 14th! Rose pruning is not tricky, just trim off around 30% of the overall growth and also remove any dead or thin stems. You can use hedge shears or a good sharp pair of secateurs. Don’t forget to protect your hands, arms (and face!) from rose thorns with sturdy gloves, long sleeves and glasses. After pruning, collect up all the fallen leaves and stems, which helps to reduce the incidence of disease, and apply some Yates® Thrive® Rose & Flower Liquid Plant Food and water in well. It’s a complete and balanced liquid fertiliser that has been boosted with extra flower promoting potassium.

Next, spread a layer of mulch, like sugar cane, lucerne or pea straw around the root zone, which will help keep the soil moist and protect the top soil from baking sun. Reapply Yates Thrive each week to encourage healthy new foliage growth and lots of gorgeous flowers. Tender new stem and leaf growth, together with fresh flower buds, are susceptible to attack by pests like aphids and caterpillars. Mites can also wreak havoc, as they love summer’s hot and dry conditions. Yates® Rose Gun Black Spot & Insect Pest Killer controls the most common pests on roses in one easy, ready to use spray. Spray plants every 2 weeks to help keep plants healthy and protected. For larger gardens, or people with lots of roses, Yates Rose Shield Black Spot & Insect Pest Killer is a concentrated rose spray that is diluted in water and applied via a sprayer.

Yates Rose Gun and Yates Rose Shield also contain a fungicide to control common rose diseases such as black spot, rust and powdery mildew.

Petal power

Bring vibrant colour into your summer garden with calibrachoa and bidens

Captivating calibrachoa Calibrachoa are delightful plants with masses of mini petunia-like flowers during spring and summer. Calibrachoa ‘Goodnight Kiss’ (Calibrachoa x hybrida) is a seductively named new calibrachoa from Ball Australia which has vivid deep pink bi-colour flowers featuring a novel star pattern in the centre. It has the clever ability to ‘self-clean’ the spent flowers, so it stays neat and tidy all season. ‘Goodnight Kiss’ will look stunning in a hanging basket or pot, where it can show off its trailing habit, or is equally at home mass planted in a garden bed or grown amongst other compact flowers or foliage plants. It grows 15–25cm tall and 30cm wide and does well in full sun or part shade.

Bidens for bees Bidens ‘Bee Alive’ (Bidens ferulifolia) from Ball Australia has masses of vibrant honey scented yellow and orange flowers, grows to around 25cm tall and up to 60cm wide and loves a spot that receives at least 6 hours of sunshine a day. It’s a great heat tolerant plant for garden beds and pots and will flower for an extended period during the warmer months. And its high levels of nectar are a magnet for bees, butterflies and other pollinating insects. Perfect for growing near the vegie patch and fruit trees to promote pollination. To keep your ‘Goodnight Kiss’ and ‘Bee Alive’ looking fabulous, feed every 1–2 weeks with fast acting Yates® Thrive® Rose & Flower Liquid Plant Food, which is a complete fertiliser that’s specially designed to feed flowering plants.

Calibrachoa and Bidens images courtesy of Ball Australia G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S

heavenly

home grown TOMATOES

From the largest garden to the smallest sunny balcony, there’s room in your life for home grown tomatoes! They’re so sweet and tasty and are a perfect vegie to have on hand for delicious salads, pizza toppings and home-made pasta sauce, or perhaps some sneaky garden snacking.

In temperate areas there’s still time to sow tomato seed in early summer and in cool areas, head to your local garden centre for a punnet or pot of tomato seedlings. In warm areas, you can sow and grow tomatoes all year round. There’s a range of tempting tomato varieties to choose from, including large juicy beefsteak tomatoes, where a single slice can almost cover an entire sandwich, Italian tomatoes that are ideal for cooking and sun-drying and bite-sized and flavour packed cherry tomatoes.

Here are some terrific tomatoes for you to grow at your place: »

Yates® Tomato ‘Tiny Tim’ has masses of sweet, cherry-sized fruit. It’s a dwarf plant that doesn’t need to be staked and is ideal for growing in a vegie patch or in pots.

Yates Tomato ‘Roma’ tomatoes have deep red, medium sized pear shaped fruit that are ideal for cooking, bottling, sauces, soups and sun drying. This variety doesn’t need staking and can be grown in pots or in the vegie patch.

Yates Tomato ‘Sweet Bite’ is a prolific variety that produces 100 or more fruit on each plant. The plant requires staking, but is quick to grow, with fruit maturing after around 10 weeks from sowing.

Tomato seeds can be sown direct where they are to grow, or seedlings raised in punnets of Yates Seed Raising Mix and transplanted when they’re around 5cm high. For best results, dig some Yates Dynamic Lifter® Soil Improver & Plant Fertiliser into the soil before sowing seed or transplanting seedlings. This adds valuable organic matter to the soil, improves soil structure and attracts earthworms and beneficial soil microorganisms. If your tomato variety needs staking, insert the support at the time of planting or sowing to avoid damaging the roots later. Once the seedlings are established, each week apply a tomato specific plant food, like Yates Thrive® Tomato Liquid Plant Food, to help promote healthy leaf growth as well as lots of flowers that will turn into delicious, juicy tomatoes.

It’s important to water tomato plants regularly to ensure the soil (or potting mix) is consistently moist. Inadequate or irregular watering, which contributes to calcium deficiency, can predispose tomato fruit to develop a condition called blossom end rot, which results in a dark, sunken area at the base of tomato fruit. An application of Yates Hydrangea Pinking Liquid Lime & Dolomite can help reduce the incidence of blossom end rot by supplying plants with calcium.

Top tomato growing tips Don’t let your much anticipated tomatoes be ruined by pests and diseases such as aphids, caterpillars, fruit fly, mildews, leaf spots and blights. Keep your tomatoes healthy and protected by using a few simple products during summer:

» Yates® Tomato & Vegetable Dust is a ready to use dust that contains an effective combination of insecticides and fungicides to control the most common insect pests and diseases on tomatoes. Quickly and easily dust over the plants every 7–10 days. »

Fruit fly is a serious pest of tomatoes. It often goes unnoticed until the fruit is sliced open to reveal a mass of squirming fruit fly maggots. Adult female fruit flies lay their eggs just underneath the skin of developing tomatoes (you may notice a small ‘sting’ mark on the skin). The eggs then hatch into maggots, which ruin the fruit. Tomatoes need to be protected from fruit fly from when the fruit is still small and before it starts to change colour. Fruit fly can be prevented by baiting with Yates Nature’s Way® Fruit Fly Control. It is applied onto the tomato foliage, rather than the fruit itself, and attracts the fruit fly which then ingests a combination of the sugar and protein bait and an insecticide derived from soil bacteria (spinosad). Yates Nature’s Way Fruit Fly Control can also be applied onto a 30cm square of plywood which is hung at mid height in the vegie patch. Re-apply the bait onto the foliage or plywood every 7 days. It’s important to re-spray the plants or the plywood each week, or sooner if there has been rain, to maintain effective protection.

Summer heat drains the life from soil

Poor Summer Soil

Nurture Summer Soil with

Enables better water & nutrient holding.

Feeds earthworms & micro-organisms.

Assists drainage & aeration through binding of soil particles.

G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S Yates and Dynamic Lifter are registered trademarks of DuluxGroup Australia (Pty) Ltd

Good source of slow release organic nutrients: Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium (NPK).

Summer

vegie care Spring planted vegies & herbs are literally jumping out of the ground during summer’s warm weather. Here are some summer vegie care hints to keep your patch or pot wonderfully productive.

Beetroot »

Beetroot is a versatile and delicious vegie that’s rich in folate, fibre and antioxidants. The roots can be roasted or pickled and used in relish or hummus and the colourful young leaves mixed into salads.

There are large round varieties like Yates Beetroot Super King or petite and space saving Yates Baby Beets that are perfect for pots.

To promote tender sweet beetroots, feed each week with Yates Thrive® Vegie & Herb Liquid Plant Food.

Watch out for snails and slugs, which like to devour the leaves. Control them by lightly sprinkling Yates Blitzem® Snail & Slug Pellets around the base of the plants.

You can continue to sow beetroot seed during summer. Soak seed for two hours before sowing to ensure water penetrates through the corky outer coating and into the seeds.

Zucchini »

Whether it’s zoodles, zucchini slice, stuffed zucchini flowers or hiding zucchini in anything from bolognese to brownies, zucchinis are a summer essential.

Promote healthy leaf growth and lots of zucchinis by feeding each week with a complete plant food that’s rich in flower-promoting potassium, like Yates Thrive Flower & Fruit Soluble Fertiliser. Zucchini fruit grow very quickly! They’re best picked when they’re small and tender.

Zucchinis can be susceptible to the disease powdery mildew, which looks like a dusting of talcum powder over the leaves. Help reduce the incidence of powdery mildew by watering plants gently at the base (rather than wetting the leaves) and spray the plants with Yates Lime Sulfur.

Yates Zucchini Blackjack and Yates Zucchini Solar Flare seed can still be sown in early summer in cool areas, and throughout summer in temperate and warm climates.

Beans »

Beans love warm weather and will be growing rapidly during summer. Whether you’re growing dwarf (bush) beans or climbing beans, to promote a long and productive harvest season, pick beans regularly, keep the soil (or potting mix) moist and feed each week with high potassium Yates Thrive Flower & Fruit Soluble Fertiliser.

In temperate and warm zones you can keep sowing bean seeds throughout summer, in cool areas sow up until mid summer.

Beans can be prone to infestations of mites. Also called red spider or two spotted mites, you may start to notice leaves yellowing or mottling and spidery webbing developing between leaves and stems. Control mites by spraying the plants every 5–7 days with Yates Nature’s Way Vegie & Herb Spray Natrasoap. It’s a soap based spray made from natural vegetable oils and is approved for use in organic gardening.

Sweet basil »

Picking handfuls of your own richly fragrant sweet basil is a summer delight. There’s no need to buy bunches from the supermarket when you can so easily grow your own. During summer you can continue to sow basil seed, direct where the plants are to grow, in sunny or partly shaded vegie patches or pots.

Keep basil plants well-watered and feed each week with Yates Thrive Natural Vegie & Herb Liquid Plant Food. It’s rich in nitrogen to encourage lots of lush leafy growth and contains more than 50% natural ingredients, like seaweed, blood and bone and humates.

Trim off any flowers that develop, or let a basil plant or two mature and flower, as the flowers are magnets for bees and other beneficial insects. Keep sowing more seed to give you an ongoing supply of this delicious herb.

Sweet corn »

Sweet corn devoured raw, fresh and amazingly juicy from the garden is divine. It’s well worth devoting a square metre or two in your backyard to growing sweet corn. It’s best planted in blocks of short rows (rather than one long row) to aid pollination.

Corn is a hungry plant and should be fed each week with Yates Thrive All Purpose Soluble Fertiliser to encourage healthy leaf and stem growth and cob development.

Sweet corn can be susceptible to attack by caterpillars, which can chew into the developing corn cob. Regularly monitor for caterpillars themselves or signs of their damage or droppings. Spray plants every 5–7 days with Yates Nature’s Way® Caterpillar Killer (Dipel) to control caterpillars. It’s based on a naturally occurring soil bacterium and is approved for use in organic gardening.

Pick when the fine ‘silk’ at the top of the cob has just browned.

In temperate and cool climates, sweet corn seed can continue to be sown until the end of December and in warm climates sowing can start at the end of summer. G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S

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vegies & herbs TO S OW I N S U M M E R

During the year’s hottest months, there’s a fantastic range of vegies and herbs to sow, that will help keep your kitchen well stocked with delicious and fresh home grown ingredients.

Seeds by All Around Australia you can sow: » Baby Beets » Cabbage – Red Mini, Sugarloaf, Chinese Cabbage Wombok » Carrot – All Seasons, Baby, Manchester Table, Topweight » Cauliflower All Year Round Hybrid » Celery Green Crunch » Cucumber – Apple, Burpless, Continental, Gherkin Pickling, Lebanese, Long Green » Dwarf beans – Borlotti, Bountiful Butter, Brown Beauty, Gourmet’s Delight, Hawkesbury Wonder, Stringless Pioneer, Tricolour Mix » Climbing Beans –Purple King, Stringless Blue Lake

» Radish – French Breakfast, Gentle Giant, Salad Crunch, White Icicle, Radish Confetti Mix » Rocket – Large Leaf, Wild » Rockmelon Hales Best » Silverbeet – Compact Deep Green, Fordhook Giant, Perpetual Green » Spring Onion » Sweetcorn – Honeysweet, Sun’n’Snow » Tomato – Heirloom, Patio, Sweet Bite, Tommy Toe, Tiny Tim » Zucchini – Blackjack, Lebanese, Solar Flare » Watermelon – Candy Red, Country Sweet, Sugar Baby

» Parsnip Hollow Crown

» Herbs – Chives, Garlic Chives, Coriander, Dill, Italian parsley, Curled Parsley, Sweet Basil, Gourmet Mix Basil, Purple Basil, Thai Basil

» Pumpkin – Butternut, Hybrid Grey Crown, Queensland Blue

Consult seed packs for the best sowing

» Eggplant Blacknite » Lettuce – Baby Combo, Buttercrunch, Cos, Frilly Mix, Great Lakes Iceberg

Here are the three easy steps to sowing & growing delicious vegies & herbs in summer:

step 1

Choose a sunny spot in the garden that receives at least 6 hours of sunshine a day. There are some vegies and herbs, such as Yates Lettuce Baby Combo and Yates Coriander that can be grown in part shade. Many vegies and herbs are also perfect for growing in pots, so you don’t need a big backyard to grow some of your own produce. Consider delicious options like Yates Dwarf Bean Tricolour Mix and Yates Parsley Italian Plain Leaf. Seed packets include helpful information about how much sunlight your chosen vegie or herb needs and whether it’s suitable for growing in pots.

step 2

Follow the directions on the seed packet and either sow seeds direct where the plants are to grow or sow into trays of Yates Seed Raising Mix. Water gently and keep the soil or potting mix moist. For beans, limit watering until seedlings emerge as seeds can rot before germinating if the soil is too wet. For seedlings grown in trays, transplant them into their final home once they’re large enough to handle. During summer’s warm temperatures, ensure young seedlings are kept well watered.

step 3

Once the seedlings are established, encourage lots of healthy growth by feeding each week with Yates Thrive® Vegie & Herb Liquid Plant Food.

Eureka!

Growing luscious Eureka lemons Eureka lemons (Citrus limon ‘Eureka’) are one of the most popular lemons grown in Australia. They’re thin skinned, have minimal seeds and the fruit is large, juicy and acidic. One of the advantages of Eureka lemons is that although winter is their peak fruiting season, in warm areas they can produce fruit almost year round, so you’ll always have tasty lemons on hand.

Eureka lemon trees can grow up to 5m tall. For pots and smaller spaces choose a more compact dwarf variety, which will reach up to 3m tall.

with a good quality potting mix like Yates Premium Potting Mix. A 40cm diameter Yates® Tuscan pot makes a great home for a Eureka lemon tree.

When planting a new Eureka lemon out in the garden, choose a spot with well-drained soil that receives at least 6 hours of sunshine a day and enrich the soil in the planting hole first with some Yates® Dynamic Lifter® Soil Improver & Plant Fertiliser. It promotes increased soil organic matter content and water holding capacity, in addition to providing the new tree with gentle slow release organic nutrients as it establishes. For potted citrus, choose a pot with good drainage holes and fill

Keep new citrus trees well-watered for several months as they settle into their new home, particularly during summer’s hot weather. Potted citrus trees will dry out much faster than in-ground trees. For established citrus, it’s important to keep deep watering and feeding during summer while the small fruit are developing. Moisture and nutrient stress can adversely affect the quantity and quality of the fruit harvest. Feeding is as simple as diluting 2 capfuls of Yates Thrive® Citrus & Fruit Natural Liquid Plant Food into a 9L watering can and applying over the root zone each week.

Insider Tip: Yates Tuscan pots have a beautiful classic look, are lightweight Planting Tip: and made from UV stabilised plastic to withstand harsh

When planting a new orange tree intogreat. the ground, mix conditions and helpnavel keep the pot looking Designed by ® ® Lifter Soil Improver & Plant Fertiliser some Yates Dynamic horticulturists, they are well drained and have vertical ridges intoon the of the planting hole. Yates Lifter thebottom inside wall, which encourage citrus Dynamic roots to grow improves the quality thecircling soil and supplies downwards, ratherof than around the the pot.newly planted orange with gentle, organic nutrients as it establishes.

Summer citrus care Keep your citrus trees protected and promote the best possible fruit harvest with our top summer citrus care tips.

1. Sweet sugary sap that’s flowing through citrus plants is a magnet for sap sucking pests like scale. Scale insects can be brown, white, pink or grey and appear as small raised bumps along leaves and stems. Sometimes the scale are hard to spot themselves, however if you see sooty mould developing on the leaves (a black ash like film) or ants moving up and down the stems then they’re indicators of a sap sucking insect pest like scale. Regular sprays of Yates® Nature’s Way® Citrus & Ornamental Spray, on both the upper and lower leaf and stem surfaces, will help keep scale under control. It’s based on natural pyrethrin and vegetable oil and is certified for use in organic gardening, so is ideal for gardeners wanting to use organic methods of insect pest control. 2. The young bronze orange bugs that infested citrus trees during spring are now maturing into large, dark brown adult bugs. They’re continuing to feed on citrus shoots and fruit stalks, causing leaves to wilt and young fruit to blacken and fall from the tree. Targeted sprays of Yates Nature’s Way® Citrus & Ornamental Spray, directly contacting the bronze orange bugs, are an effective way to control these damaging pests. Bronze orange bugs can squirt nasty, foul smelling liquid at you, so it’s best to wear eye and skin protection when spraying. 3. Feeding citrus regularly is the key to promoting a bounty of winter fruit. Citrus are very hungry plants! Yates Thrive® Citrus & Fruit Natural Liquid Plant Food is a complete plant food that has been specially formulated to provide citrus with the nutrients they need. Apply Yates Thrive Citrus & Fruit Natural Liquid Plant Food around the root zone of in-ground and potted citrus trees every 1-2 weeks during summer, while citrus trees are busy developing their fruit.

SCALE

BRONZE ORANGE BUG

Watering reminder Citrus trees have a shallow root system and can dry out rapidly during summer. Moisture stress can adversely affect fruit quality and tree health, so it’s important to keep the soil or potting mix moist with regular, thorough watering.

G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S

WASP PATROL Summer is wasp season. Two of the wasps found commonly in and around gardens are European and paper wasps.

The European wasp is an introduced wasp species which is aggressive to humans, particularly when their nests are disturbed. They have a painful sting and unlike bees can sting multiple times. Worker European wasps are 12-15mm long and have bright yellow and black bands along their abdomen, with distinct black triangular markings at each band. A warm and dry winter followed by dry weather in summer can lead to a rapid increase in wasp numbers. European wasps will often construct their nests underground (you may notice a single entrance hole) or in wall cavities or ceiling voids. Nests can become enormous and be home to thousands of wasps. Common paper wasps are an Australian native species, generally tan coloured with darker stripes, 10-15 mm long and narrower than the European wasp. Paper wasps build small papery nests, made from chewed wood fibre and saliva, with a distinct honeycomb structure. These nests often hang from horizontal surfaces such as underneath window sills and eaves and in shrubs and trees. Each nest can contain up to 20 wasps. Paper wasps can sting if they are disturbed.

Blitzem!ÂŽ Wasp Killer & Nest Destroyer is an effective way to control common wasps, including European wasps, and their nests. It comes in a ready to use jet spray can, which can spray up to 4 metres. This allows access to hard to reach wasp nesting zones, such as underneath the eaves and roof voids, and allows you to spray wasps from a safer distance. Blitzem! Wasp Killer & Nest Destroyer is fast acting and kills wasps on contact and destroys their nest. When spraying wasps, best results are achieved when the wasps are contacted directly. Wear protective clothing and treat in the evening when wasps are in the nest and are less active. Stand a safe distance from the nest (at least 2 metres) and not directly underneath. Wind should be coming from behind you, blowing towards the wasps or nest and use a sweeping motion to saturate the nest.

European wasp tip: Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t leave sugary drinks, meat (including pet food) and sweet food unattended outdoors as European wasps are scavenger feeders and can be attracted to these foods and drinks.

Bayer Ant & Wasp Dust is another method to effectively control European wasps. The ready to use dust can be applied through the nest entrance via the nozzle applicator. The dust kills wasps on contact. Treat nests at night and wear protective clothing to avoid being stung.

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IT’S P S A W ON! S A E S AGGRESSIVE INTRODUCED EUROPEAN WASPS ARE OUT AND ABOUT üKILLS WASPS ON CONTACT üDESTROYS THEIR NESTS üSPRAYS UP TO 4M

! M E BLITZ G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S Blitzem! is a registered trademark of DuluxGroup (Australia) Pty Ltd

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STOP the swat! CONTROLLING FLIES & MOSQUITOES The incessant high pitched buzzing of mosquitoes around your face when you’re asleep, being bitten by hoards of mosquitoes while trying to enjoy outdoor meals and entertaining or facing a barrage of annoying flies are some of the problem pests we face during summer. Flies and mosquitoes can also both spread diseases, so they’re pests that should be controlled.

Here are a few strategies to reduce mosquitoes and flies in and around your house: »

Reduce opportunities for flies to breed by disposing of garbage and composting food waste. Also regularly remove pet faeces from the backyard.

Empty water from plant pot saucers so they don’t become a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Even bird baths and the water collecting ‘cup’ in the centre of some bromeliads can become a place where mosquitoes breed.

Inspect your window and door fly screens for any holes that may allow insects into the house.

Apply Yates® Home Pest Long Term Control Barrier Spray evenly over indoor surfaces where flies and mosquitoes land and rest, such as walls, ceilings, window and door jams, flyscreens, around ceiling mounted light fittings, behind blinds and curtains and on window sills. The barrier spray will remain effective indoors for up to twelve months.

Outside the house, monitor for flies on fences, garbage bins and exterior walls and mosquitoes sheltering under the eaves and around outdoor entertaining areas. Applying Yates Home Pest Long Term Control Barrier Spray over these surfaces will provide up to 3 months protection.

Yates Home Pest Long Term Control Barrier Spray can be applied to porous surfaces, such as unpainted wood and cement, as well as non-porous surfaces like glazed tiles.

Cockroach problem? Cockroaches often infest areas where they can find food, water and shelter, such as the pantry, kitchen, bathroom, toilet and garage. Yates Home Pest Long Term Control Barrier Spray will also control cockroaches in and outside the house.

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Christmas

colour

Whether your Christmas colour theme is purest snowy white, sparkly silver and purple or traditional green, gold and red, you can coordinate your decorations with some gorgeous pots of flowers to brighten up your Christmas dinner table or outdoor entertaining area. An added bonus is that your floral creation can last for months! Here is some inspiration: »

Crisp white lobelias, alyssum and geraniums combined with trailing Dichondra ‘Silver Falls’.

Hanging baskets or pots filled with white and vibrant red and calibrachoas or petunias.

A planter bowl with a showy red geranium in the centre surrounded by a halo of white alyssum.

Purple and white petunias and grey leafed cineraria ‘Silver Dust’ planted together in a decorative trough.

A bright red, soft pink or snowy white poinsettia in a matching pretty pot.

For sheltered and shady spots, a combination of eye-catching red and white impatiens.

To promote lots of healthy growth and festive flowers, keep the pots well-watered and feed each week with Yates® Thrive® Rose & Flower Liquid Plant Food. It’s a complete plant food that’s boosted with additional flowerpromoting potassium. Regularly trim off any dead flowers to help keep the plants looking tidy.

Insect pests like aphids and caterpillars will unfortunately enjoy feasting on your Christmas colour creation. A quick spray with Yates Rose Gun™ as soon as any pests are noticed will help keep your display protected from common insect pests, as well as diseases like rust and powdery mildew.

Festive touches

Before guests arrive you can add some final pizzazz to the pots such as ribbons, baubles, sprigs of holly and tinsel or even magical fairy lights.

Red & white floral extravaganza If your Christmas theme is traditional red and white, then Plant Growers Australia has your living floral decorations covered! Dianthus are a gorgeous family of flowers that bring cottage style, colour and fragrance to garden beds, borders and pots. Dianthus ‘Memories’ has pure white beautifully scented flowers held on sturdy stems. It was bred specifically to support Alzheimer’s research and is a hardy and drought tolerant plant, growing to around 30cm high and 40cm wide. It’s perfect as a low garden border plant, massed ground cover or potted plant. It flowers for a long time and requires little maintenance. The flowers can also be cut for a fragrant vase display. Dianthus ‘Rebekah’ is another beautiful dianthus, with masses of heavily perfumed vibrant red flowers. Growing to 30cm high and 60cm wide, it’s a low maintenance plant that loves a full sun or partly shaded position in garden beds and containers. Create a stunning Santa-worthy Christmas display and position pots of these red and white dianthus around outdoor entertaining areas. Salvias are fantastic dry tolerant plants that bring rich floral colour to both modern and cottage style gardens during the warmer months. The ‘Heatwave’ collection of Salvias from Plant Growers Australia include a beautiful range of flower colours, including soft lilac, bright pink and salmon, however it’s bright red ‘Inferno’ and crisp white ‘Glare’ that are perfect for a festive Christmas theme. ‘Inferno’ and ‘Glare’ both grow to 70cm tall and 1m wide, have aromatic foliage and can be grown in a sunny or partly shaded garden bed or in large pots. When planting these gorgeous dianthus or salvias into a garden bed, enrich the soil first with some Yates® Dynamic Lifter® Soil Improver & Plant Fertiliser. When planted into a pot, use a good quality potting mix like Yates Premium Potting Mix. Once the plants are established, feed each week with Yates Thrive® Rose & Flower Liquid Plant Food, which is rich in potassium to promote lots of flowers. Prune the salvias back after the main flowering flush to help promote further flowering and a tidier habit and regularly remove spent flowers from dianthus. Dianthus and Salvia information and images courtesy of Plant Growers Australia (www.pga.com.au).

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Prep your garden for

Christmas

Christmas festivities are the perfect motivators for whipping your garden into shape before guests arrive. Plus it’s time to prepare your garden before going away on holidays, so it still looks great when you return home.

Here are a few simple ways to spruce up outdoor areas for the Christmas and holiday season: TRIMMING HEDGES

MULCHING

Give hedges a light trim to create a lovely crisp look. For less formal hedges and shrubs, just trim back any untidy, wayward or dead stems as well as any spent flowers.

Applying mulch around flower and shrub beds helps unify the garden, fills in bare spots and also is a great water saving strategy during the hottest months. An additional bonus is when organic mulches are used (such as bark chips), as they break down they add valuable organic matter to the soil.

QUICK LAWN GREEN UP

FEEDING Give garden beds an all-over quick and easy feed with hose-on Yates Thrive® Natural All Purpose. It’s a naturally based complete fertiliser that will encourage healthy green growth and promote lots of gorgeous flowers. A 2L pack feeds 100m2 of garden beds.

WEED CONTROL Weeds can ruin the look of your garden. Spot spray weeds with fast acting Yates® Zero® Naturals Weed & Moss Killer. You’ll see visible results on some weeds after just 1 hour. And for paths and hard surfaces, an application of Yates Pathweeder will control existing weeds and prevent weed seeds from germinating for up to 12 months.

A lush deep green lawn looks fantastic and creates a great space for entertaining. It’s easy to give your lawn a quick makeover with Munns® Professional Green Dominator™ Lawn Fertiliser. It’s fast acting and will begin to green up an actively growing lawn within just four hours.

WATERING Give your garden some thorough, deep waterings in the weeks leading up to Christmas and holidays. This moistens the soil down into the root zone, encourages plant roots to grow deeper and helps freshen up the garden.

MOWING Don’t be tempted to give your lawn a harsh low mowing just before Christmas. This can scalp the lawn and create bare patches, which are unattractive and will invite in weeds. It’s better to mow little and often, removing no more than a third of the grass foliage each time.

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Gardening Christmas

gift ideas

Choosing Christmas presents can be really challenging, but not if you’re buying for a current or budding green thumb! Here are our top gift ideas for the gardener in your life.

Yates® Garden Guide

Indoor plants

With over 7 million copies sold, the Yates Garden Guide is Australia’s best-selling and most trusted gardening book. The 44th edition is packed full of helpful information, from growing your own fresh fruit and vegies, to filling your garden with fabulous flowers and creating a beautiful lush green lawn. RRP $39.99

Indoor plants are on trend and make a perfect present for someone special. To create a complete indoor plant themed gift, combine a lush and leafy plant with a decorative pot, some Yates Speciality Potting Mix Plants & Ferns and easy to use Yates Thrive® Plant Food Spikes Plants & Ferns.

Seed starter

Potted roses

Put together a practical gift of a collection of Yates flower or vegie and herb seeds, a bag of Yates Seed Raising Mix and some gardening gloves and plant markers. Everything a keen gardener needs to start sowing and growing!

A sweetly fragrant potted rose is a gift that will delight the recipient for years to come. You could even choose a rose with a meaningful name for that someone special, such as ‘Adorable’, ‘Beautiful Girl’, ‘Mother’s Love’, ‘Bellisimo Mum’, ‘Dear Father’, ‘First Crush’, ‘Best Friend’, ‘Grandma’s Rose’ or what about a cheeky ‘Kiss Me Kate’. Don’t forget a bottle of Yates Thrive Rose & Flower Liquid Plant Food to complete the gift!

Home grown cocktails

Potted edible inspiration

For the margarita lover, a young Tahitian lime tree, a bag of Yates Premium Potting Mix and a stylish Yates Tuscan Pot to grow the lime tree in. And perhaps a cocktail shaker…

Hot off the press, the new book ‘Yates Top 50 Edible Plants for Pots and How NOT to Kill Them’, which is a comprehensive guide to growing 50 different delicious fruits, vegies and herbs in pots. Perfect for balcony, patio and small space gardeners, it’s filled with beautiful photos and detailed information about how to grow a fantastic range of edible plants. Available in department and book stores and through on-line book sellers. RRP $35

Summer LOVI NG

After the spring floral frenzy has finished and while we’re relaxing and entertaining at home over summer, it’s wonderful to have trees and shrubs that will flower during the hottest months. Vibrant blooms also help to bring visual relief to landscapes bleached under harsh sunshine. Could your garden do with some summer loving?

Fragrant frangipani A frangipani can create a lush tropical look in your garden, make a superb summer shade tree and of course the flowers are beautiful and heavenly scented. Frangipanis are predominantly deciduous trees that come in a range of gorgeous colours, from the traditional white through to apricots, pinks, yellows and rich burgundy, with many varieties having multi toned blooms. Frangipanis are most at home in temperate to tropical climates and can grow up to 8m tall, however for small spaces and pots look for dwarf varieties. Here are some tips to help keep your frangipani looking fantastic: Feeding – frangipanis will appreciate a feed during summer with a fertiliser that will provide a good blend of nutrients for encouraging lots of flowers and healthy leaf growth as well as enriching the soil with valuable organic matter. Yates® Thrive® Natural Roses & Flowers Organic Based Pelletised Plant Food is a complete, organically based fertiliser that gives frangipanis, and other flowering plants, a nutrient boost as well as nourishing the soil with concentrated, composted manure. Apply around the root zone of both in ground and potted frangipanis and water in well. Watering – if the weather is hot and dry, frangipanis will appreciate deep watering once a week, especially if the tree is still young and the root system is small. There’s no need to keep the soil constantly moist, as frangipanis do best in slightly drier conditions. Regular watering however is important for potted frangipanis, as pots can dry out very quickly. A 3–5 cm layer of mulch over the surface of the pot will help minimise moisture loss and an application of Yates® Waterwise™ Soil Wetter will help reduce water repellency which can develop in potting mix over time. Disease & pest control – one of the most common problems with frangipanis is rust. Rust appears as yellow or orange coloured pustules underneath the leaves with corresponding yellow spots on the upper leaf surfaces. It ruins the look of the foliage and can cause the leaves to drop prematurely. Damage can be minimised by spraying early infections regularly with Yates® Rose Shield which contains a systemic fungicide that travels through the plants sap system to control rust.

Crepe myrtles Crepe myrtles are stunning deciduous trees that have attractive bark, colourful autumn foliage and are smothered in bee-attracting flowers in summer. They’re very hardy and come in a range of gorgeous flower colours, from white through to light and dark pink, lavender and almost red. ‘Diamonds in the Dark™’ are compact crepe myrtles with striking, almost black leaves and flower colours include white, red and pink. Dwarf crepe myrtle varieties grow to around 3-4 m tall, so are great for a small backyard. Some crepe myrtles can be susceptible to powdery mildew, which is a disease that looks like a film of light grey ash over foliage and flower buds. Powdery mildew can deform leaves and weaken the plant as well as damage flowers. Powdery mildew is easy to control with a systemic fungicide, which moves around the sap system of the plant to target disease. Yates® Rose Shield contains the systemic fungicide myclobutanil, which controls diseases like powdery mildew. Spray as much of the tree as possible every 14 days, from the first sign of disease.

Heavenly hydrangeas Hydrangeas are spectacular flowering shrubs that make a beautiful inclusion in cool to sub-tropical gardens. New gorgeous varieties of hydrangeas are being released regularly and flower colours include the traditional brilliant blue, white and bright pink, as well as ruby red, lime green and multi toned and lacecap flower heads. Here’s how to keep your hydrangeas fabulously showy: Feeding - scatter Yates® Thrive® Natural Roses & Flowers

Organic Based Pelletised Plant Food around the root zone of hydrangeas every 8 weeks and then water in well. It contains more than 50% natural ingredients, boosted with fast acting fertilisers, including extra potassium to promote lots of flowers as well as nitrogen and phosphorus to encourage healthy leaf and stem growth and a strong root system. Watering - most hydrangeas prefer growing in a position that is protected from harsh sun. Morning sun and afternoon shade is ideal or dappled sun all day. Keep hydrangeas well-watered, as the large leaves can rapidly lose moisture and wilt. Hydrangea foliage can also be susceptible to sunburn during hot dry weather. Spray foliage with Yates® Waterwise™ DroughtShield™, which applies a protective film over the leaves to help reduce moisture loss and sun damage. Disease control - watch for white talcum powder looking spots on leaves which

could indicate the damaging disease powdery mildew. Regular sprays of ready to use Yates Rose Gun® or Yates Rose Shield will keep powdery mildew under control.

Tree Stumps

Blackberry

Lantana

Privet

Groundsel

Wattles

Yates® Tree & Blackberry Killer controls tough,invasive weeds like blackberry, lantana and privet as well as stumps of unwanted weeds.

HOW TO APPLY TO A FRESH CUT STUMP Apply Yates® Tree & Blackberry Killer to the cut stump immediately after cutting, using a sprayer or brush application as per label instructions. G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S

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Devil's Ivy 101 ~ r

Devil’s ivy (Epipremnum aureum), also known as pothos, should be one of the first plants on your wish list when starting out on your indoor plant growing journey. Then there are collection-worthy varieties like variegated white and green ‘Marble Queen’ and lime green ‘Neon’ that definitely deserve a place in your indoor jungle. Devil’s ivy has a trailing or climbing habit, so its long stems can be draped over and down shelves or trained up a totem, or it can cascade luxuriously out of a hanging basket. They’re super tough plants, which will thrive in a brightly lit spot indoors that’s protected from direct sunlight, however they’re also tolerant of more dimly lit areas. They’ll also do well in humid areas like bathrooms and kitchens.

Top Devil’s ivy growing tips: » Choose a pot with good drainage holes and use a good quality potting mix like Yates® Specialty Potting Mix Indoor Plants & Ferns. » The potting mix can be allowed to dry out slightly in between waterings. You can check the moisture level in the potting mix by gently digging around in the top few centimetres with your finger. » To promote lush healthy foliage growth, from spring to autumn feed every 2 months month with Yates Thrive® Plant Food Spikes Plants & Ferns. It’s as simple as pushing a spike into the potting mix towards the edge of the pot. The spike is out of sight and there’s no mixing or measuring required.

» Remove any brown leaves to keep the plant looking tidy and gently wipe the leaves regularly to remove any dust. » If stems become too long or you’d like to promote thicker, bushier growth, stems can be trimmed. You can propagate more plants using these stem pieces by simply placing them in glass or vase of water. Make sure each piece has at least two nodes (bumps on the stem) where roots and shoots can develop. » If fungus gnats (annoying tiny winged insects that fly around the house) are a problem in your indoor plants, apply a layer of Yates Gnat Barrier granules over the surface of the potting mix. This deters the female fungus gnat from laying her eggs and helps break the fungus gnat life cycle.

Green thumb tip To retain their leaf colours and patterns, variegated Devil’s ivy will require brighter light than greener varieties.

INTERVIEW WITH AN

interior plantscaper Being immersed in indoor plants for a living sounds like a dream come true for indoor plant fanatics. Angie Thomas interviewed interior plantscaper Nerida Hills about her passion for creating lush and leafy spaces for her clients.

plants left over from jobs, so they find a spot in my home. It’s a jungle! Not sure if I can choose just one favourite… though it’s hard to beat a big, lush fiddle leaf fig. I also love all varieties of Rhipsalis, they are so easy to grow in a wide range of conditions.

Tell us about your business and your involvement with the Interior Plantscape Association.

What are some of the challenges in your business?

Nerida’s Interior Plantscaping specialises in the hire and maintenance of stunning indoor plants and containers within the commercial, residential, event hire and home staging sectors. Our philosophy is about creating healthy, beautiful and practical interiors with living plants. One of the first things I did when starting the business was to join the Interior Plantscape Association (IPA) to connect with others in the industry. In 2013 I was honoured to be nominated for the Executive Committee of IPA and in 2015 became the President. This was a great experience although challenging at times! In my 3 years as President I met so many wonderful people who are also passionate about the industry and felt I was able to give back to the association who had been (and still are) a great support to me.

Right now it’s sourcing enough indoor plants to meet the current demand! There has also been issues around access due to COVID restrictions. I worry about how the plants are surviving without our regular maintenance visits but I’m looking forward to seeing what I can save.

When and how did your interest in indoor plants start? I remember being in high school and having read somewhere that indoor plants are good for increasing productivity and your mood. I happened to mention this to my Dad who promptly went out and bought me a little syngonium for my room. His theory was I now had no excuse not to complete my homework!

What are your best tips for maintaining indoor plants? Cleaning your plants is really important! I use a spray bottle with diluted Pest Oil then wipe over the leaves. Not only does this create a lovely shine, it keeps any pests under control before they become a problem. And have a regular day each week to check your plants. If there is still moisture in the soil do not water. When you do decide to water, make sure you give the plant enough to run all the way through the pot. Sit back and enjoy! Images courtesy of Nerida Hills

What is it about indoor plants that you love? It must be that connection to nature that makes me feel happy when I see thriving indoor plants. I also love the challenge of finding the perfect plant for a particular location and great satisfaction when it continues to grow happily over the years.

Do you have lots of indoor plants at home and do you have a favourite plant? I have many indoor plants at home, they are constantly changing. I tend to end up with many

@neridasplants

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swooning over

succulents Succulents have a pretty impressive resume. They’re hardy, low maintenance and drought tolerant, come in a myriad of beautiful leaf colours, textures and shapes and there are succulents to suit the tiniest pots to the largest gardens. Here we’re featuring three super popular succulents - agave, echeveria and sedum.

Agaves For a striking garden feature, Agaves have stiff leaves that form large rosettes which can reach up to 1m across. Some have spiky margins while others, such as the very popular Agave attentuata, has smooth edged grey-green leaves. Agaves need a frost protected position in full sun to part shade and although they are drought tolerant, will appreciate a deep watering each week during hot dry conditions. Agaves also look fabulous in pots. For the larger agaves like A. attenuata you’ll need a pot at least 40cm in diameter. Flower spikes reaching several metres high can emerge from the centre of mature plants. Once an agave has flowered, the plant will slowly die however will produce numerous small ‘pups’ around the base which can be separated and replanted.

Echeveria Echeverias are succulents that form neat rosettes of overlapping leaves in shades of green, blue-grey, burgundy or silver, with many having interesting two-toned or attractive wavy leaves. Echeverias are sometimes known as ‘hens and chicks’, due to the delightful way that small plants will develop around the mother plant. These can be easily separated, making it simple to grow your echeveria collection. Echeverias will also produce yellow, red or orange flowers on tall stems, held high above the plant. Most echeverias grow to around 15cm tall and wide and make fantastic potted plants, either one variety en masse or a range of different varieties grown together in the one pot. When growing succulents in pots, a free draining potting mix, together with a well-drained pot, is essential. Yates Specialty Potting Mix Cacti & Succulents is a coarse, free-draining sandy mix that’s ideal for succulents. It contains a biostimulant for plant and root health and controlled release fertiliser to feed succulents for up to 6 months.

Sedums Sedums are a diverse range of succulents, from the cutest jelly bean sedums (Sedum rubrotinctum), to gorgeous flowering ‘Autumn Joy’ and cascading donkey’s tail (Sedum morganianum). When it comes to ground cover and low growing sedums for full sun or partly shaded spots, the ‘Blob’ collection from Plant Growers Australia includes colours for every garden design. ‘Purple Blob’ which has attractive clusters of purple and grey leaves, ‘Silver Blob’ with compact rosettes of powdery silver foliage with yellow flowers during the warmer months, ‘Grey Blob’ which has feathery-like grey foliage, ‘Green Blob’ with rounded lime green leaves, ‘Chocolate Blob’ that has burgundy tinted leaves and ‘Gold Blob’ with golden coloured foliage. The range of colours and textures in the BLOB range are perfect for creating attractive focal points in rockeries, garden beds and dry garden designs or to edge paths and driveways. They also make a fabulous potted plant. BLOB sedums only need watering once their leaves start to soften or shrink, which is more common during periods of hot weather.

Secrets to growing

Succulents! Succulents come in a huge range of colours, shapes and sizes and with the right care, make them a plant that’s perfect for even the most novice gardener. Yates has made it easy to care for your cacti & succulents, with a range of plant care products tailored specifically for them!

POTTING To give your cacti & succulents the perfect foundation, use Yates® Specialty Potting Mix Cacti & Succulents. It is specially formulated as a fast draining coarse sandy mix ideal for growing cacti & succulents. It also contains biostimulants for plant and root health and controlled release fertiliser that feeds your plants for up to 6 months.

Sedum 'Purple Blob' and 'Gold Blob' images courtesy of Plant Growers Australia.

Succulents will really appreciate being fed between spring and autumn, to promote healthy leaf, stem and root growth. Feed potted succulents with Yates® Thrive® Plant Food Spikes Cacti & Succulents. It’s as simple as pushing a spike into the potting mix, midway between the stem and the pot edge, until the spike is just below the surface. The spikes contain a complete blend of nutrients, specially designed to feed cacti & succulents for 2 months.

NO MESS FERTILISING Yates® Thrive® Plant Food Spikes Cacti & Succulents are specially designed to feed your cacti & succulents where they need it most, at the roots. Each plant food spike contains slow release nutrients that feeds for up to 2 months. They’re easy to use and out of sight – simply insert spikes into the potting mix and water well. Yates and Thrive are registered trade marks of DuluxGroup (Australia) Pty Ltd.

FLOWER S to sow

IN SU M M ER It’s time to sow a fabulous range of flower seeds, to bring glorious floral colour into your garden over the coming months. And it’s very important for us all to grow lots of flowers, to provide food for insects such as bees, butterflies and other beneficial pollinators.

Seeds by All around Australia you can sow: » Accents on Blue, Accents on Pink, Accents on White » Aster Colour Carpet

» Impatiens Busy Lizzie » Marigold Safari Mixture

» Bee Pasture

» Nasturtium - Cherry Rose, Jewel Mixed

» Butterfly Field

» Nigella Persian Jewels

» Cineraria Starships

» Poppy Iceland Artist’s Glory

» Coleus Pots of Beauty

» Primula Fairy Princess

» Colonial Garden Collection

» Wildflowers of the World

» Cottage Garden Mix

Check the seed pack for the best sowing time in your area.

» Festival of Flowers

Here are the easy steps to starting a

fabulous flower patch: Step One

Choose a sunny spot in a garden that receives at least 6 hours of sunshine a day. If there are any weeds or grasses in the area, spray with Yates Zero® Weed Killer and let them die back completely (usually around 2 weeks).

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Step Two Mix some Yates Dynamic Lifter® Soil Improver & Plant Fertiliser into the soil, to enrich and improve the quality of the soil and help give the new flowers the best possible start. Follow the directions on the seed packet and either sow seed direct where the flowers are to grow or sow into trays of Yates Seed Raising Mix. Water gently and keep the soil moist. For seedlings grown in trays, transplant them into their final home once they’re large enough to handle.

Step Three Once the seedlings are established, encourage lots of healthy growth and promote masses of vibrant flowers by feeding each week with Yates Thrive® Rose & Flower Liquid Plant Food. It’s as easy as adding 1–2 capfuls into a 9L watering can and applying around the plants and soil. No backyard? No worries! Many flowers are also perfect for growing in pots. Seed packets include helpful information about whether your chosen flower is suitable for growing in pots. Compact flowers that are perfect for growing in containers and window boxes include Nigella ‘Persian Jewels’, Nasturtium ‘Cherry Rose’ and ‘Marigold Safari Mixture’.

Seedling tip Protect seedlings from damaging snails and slugs with a light sprinkling of Baysol® Snail & Slug Bait.

Proven Seed Quality & Germination for over 130 years Over 200+ seed varieties Free shipping on seeds when you spend $25 or more Get inspired with gardening projects

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Gardening in

different climates All around Australia, there are lots of things to keep you wonderfully busy out in the garden during summer.

IN COOL CLIMATES

it’s time to:

» Sow seeds of dwarf and climbing beans by mid-summer, now that the soil has warmed up. Try growing colourful beans like Yates® Purple King Climbing Beans or Yates Tricolour Mix Dwarf Beans. » Watch for powdery mildew on grapes, which will appear like a dusting of white powder over the foliage. At the first sign of this disease, spray the leaves with Yates Anti Rot Phosacid Systemic Fungicide. » Keep feeding strawberry plants to promote healthy foliage growth and encourage further flowering and fruiting. Yates Thrive® Strawberry & Berry Fruit Liquid Plant Food is a complete fertiliser designed especially for feeding berries like strawberries. » Continue monitoring for skeletonising pear & cherry slugs on pears, cherries, apples and plums and control with Yates Success® Ultra.

P OW DE RY MILDEW

IN TEMPERATE CLIMATES

it’s time to:

» Continue baiting for fruit fly around stone fruit trees with weekly foliar sprays of Yates Nature’s Way Fruit Fly Control and during wet weather spray trees with Yates Mancozeb Plus to stop brown rot disease destroying the fruit. » Treat zinc and manganese trace element deficiencies in citrus, which can appear as small, pale or mottled leaves, with foliar sprays of Yates Citrus Cure Zinc & Manganese Chelate. » Cut back spent kangaroo paw flower stems to the ground. » Take semi-hardwood cuttings of shrubs like buddlejas and hibiscus. Choose firm 10-15 cm pieces of leafy stems, dip the ends into Yates Clonex Purple Rooting Hormone Gel before inserting into a pot of moist Yates Seed Raising Mix. Keep the pot in a protected spot while roots develop.

IN SUB-TROPICAL & TROPICAL CLIMATES

it’s time to:

» Prolonged wet weather can lead to root and collar rot diseases developing in susceptible plants like avocados, citrus and many Australian native plants, particularly in areas with poorly drained soil. Yates Anti Rot is a systemic fungicide that is applied over the foliage to prevent and control root and collar rot diseases. » Check Australian native plants for signs of myrtle rust, which causes bright yellow to orange powdery spots on leaves. Control by spraying Yates® Zaleton® Dual Action Systemic Fungicide over the plants. » Visit your local garden centre and choose a bougainvillea while it’s in spectacular flower. Look for dwarf varieties for growing in small spaces and pots. » Apply Yates Waterwise Soil Wetter over lawns and garden beds to help summer rain move into the soil and not sit on the soil surface. MYRTLE RUST

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sign up now yates.com.au/join-garden-community Connect with us @yatesgardening For more great gardening advice visit yates.com.au

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