Pittwater Life February 2017 Issue

Garden Life
Garden Life
Plan your next vegie crop
Haven’t the heat and the humidity taken their toll on our
local vegie patches! It’s time to invest in our edible friends
this month. If plants are diseased it is best to pull them out
and start again. As soon as the weather cools it is time to
prepare for winter planting.
Allow the soil to rest for a couple of weeks, then dig
in some cow manure, all-purpose fertiliser and dolomite.
Then water well, adding
Eco Hydrate to allow the
water to penetrate.
It’s not too late to plant
a last crop of zuchinis
or beans, and carrots
and silver beet can be
planted all year around.
Just make sure that you
leave enough space for
the winter crops at the
end of the month; that’s
the time you should plant
broccoli, cauliflower,
broccolini, spring onions,
celery, leeks, lettuce
and Brussels sprouts.
Don’t forget that you can
plant sweet peas on the
tomato lattices after the
tomatoes have finished.
Jobs this Month
Febru
After some of the hottest
days and nights on
record, our gardens are
simply bewildered. One day
hot and the next cold. Every
year January gives us another
weather pattern to cope with.
Seaweed solution is like a tonic
that will help the plants recover
from the devastation that they
have suffered. Water the garden
with Seasol at the end of a very
hot day. And for rejuvenation:
now’s the time to plant a new
gardenia into your garden.
Watch them grow
Time to feed your orchids at
monthly intervals with Strike
Back for Orchids. Cymbidiums
are beginning to form their
winter flower spikes. Also, feed
roses now with Sudden Impact
for Roses, after you have given
them a light trim. Sit back and
wait for an autumn flush of
flowers!
Transplant advice
Look at your garden and decide
if you want to move any shrubs.
Plants that are transplanted
in autumn have the time to
establish their roots before
spring, while the soil is warm
before the winter chill. If you
are going to move shrubs in
autumn, start to prepare them
now. Feed them with Seasol and
slowly trim them back over the
next few weeks. Dig a trench
around the root ball. This will
allow some cut roots to repair
and begin to grow again before
the move. Spray the plant with
Yates’ Droughtshield – this will
give the plant a protective cover
that will reduce the shock of
transplanting.
Choose cherry
If you want to plant a new
crop of tomatoes, go for the
cherry tomatoes that will crop
quickly. And there’s
just enough time
for some dwarf
beans before
winter.
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FEBRUARY 2017