Pittwater Life September 2020 Issue

Jobs this Month
September
September promises
to be a very busy
month in the garden.
The cold wet weather is
hopefully gone and there
are many jobs to be done.
For starters, the heavy
winter rain has compacted
the soil, choking the surface
roots of plants. Aerate the
ground by digging carefully
around trees and shrubs,
before mulching with fresh
bark, compost or sugarcane
mulch. Repair your lawn
now after the cold winter.
Patch worn areas with seed
or new turf, while trying
to match existing grass
varieties. Packet seed is
The Local Voice Since 1991
often a blend of several
types of grass and if you
have a pure lawn it can look
very odd. If in doubt, take a
sample of your lawn to a turf
supplier for identification.
Fill in gaps
This is a great month to fill
in gaps in the garden. Pull
out plants or shrubs that
have become tired or have
overgrown their allocated
space and start again.
There are so many shrubs
to choose from. A visit to
the garden centre will give
ideas and staff will provide
advice on planting. Always
Make cutbacks
Cut back hydrangeas now before the new leaf buds open,
they will soon grow back. Cut out any weak and spindly
growth and reduce stems to a double bud. White or named
varieties cannot be changed by soil ph levels, but you can
you can improve the flower colour of unnamed varieties by
watering in garden lime around pink flowers to increase the
ph or bluing tonic (aluminium sulphate) around blue varieties
to lower the ph level.
check the mature size of new
shrubs or trees. It is easy to
plant them but very hard and
expensive to remove plants
that have outgrown the space
provided!
Plant a spring flowering
grevillea. Grevillea New
Blood is a small-growing
low shrub that will cover
rocks and banks. The scarlet
flowers will attract birds from
spring to autumn. Tough and
hardy, it is perfect for pots,
courtyards and rockeries.
Also, poinsettias should be
cut back now to encourage
new bushy growth that will
increase the flower heads
next winter.
Begone pests
Yellow sticky pads in the
garden are great for trapping
black flies and aphids but be
careful where you hang them
so that they will not catch
small birds or tiny lizards.
Snails are hiding under stones
and logs. They come out
when the day cools down and
can destroy your seedlings in
one night. Control them with
animal friendly Multiguard
snail pellets or a saucer of
beer. Leopard slugs are big
and ugly but they are friends
in the garden – they are
carnivorous and eat snails.
Also, look out for leaches.
They are around in great
numbers after all the rainy
days.
Veggie planning
Sow or plant out veggie
seedlings this month. Beans
zucchinis, cucumbers,
chillies, carrots, capsicum,
egg plants, onions silver
beet, lettuce and tomatoes
can all go in now. Water new
seedlings at planting time
with Seasol, to strengthen
the root system and give
these babies a head start.
And pull out spring
flowering annuals as they
finish to make room for
summer flowering colour.
Blight watch
Watch out for Petal blight on
azaleas. This is a fungus that
is caused by overhead water
and any frequent showers
will present a problem. To
control it, buds must be
sprayed before they colour
and open. Once the buds
show colour it is too late;
spray with Zaleton to prevent
the disfiguring squishy
brown flowers.
Crossword solution from page 77
Mystery location: BROKEN BAY
SEPTEMBER 2020 81
Garden Life