Your Monthly Planting Guide

What fruits to harvest now:

Stone fruits like apricots, peaches, nectarines and plums should all be ready to harvest this month, depending on the varieties being grown. Pick ripe fruits early in the day, before they heat up. Leave those still very firm to the touch on the trees until they are fully ripe. If you find any rotting fruits, pick and discard them immediately, before they release fungal spores.

Never put diseased fruits (or plants) in the compost bin – wrap them in newspaper and place in the household rubbish bin so they’re removed from the property.  Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and other berries will be plentiful this month. Enjoy them while they last because some have quite short seasons. Passionfruit will also be ripening now. Tropical fruits and citrus are still cropping in warmer areas, and honeydew melon, watermelon and cantaloupe are still in season in hot, dry climates.

What fruit to plant:

Planting of evergreen and potted deciduous fruit trees is not recommended in mid-summer.

 What flowers to plant:

Plant seedlings of the following into pots, tubs or baskets (not into the garden):

• Candytuft
• Carnation
• Linaria
• Nasturtium
• Petunia
• Portulaca
• Salvia
• Scabiosa
• Sweet William
• Verbena
• Wallflower
• Zinnia 

Garden jobs for the month:

• Summer is all about the outdoors, so make sure you spend plenty of time relaxing and enjoying your garden, with a cool drink in hand, a wide-brimmed hat and plenty of sunscreen.
• If the mulch on garden beds has compacted or is starting to break down, top it up with fresh material to a total depth of about 100mm. Pea straw, lucerne or sugarcane mulch will keep the soil cool, moist and weed-free.
• Fortnightly applications of Osmocote Boost+Feed All Plant Types will keep your garden healthy and growing well.
• Continue regularly trimming evergreen trees and shrubs to keep them neat, particularly those being trained as topiary, mop-tops or other geometric shapes. 
• Any spring flowering bulbs still in the soil should be lifted now. Leave them to dry off for a day or so before brushing loose soil off them, then store in a cool, airy and dry place until it’s time to plant again in autumn.
• When high temperatures or strong winds are expected, take down hanging baskets and move them, together with outdoor pots, to a sheltered spot where they won’t get burned to a crisp.
• Some flowering plants may need dead-heading now to keep them neat and encourage more flowers. Roses in particular appreciate having faded flowers trimmed off. They will produce new shoots that will produce a second flush of flowers in late summer and autumn.

Pest Control:

• Watch for thrips on young plants and flowers. This insect is tiny and may be hard to see but the damage it causes is highly visible – white streaks or blotches on flowers and leaves. You may only learn of its presence when you see hundreds of dark specks on white washing hanging on the clothes line. Thrips are attracted to light colours. Defender Pyrethrum Insect Spray will control them. Don’t forget to spray the undersides of leaves as well as the top surface.

• If you don’t want to use chemicals, hang yellow sticky traps among plants to attract and catch pests.
• Watch for powdery mildew on roses and other plants including pumpkins and zucchinis, especially when nights are warm and humid. Use a copper-based fungicide to control them.

Tips for Indoor Plants:

• Water indoor plants when the top 5cm or soil of potting mix feels dry to the touch. Allow excess water to drain freely from the base of the pot. Don’t leave pots standing in saucers of water.
• Keep the air around indoor plants humid by regularly misting plants with a water atomiser.
• Feed fortnightly with ready to use Osmocote Pour+Feed Indoor Plants – no mixing required. There are also Pour+Feed products for orchids and cacti. When you come home from holidays, give all your indoor plants a good drink before returning them to their usual positions. 

Maintenance tips:

While regular mowing will keep existing lawns looking neat, avoid cutting the grass when extreme temperatures are forecast or when heavy rain is predicted. The longer the grass, the better insulated the roots and soil will be and the risk of soil erosion will be minimised. 

• Make sure the lawn is well watered at least once a week, if permitted by local water authorities. The earlier in the day you water, the less risk there is of the sun burning the grass through moisture droplets. 

• If you have a broadleaf weed problem, buffalo and lawn substitutes can be treated and fed with Lawn Builder Buffalo Weed, Feed & Green Up, a hose-on product that can be safely used on all lawn types. 
• If bindii is spreading through the lawn, get on top of it quickly with Lawn Builder Bindii, Clover & Broadleaf, a ready-to-use, hose-on lawn weeder that’s safe to use on all grasses.