Digger Dan's February Gardening Tips

 

The heat and the bugs have hit the garden over the past month and many plants need a bit of resuscitation!

The Veggie Garden

• Many edibles are peaking in production at the moment so enjoy what’s ripening – the more you harvest, the more some crops such as beans will crop.

• Eggplants (aubergine) are producing wonderful mauve flowers at the moment, but sometimes it’s a good idea to pollinate the flowers - poke a small paintbrush inside the flower and move it around. (In times of high humidity/no wind the flowers can fail to pollinate on their own).

• Melons can do with a hand sometimes for the same reason. Look for the male flower – it has a centre stalk covered in pollen and use the brush to pick up the pollen. The female flower has a knob inside it, that is sticky and the pollen will adhere to. 

• Water in the morning or evening before the sun hits the area, otherwise there’s too much evaporation for the plants to thrive.

• Bug watch: Green looper caterpillars are heading for the tomatoes, corn and brassicas first in the veggie garden. Kiwicare ‘No Caterpillars’ is a great new organic remedy that’ll get rid of them.

The Rest of the Garden

• Keep the watering up (see Veggie Garden above), especially around those plants that are looking stressed.

• It’s not too late for mulching, particularly to ‘rescue’ plants that wilt regularly. Water them deeply and then layer on mulch, leaving a ‘collar’ around the plant’s stem. CLS has a range of mulches in bulk or bags. Try our Premium Mulch, Reharvest Coloured Mulches or Bark Mulch. You can pick up or we deliver. Or use one of our free loan trailers.

• The best way to control the passion vine hopper nymphs– it’s not easy as they fly away quickly - is to creep out early in the morning and fire off a cloud of fly spray over the plant that’s under attack. The fine mist has the best chance of getting these hard-to-control blighters!

• Deter cats from using your new veggie garden as a toilet:  blend up 4tsp chilli powder, 3 garlic cloves and an onion and stand in 2 litres of water overnight. Strain then spray the soil – also use on plants to control caterpillars and aphids.

• Free Plants: Have a go at striking cuttings. Side shoots of hydrangeas can planted directly into the garden. Or grab a bag of our No.3 Pumice Sand and try some cuttings of clematis and fuchsias in it. Water daily.

The Lawn

With the summer dry and heat still with us most lawns will be experiencing some degree of discomfort. If you have been maintaining good deep watering practices but your lawn is still yellowing off then you may have an insect infestation. Dig into the lawn to a depth of roughly 3 inches to see if there are any beetles or larvae present. Insects can be safely treated using Pyrifos G granular insecticide which comes in a convenient shaker pack. Pyrifos G simply needs to be well watered in after application and then children and pets are safe to go back on the lawn the next day.

Summer Garden Projects

DIY jobs seem to crop up around this time of the year with warm weather making it easy to get outdoors. It’s a great time for building retaining walls and paths, or cementing in posts for a new clothesline or letterbox. You’ll get great results from our Cemix concrete mix available in bags from all our CLS yards. There are several products in the range, so visit your local CLS for advice on which will be best for your job.

Central Landscapes Supplies Yards are open on Auckland Anniversary Monday and on Waitangi Day (except Waiheke)

Welcome to Ellerslie

We now have a Central Landscape & Garden Supplies at 157 Marua Road, Ellerslie. Phone: 579 3750.

Garden Thought of the Month: “The garden is a thing of beauty and a job forever.”

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Published 29th Jan 2010

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