NEWS & TIPS FOR MARCH 2021

In case you hadn’t noticed, it's officially autumn. It’s crept up on me like a stealthy thief. One evening I noticed it was chillier but it was the heavy dew on the lawn in the morning that was a dead give-away.

The cooler days and nights are somewhat a relief, but it would be nice to have a bit of rain. Not the sort they are having in Sydney at the moment because you wouldn’t wish that on anybody. Rain up here would be nice because the ground is still so dry and I’m trying to eke out the last of my tomatoes, but it’s not the end of the world because the summer harvest is ending anyway.


Jobs to do now:

• Weed like there’s no tomorrow!
• Prune climbing roses and rambling roses once they've finished flowering and tie in the stems before autumn winds cause damage. Cut back any dead, diseased or damaged branches to the ground or a healthy bud. Cut side shoots back by about two-thirds to an outward facing bud, and tie in horizontally to encourage flowering shoots. If you need some decent secateurs have a look here. Collect fallen leaves from under rose bushes so they don't carry diseases over to next year.
• Plant garlic, onions and broad beans. We have printanor garlic available now. You can also grow winter salad such as rocket or spinach in containers if you have a sunny north facing sheltered spot. Find a container with holes in the bottom fill with compost and sow the seeds, cover with some plastic to generate moisture and warmth and watch them germinate.
• If you need to regenerate your soil, clean out the vege garden of anything that has finished and plant a green crop. We have all the green crop seed you need, mustard, lupins and mixes.
• Planting potatoes this year? Autumn is the best time to add manure and compost before you plant. The tatties won’t be in for awhile so you have plenty of time to get your potato bed ready. Our new season seed potatoes are not due instore until mid April.
• When you have finished picking this year’s blackberries, the old fruited canes can be pruned out to make space for next year’s to develop. Cut back all the stems that have produced blackberries this year to ground level and tie in new growth. Leave autumn fruiting raspberries until later in the winter.
• Over sow any spots in your lawn that haven’t survived the summer heat.
• Feed your lawn with a slow release fertiliser and keep a watch out for fungus.

I think that’s probably a long enough to do list, don’t you?
Have a happy, safe Easter!