Gardening Care with Central Landscapes

26 Gardening care with

Central Landscapes Silverdale

Vegetable Gardens

Sow Broad Beans: They’re a Winter hardy bean crop for a sunny area of the garden (or even grown in a large trough filled with Living Earth Garden Mix). Make sure you have stakes or a climbing frame ready, to hold the plants upright. Dwarf forms are good in small areas, as they only grow to 100cm tall.

Look out for Garlic and Shallot bulbs: They’ll be in garden centres from now, so get hold of some. Contrary to popular opinion, you can plant them from May (usually one waits for the shortest day) and potentially be harvesting your first glorious homegrown garlic in November!

Green Manure crops: It’s time to plant fallow garden areas with a mix of lupin and mustard seed, to fix nitrogen in the soil. Once the lupins are at knee-high – don’t wait until they flower – cut them off at ground level and dig the stalks through for added bulk in your garden.

Trim back now: Cut down the spent foliage of artichokes – it will re-grow. Tidy up herbs such as thyme and tarragon (the latter is deciduous, so you see it re-emerge next Spring). Remove tomatoes and other vegetables that are no longer cropping.

Garden Care

Plant red soldier poppies as a mark of respect for Anzac Day. You can also sow sweet peas against a warm sunny fence or wall – add some lime and compost to the soil before planting the latter.

Plant for shrubs to complement trees showing Autumn colour. Shrubs such as the burgundy-leaved Loropetalum ‘China Pink’, the orangey tones of Coprosma ‘Evening Haze or Autumn Glow’ the red-toned Pseudowintera “Red Leopard’ all work in with blazing reds of oaks and maples. And the yellow leaved Choisya ‘Sundance’ looks great planted in light shade beneath a golden gleditzia or gingko.

Trim off unsightly silvery leaves – on evergreens that have been attacked by thrip. The leaves won’t turn back to green and your shrubs will have the chance to grow new undamaged foliage before Winter hits.

Rake up the fallen leaves of deciduous trees. Compost them or place in a green waste collection bin. Leaving them on the grass causes lawns to collapse.

Plant young seedlings of polyanthus and primulas in pots and the garden. Liquid feed after planting with Living Earth Liquid Compost. All Spring-flowering bulbs can be planted out from now on.

Lawn Care

It is now time to renovate your lawn so it will go into the winter months looking lush and healthy. If your lawn is looking tired, yellow, full of weeds or just a little thin then follow these simple steps:

1. Fertilise with Turfmaster Gold to encourage strong growth. 2. Spray weeds with a broad-range selective weed killer in order to control broadleaf weeds. 3. About 3-4 weeks later, scarify the lawn heavily to create a good seed bed. 4. Over-sow bare or weak areas with the appropriate Prolawn seed blend and fertilise with Turfmaster Starter.

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