Getting into the Garden in July

28 Getting into the garden with Central Landscapes Silverdale

Best JULY Tip – July is Compost and Pruning month! Enjoy the crisp clear days in your garden

Return compost back into the soil with LIVING EARTH ORGANIC COMPOST available at Silverdale!

• Dig in Living Earth compost – return important organic matter into the soil for optimum growth come spring. Or, if you have your own compost, turn it regularly to help it continue to break down.

In the Veggie Garden:

Plant – Last chance to plant your garlic! Plant cabbages, caulis, spinach, peas, beetroot, onions, artichokes, broad beans, parsnips, rhubarb (crowns), silverbeet, carrots and cress for soups.

Veggies for small spaces – Baby beets and the smaller Japanese Huraikai turnip can be planted all year round in small containers – harvest the leaves for added colour and flavour to salads.

Harvest – Kale (packed with protein), spinach, Brussels sprouts (if yours are ready), parsley and coriander.

Garden Care

Get scented! Our Gardenias have been blooming intermittently right through until end of June. Lucky us! It is the scent that perfumers will forever try to replicate. Plant for winter colour – the bright orange warmth of marigold, geranium, gerbera, dianthus and gomphrena. New to you? Take this list down to your local garden centre and ask them to point them out – they’re beautiful and bright and will add beauty to your winter garden.

July is pruning month – a nice time to put your head phones on and prune to some classical music on a clear winter’s day. It’s what vineyards all across the country are doing – and you can join in too!

• Treat yourself to some good quality secateurs. • Why prune? - Preserves the shape of the plant. - Restricts the size of the plant – although better to choose a plant for the space that best fits! - Encourages productive growth – more fruiting wood in the orchard or flowering shoots on roses. - Thins the canopy and allows more air and light to lower branches.

What to prune: Most deciduous (shedding leaves annually) fruit trees, roses, grape vines and ornamentals. Delay pruning spring flowers until they have flowered, otherwise you’ll cut off blooms which are yet to come through.

How to prune:

• Cut just above the outward facing bud – encourages new growth in the direction you want. • Lowest point of the cut should be even with the top of the bud and slanting upwards at 45 degrees. • Large heavy branches should be cut back in stages to avoid unnecessary damage.