Autumn Gardening
Although there is still heat in the day it’s time to start preparing the garden for the coming Autumn and Winter seasons with a few seasonal tasks.
If you have an irrigation system installed it will need to be reset for cooler temperatures, and changing weather conditions.
Autumn is a great time to start a compost heap, an invaluable addition to any garden. Even just collecting fallen leaves and spreading them over the soil as a mulch and to attract earthworms who will add nutrients to the soil with their castings will benefit the garden.
Any Summer flowering perennials like Arums, Hemerocallis, Iris, Cannas, Dietes and Agapanthus can be lifted and divided. The foliage can be cut back when the plant is repositioned.
Once flowering has finished, evergreen Summer and Autumn flowering shrubs can be pruned, also any overgrown climbers. Winter flowering shrubs should not be pruned at this time.
Give container plants a good, last feed to boost the compost during Winter and add a general fertiliser to citrus trees to ensure a good crop of fruit.
It’s an ideal time to move any small trees and shrubs that need a new position during the cooler weather to give them time to recover and settle in their new position. Prepare the new planting hole by adding fertiliser and compost, watering the plant well on completion. Autumn is also a good time to plant new trees and shrubs in the garden so they can establish a strong root system.
Plant Winter and Spring flowering indigenous bulbs such as Anemones, Rananculi, Babanias, Ixias, Sparaxia and Watsonia Tritonia.
In the veggie garden plant onions, beetroot, carrots, kale, brussel sprouts, garlic, Swiss chard, broccoli, cauliflower and peas in prepared vegetable beds.