December and January Garden Tips

Posted November 30, 2017

It is not too late to consider a Landscape Design Gift for your garden or a family member or close friend. The gift that grows. Give our Landscape Architect a call to discuss our voucher system.

Holiday Care for your Garden

If you have a full vegetable/fruit garden, invite friends etc to enjoy rather than waste
Place potted plants in cool shade behind the house
Before you leave on holiday give the garden a good soak before you take off, or make sure the irrigation system is working well and not leaking, or have sprinklers on a timer system and ask neighbours to turn the timer around if summer is particularly dry
Mulch is great for keeping the moisture in, keeping plant roots cool in shady areas, (keeps plants warm in winter months too), prevents erosion and can feed the soil too
A good idea to have lawns mown by family/neighbours – makes the property look lived in.

Irrigation

Watering systems should be installed to conserve water, trickle irrigation is the most economical
Time clocks will avoid over watering
If you have automatic irrigation set for early morning e.g. 5am or late evening e.g. after 9pm
Refer above for holiday irritation tips

Gardening and Christmas

Christmas Gift Ideas for the keen gardener: Pruners, sprinklers, trowel, weeder, stainless steel spade or fork
Gifting a landscape design or 1 hour consultation (landscape advice) could be a wonderful gift for a new home/section owner
Your garden can become a shopping mall of gifts from bunches of mixed herbs or fresh flowers to attractively wrapped new potatoes or gift baskets of mixed vegetables. Everyone appreciates produce fresh from the garden
Harvesting time: Potatoes, peas (sown mid September), beans, lettuce, carrots, spring onions and even some early tomatoes if you found a warm sunny spot in your garden
Enjoy the raspberries, strawberries, black currents for desserts and juice

Edible Garden

Sow sprouting broccoli and cauliflower etc. mid December for planting out in late January – Beware grey aphid and white butterfly
For those who protected their potatoes and other vegetables from the late frosts – start digging up and eating (once flowers start to die off on the potatoes)
Keep planting lettuce, spring onions and radish
Pick beans every 2 – 3 days, keep watered
Once your pumpkin (or melon) vine have 2 – 3 fruit, nip the ends so the growing energy goes into the fruit
Tomatoes and corn will be ready late January in a good season or warm site
Strawberries, raspberries and cherries are ripening, use netting to protect from the birds having a feast
Stop harvesting asparagus in mid December to allow for root reserves for next season – support with stakes and twine

Lawns

Water just enough to keep green, browntop and fescue are fairly drought resistant and survive even if browned off
Do not cut lawns too short to keep them from drying out too quickly

Flowers

Plant your summer annuals now and enjoy the bright colours this brings to your garden
Dead head/cut down and fertilise to encourage flowering
Provide support for Dahlias and Christmas lilies
Lavender: After flowering, cut back about 1/3, but make sure not to cut back to hard mature wood with no re growth potential.

Trees/shrubs

Ensure any newly planted trees/shrubs have sufficient water to help get them established
Fruit trees need to be sprayed with Bravo to prevent fungal infections

Roses

Prune to 5 leaf after flowering, watering will encourage flowering
Fertilise roses with Evergreen Rose Fertiliser to encourage new growth for second flowering