Autumn Tips

The cooler months of autumn or spring are best for planting trees and shrubs. With many plants approaching dormancy is also a good time to redesign the garden or put that pond in you always wanted to have.

Autumn Leaves

Don’t burn autumn leaves, but turn them into compost or use them as mulch for garden beds instead. Many people burn them or trash them. Why waste autumn leaves by burning or trashing them?

Bulbs

Bulbs should be in the soil by the end of May, or even earlier in colder climates.
Put your bulbs into the fridge for a couple of weeks before planting them out. Being placed into a warmer environment after this artificial “winter”, will trigger their urge to sprout when being planted out into a warmer environment.

If you don’t yet know where you want your bulb display to be, why not plant them into pots for now? You can plant them out later into their final position and maybe keep some in pots for inside.

Autumn Fertilizing

Exotics - stop fertilizing as most exotics are now going into dormancy.
Natives - light dose of Blood & Bone will benefit natives at this time of the year.

Lawns - the fertilising times for lawns are autumn and spring.

Indoor Plants

Check the water requirement of indoor plants by inserting your finger into the soil up to the first knuckle. If the soil feels damp or sticks to your finger, the plant does not need watering.
Keep your indoor plants away from heaters (in colder climates) or air conditioning vents (in warmer climates) and leave repotting and fertilising until spring.

Lawns

To avoid bare spots you can over-sow shady areas with Shady Lawn Seed or use ground covers in these areas.

If your lawn dies in patches for no apparent reason, inspect your lawn for cockchafer infestations. Occasionally the grubs come to the surface. Treat with an insecticide available from your local nursery.

Mushrooms

You will now find so called ‘mushroom farms’ in most nurseries. They are easy to grow, you’ll get two or three crops from one box and they are delicious in soups, salads, sauces, grilled, crumbed, in patés, or as accompaniment with many foods!

Tips & Tricks

Sweet Peas:
Most Sweet Peas available in Australia are early bloomers that flower during winter. Prepare the garden bed, let it settle for a week or two and then rake the surface to destroy any weed seedlings before sowing. Make sure you don’t overwater, as Sweet Pea seeds will rot away before they germinate. A light dressing of lime will ensure good germination.

Poppies:
You can sow Poppies from late summer into autumn. When you sow Poppy early you will have winter flowers.

Maidenhair ferns:
Straggly looking maidenhair ferns should be cut at ground level and fed with a
fertilizer (Nitrosol or Hi-N ). Leave them outside in a shady area for a few weeks and they’ll become lush, green and stunning again!

Vegetables:
Seed potatoes become available in nurseries usually from April onwards.
If you have grown potatoes before you will have noticed that they have remarkably improved the soil of the bed they grew in. Use that same bed for your winter crops!

Weeds & Pests

To get onionweed out of a lawn, simply don’t mow for a few weeks. The Onion weed will then stand clear of the lawn grass and you can then use a Zero Weeding Wand on the culprits.

Autumn is the time when insect pests are most active. Keep the weeds down to take away shelter for insects and simply hose off infestations!