The festive summer month is officially here and there’s plenty to do in preparation for the season. All of your hard work in the garden over the previous months really starts to pay off. The transition from late spring to early summer is often blurred. Some parts of the country would have already experienced the extreme heat from this recent heatwave and hopefully your gardens have not had to much of a knock.
Keep on top of garden maintenance by deadheading your flowering plants regularly. This encourages continuous blooms throughout the summer, and well into the autumn season. Take care of summer essentials that are in hanging baskets or pots by applying Waterwise Crystals or vermiculite when planting. Don’t forget to take time to sit and enjoy your garden during the summer.
Here are some gardening guides you can look at adding to your list for your garden in December:
- Promote lots of healthy growth and festive flowers, by keeping pot plants well-watered, and fed each week with an All Purpose fertiliser like Wondersol or flower power. Regularly trim off any dead flowers to keep the plants looking tidy.
- Watering in the morning will reduce the risk of fungal disease especiallyforyour roses. Efekto Rosecare 3 and Efekto Rosecare Plus control disease in roses and other ornamentals.
- You can train your plants to develop good water habits by watering deeply and infrequently.
- Harvest your strawberries regularly and make sure they’re protected from snails and slugs with sluggem pellets.
- Raising the mower height during warm weather will have great benefits to your lawn– longer grass means cooler soil at the root level, which leads to a healthier lawn.
- Control whiteflies, which are a nuisance on our tomato plants. Spray with Efekto Cypermethrin 200 EC or neem oil to keep them at bay.
- Look at cutting back and fertilising your fuchsias with flower power or 2:3:2 fertiliser, promoting new fresh growth and flowers.
- If you have a mango tree feed them with Wonder Fruit & Flower to encourage the production of healthy fruit.
- During the summer months, black beetles emerge from holes in the lawn. You can treat with Cypermethrin.
- Scale insects are out and about breeding. at this time of year. Inspect your plants carefully, especially susceptible varieties such as gardenias, roses and citrus. If they are infected you can treat with Protek Complete or Efekto Malasol.
- Red spider mites can be kept in check by regularly mist-watering over leaves with neem oil to help them under control on our roses, ornamentals and vegetables.
- Lily borers start to make an appearance in the summer months. Control the caterpillars with either Margaret Roberts organic insecticide or Efekto Cypermethrin 200 EC.
- Chafer beetles are one of the most devastating and frustrating garden insect pests. They show up in droves and skeletonize the leaves and flowers. Treat your infected plants with Efekto Garden Gun.
- Look at giving your lawn some thorough deep watering in the weeks leading up to the festive season and holidays. This will moisten the soil down into the root zone, encouraging lawn roots to grow deeper.
- Do not be tempted to give your lawn a harsh low mowing just before the festive season. This can scalp the lawn and create bare patches, which are unattractive and will invite weeds. It’s better to mow little and often, removing no more than a third of the grass foliage at each mow.
- If your are struggling with aggressive, unwanted trees and deep-rooted vines they can be very challenging to control. Luckily we have the product for you, Efekto Garlon 4, which works on invasive trees, vines, roots, and all.
- Broadleaf weeds and grasses are a common problem on our paths and driveways. Spray with Protek clear pave or Efekto No Weed Paving RTU to kill existing weeds.
- Giving your garden beds an extra boost by adding a general fertiliser like flower power or gwano pellets will go a long way and your plants will reward you for it, with lush growth and flowers.
VEGETABLE GARDEN
- Your strawberries will be ripening in warm and sheltered areas. In colder areas, pick the last of your citrus.
- Look at planting passion fruit – just remember the vines need something to climb up to support their tendrils. Also look at treating fruit flies with Efekto Eco Fruitfly Bait.
- Start a programme with feeding all your fruiting plants every four to six weeks with flower power or gwano pellets throughout the growing season this will help aid in the development of the fruits.
- Protect your apples and pears from codling moth by spraying them with either Protek complete or Cypermethrin.
- If you start noticing bumps on your leaves, it could be scale. Use Malasol or Oleum to control these insects.
- Psyllids attack the foliage of citrus at this time of year causing tiny, raised lumps to pop up on young leaves. Efekto Aphicide is great for combatting these disfiguring pests.
Sow
- Look at sowing, Beetroot, capsicums, carrots, celery, courgettes, cucumbers, eggplants, leeks, lettuces, parsnips, radishes, rocket, spinach, sweetcorn, and tomatoes into your vegetable garden.
Harvest
- Its now time to start harvesting your Asparagus, broad beans, beetroot, broccoli, cabbages, carrots, cauliflowers, lettuces, rocket, spinach, and spring onions.
Fertiliser
- Look at sprinkling Wonder Organic Vita-Boost on the soil at planting time and around crops once a month in gardens with poor-quality, dry soil this will help improve the overall quality.
- If you are wanting to give an extra boost look at applying a foliar feed every two weeks to give plants a boost for the season.
- Sweet corn is a hungry plant and should be fed weekly with an All Purpose feed to encourage healthy leaf and stem growth as well as the cobs develope.
- It’s important to water tomato plants regularly to ensure the soil (or potting mix) is consistently moist. Inadequate or irregular watering, can contribute to calcium deficiency, this can cause the tomato fruit to develop a condition called blossom end rot, which results in a dark, sunken area at the base of the tomato fruit. An application of Bone Meal will help reduce the incidence of blossom end rot by supplying plants with calcium.
Protect
- Look at scattering snailbait granules for the control of slugs and snails.
- Control those horrible cutworm with Efekto Cutworm Bait if they reappear once the weather warms.
- Powdery mildew may begin to appear on courgettes, cucumbers, pumpkins, and grapes – spray plants with neem oil to control it.
- If aphids are attacking your garden, you can spray your plants with Malasol. It kills aphids on contact, along with other listed pests.
- Sweet corn can be susceptible to attack by caterpillars, which can chew into the developing corn cob. Regularly monitor for caterpillars themselves or signs of their damage or droppings will help prevent this from happening. If there is a problem treat with Margaret Roberts organic insecticide.
- Beans can be prone to infestations of red spider mites; you may start to notice leaves yellowing or mottling and spidery webbing developing between the leaves and stems. Control mites by spraying the plants with Oleum.
FLOWER GARDEN
Pick
- Why not add color to your home by picking Roses, iris, delphiniums, stock, snapdragons, lavender, chrysanthemums, gerbera, sweet peas, poppies and adding them to a vase in your home.
Sow
- Plants that will add a splash of color to any dull corner in the garden are Zinnias, alyssum, asters, begonias, chrysanthemums, Californian poppies, carnations, cosmos, dahlias, dianthus, gazanias, geraniums, gypsophila, impatiens, marigolds, petunias, nasturtiums, phlox, salvia, snapdragons, statice, sunflowers, and verbena.
Fertilise
- Apply all Purpose fertilisers to ensure good flower bud development for summer displays.
- Apply Wonder Rose & Flower to flower borders to give plants a much-needed boost for the upcoming season.
- Give evergreen plants an all-over quick and easy feed with Gwano pellets. It’s an organic complete fertiliser that will encourage healthy green growth and condition the soil.
Protect
- Spray damaging insects with either Malasol or Cypermethrin 200 EC as soon as they appear.
- Protect your roses with Rosecare 3 or Efekto Rosecare Plus to control black spot, mildew and aphids.
- If your roses and ornamentals are being attacked by aphids? Now is the time to use Insecticide Granules Plus. Simply work it into the ground and water, this will give you protection for up to 8 weeks. No mixing or spraying is required.
Chores
- Begin watering those dry areas of the garden, the best time to do so is in the morning or early evening. Water the soil, not the plants. Incorporate a healthy dose of compost to help the soil hold on to more moisture.
INDOOR PROTECTION
Info
- The next time you see a fly is buzzing around the house, remember this: Houseflies lay their eggs on decomposing organic matter such as garbage and animal waste, they gather various pathogens on their legs, feet, bodies and mouths, which can then be transferred to their next landing spot, like your windowsill or countertop. Treat garbage bins with Efekto Everdeath and their landing sites with No Insect Indoors RTU Flying Insect spray.
- Cockroaches are the most common type of crawling insect to infest homes. They cause particular problems because of their small size. Control cockroaches with protek merkaptotion.
- During the warm season, you and your animal companion will be outdoors a lot which could expose your furry friend to fleas. Fleas feed on all animal blood, including that of humans, which means that a flea infestation will be distressing to both you and your pet. You can prevent this from becoming a problem by treat the lawn with Malasol.
LAWNS
Info
- A lush deep green lawn looks fantastic and creates a great space for entertaining. It’s easy to give your lawn a quick makeover with fertilawn.
- Don’t come back from holidays to a lawn full of weeds! Before you head off on your summer holiday, control common broadleaf weeds with no Weed Lawn RTU.
- Warm, wet weather provides the perfect conditions for fungal lawn diseases like brown patch and dollar spot. They can be difficult to diagnose and control. Keep lawn diseases under control with Efekto Lawn Fungicide 500 EC.
- Now is the time when winged harvester termite queens and males emerge from their existing nests for mating. Fertilised queens then begin looking for a new nesting site, which could be your home or garden. If they show up, stop them dead with Efekto Cypermethrin and Kamikaze.
- Dead and dying patches in the lawn that feel spongy underfoot might mean mole crickets are lurking in the soil. Treat with Plant Protector to protect your lawn from damage.
INDOOR PLANTS
Info
- One of the challenges with indoor plants is an accumulation of dust on their foliage. Using gloves, wipe the leaves occasionally with a damp cloth to help keep them clean and healthy.
- If you are going away over the festive season, add Plant Food Stix to your indoor pot plants. This product will feed your plants for eight weeks. Water all your potted plants thoroughly a day or so before leaving then move them all to the coolest part of the house. They will survive quite well for a couple of weeks without further water.
- If you are staying at home continue feeding your indoor plants weekly with an All Purpose liquid fertiliser.
- Scale aphids, whiteflies, mites, and mealybugs: These are common pests that affect indoor plants, particularly if the plants are under stress. Indoor plants can be treated with Efekto Garden Gun RTU, but a good rule of thumb is to take them out every other watering and shower them down with the hose.
- Powdery mildew and rust can also be found on houseplants. You can Treat this by spraying with Funginex.
From all of us here at Tuingenoot, thank you for your support, have yourself a very merry festive season and happy gardening into the New Year!
