Durban - The official start of spring was September 1, but no one has told this to the plants.
They have been growing for weeks – spring has sprung. The days are getting longer – soon by up to five minutes a day. We have had some rain and things are definitely happening. The recent cold spell means that the plants are now primed for spring and will burst forth as the weather warms up.
This means that, for gardeners, August has been a busy month.
Your garden needs a spring clean. Now is the time to plan and plant your summer garden, prune back shrubs to encourage new growth and flowers, and to get your lawn right for summer.
Spring is a wonderful time for bedding plants or seedlings – your nursery will be bursting with varieties of begonia, petunia, alyssum, lobelia, dianthus, pansy, poppy, petunia, marigolds, salvia, torenia, zinnias, verbena, viola and many more.
Plant now for a bright, cheerful colour splash.
Use seedlings in flower beds, rockeries, window boxes, pots and tubs and hanging baskets.
Remember to prepare the soil well – your seedlings have to grow, flower, make seeds and die, all in one season. Give them a good start and they will reward you tenfold.
Dig in plenty of compost, and some bonemeal (or superphosphate) to encourage rooting and bud formation.
I also like to feed with a water soluble fertiliser such as 3:1:6 every week to ensure maximum performance.
Tip: Tease out the root ball of the seedlings when you transplant them, if the roots are matted to the shape of the old container – this encourages a spreading root system, with obvious advantages.
It is important to “dead head” your seedlings by removing the old and faded flowers.
All that plants want to do in life is to make seeds, and by removing the old flowers they frantically try to make more flowers (and thus more seeds). You can extend their flowering life (and the number of flowers) by weeks by “dead heading”.
You should have pruned your roses by now. Make sure that they get a boost into spring by mulching them with compost or kraal manure, and feeding with a flowering fertiliser such as 3:1:5.
Ask your nurseryman for advice.
Water well once or twice a week to maximise growth. As the new shoots appear, be on the lookout for mildew, which looks like a white powder on the leaves and causes leaf distortion. It is easier to prevent, than to cure, so a regular weekly spray programme is the way to go. Use a rose care cocktail, which will also control insects such as aphids, which feed on the rapidly growing shoots. There is also an insecticide that lasts all season (which is excellent against ants as well) – again, ask your nurseryman.
You should prune other shrubs and hedges in the garden now.
Duranta or Sheena’s Gold, allamandas, acalyphas, abelias, bougainvilleas, hydrangeas and other plants that have overgrown their space can all be cut back now. bougainvilleas and hydrangeas flower from their “old wood”, so always leave some of last year’s growth when pruning.
The leaf buds on the hydrangeas will have started to swell, so it is easy to see where to prune them. When you cut back the top growth of a plant by pruning, you leave the existing (large) root system in place. This means that suddenly there is a big root system supplying a smaller top system – so regrowth is rapid and vigorous. Give the pruned plants a generous application of compost and fertiliser to encourage this regrowth and flowering. Remember to water well and deeply.
Your lawn also needs attention now. Unfortunately, the weeds wake up after winter and start growing more quickly than your grass does. Therefore, your lawn needs as much help as it can get – apply fertiliser and water well.
Do not be in a hurry to mow, as it is the leaves that make the food, and the more leaves, the stronger the growth. A thick lawn will tend to stifle some weeds. If your soil is of poor quality, or if your lawn is uneven and bumpy, then apply lawn dressing or potting soil to even it out.
Top soil from your own garden may also be used – if you buy in top soil, then it will probably have many weeds (or else it is not good topsoil).
If your lawn is looking a bit the worse for wear, then feed with 2:3:2 fertiliser, which is a good, general wake-up feed.
If your lawn is looking fine, then use a recognised lawn fertiliser, which your nurserymen should have in stock.
If your lawn soil is compacted and hard, or if you have a particularly bad weed problem, you may need to lime your soil. This should only be done every two to four years, and involves forking in agricultural lime. Lime is like chalk dust and is insoluble in water so it takes a while to get to work in the ground.
It does three things to soils – it sweetens the soil by raising the acidity or pH; it helps bind the soil particles together and so improves the soil structure, aeration and drainage; and it releases nutrients trapped in the soil by the soil chemistry. Many weeds (including clover leaf) prefer an acid soil and thus thrive where the soil is acidic and damp due to compaction or poor drainage.
Liming helps correct this imbalance. Ask at your garden centre for advice.
If weeds are already a problem, then it is not too early to spray them with a selective broadleaf herbicide. Weedkillers work best on actively growing weeds, so apply them about two weeks after feeding your lawn.
I am not a huge fan of weeding lawns by hand – although it is therapeutic, it is backbreaking, time-consuming and expensive (there are better things you could be doing), and is often counterproductive because by pulling up the mother you encourage the babies to grow.
Weedkillers are quick and easy to apply, safe for the environment, cost-effective, and work well when applied correctly – be sure to ask for advice before using. Get your lawn right now and in the summer caring for it will be a breeze.
Apart from shrubs and hedges, many plants can be planted now. Old favourites and new releases are all on show at your local nursery.
The list of recommendations is endless, but look out for angelonias, ivy leaf geraniums, azaleas, gazanias, Marguerite daisies, Chinese jasmine, diascia, verbena and “vygies” (or lampranthus as they are now mostly called). A visit to the nursery to stock up is a must.
With the warm weather that will soon be here, it is a good time to plant a salad garden.
A six-pack each of lettuce and tomato plants, a few parsley, some herbs such as rocket, chives, basil and mint, and you are set for great summer lunches.
Nothing tastes better than a freshly picked salad – from garden to table in 10 minutes.
Vegetables and herbs can be grown successfully in containers – pots, tubs and window boxes – even hanging baskets. This means they take up very little space – be sure to put them full sun (which adds to the quality of the plant), water and feed regularly. - The Mercury