Community & Business
19 July, 2024
Time to get into the garden for spring
THE wintery days will soon make way for warmer temperatures, signalling it’s time to get back into the garden and get ready for spring.
July is a prime time to start planting vegetables and herbs – everything from lettuce, silver beet and cabbages to tomatoes, cucumbers, capsicums and eggplants.
With prices still high for most herbs and vegetables in supermarkets, growing your own just got more attractive.
You can easily germinate your own seeds too, saving on having to purchase seedlings. Put them in a warm sunny spot and make sure they are kept moist and soon they will be ready to plant.
Have a good look at the soil in your veggie patch – it might need a boost with some soil conditioner or animal manure and it’s best to leave it a week or so before you plant your new seedlings.
Over the next month or so is a great time to give your overall garden a bit of a “spring clean”, getting rid of winter weed growth, pruning back shrubs and other plants that can do with a trim, and disposing of any plants that have reached their use-by date.
If you love a bit of colour in your garden, great flowers that are easy to grow, such as chrysanthemums, geraniums, impatiens, marigolds and petunias are perfect to add some vibrant colour.
It’s also an ideal time to start providing your garden with some fertiliser because as the warmer days come on, any new plantings will really take flight.
A slow-release fertiliser like blood and bone will do the trick as it will release the nutrients slowly and when the plant needs them. Liquid fertilisers are also good, especially to support new leaf growth.
After all the hard work of weeding, conditioning your soil and planting, it’s wise to give your garden a good soak. If you live around Mareeba, it’s been a dry last couple of months and the ground is crying out for a really good soaking, but if you’re on the southern Tablelands, you’re probably still coping with wet ground.
If you’ve experienced a dry winter, it can be a good idea to apply a soil wetter so the water doesn’t run off instead of soaking in.
Last, but not least, think about applying around 7cm of mulch throughout your garden areas. This will allow water to get to the soil, avoiding erosion. It also helps with water evaporation and helps keeps the summer weeds somewhat at bay.
