Garden Tasks For May

For those of us not lucky enough to receive any rain since December just keep watering if you can. We are seeing so many trees and shrubs being lost to the dry.

Try and make your watering program as efficient as possible. An automatic system can be a life saver in these dry times.

Start taking leaf cuttings of your succulents. This is very easy to do by snipping off a few leaves and gently poking them into a well draining potting mix.

In the veggie garden it is time to start some more succession planting of your cool season crops. It has been about six weeks since I planted our first round of cool season crops. I am going to add more leafy greens, more carrots and possibly some more cauliflowers.

If you are doing autumn planting, soil preparation is key to ensuring your plants will settle in well, continue to grow and thrive. I would recommend that you take a look at your soil, do some research to work out what might be needed to improve your planting area. I always like to add a good quality or homemade compost along with some organic fertiliser such as Rooster Booster.

If you are going to select some deciduous trees for planting I would suggest taking a look around your local area whilst the deciduous trees still have some autumn foliage on them.

This way you can select the trees that give you the strings of autumn colours. You will also know which ones are doing the best and are suited to your climate.

Now is the best time to lift and divide clumping plants that flowered in spring . This would include species such as Society Garlic, Agapanthus, Kangaroo Paws, Lomandra, Dianella, Liriopes, Ornamental grasses, Day Lilies and Achillea.

In the Veggie Garden this week I would recommend you keep an eye out for White Cabbage Moths if you are growing any veggies from the Brassica family. This family includes Cauliflower, Broccoli, Cabbage and many more. If you are noticing the leaves of these plants are being munched then you most likely are being attacked by the larvae of the White Cabbage Moth. You will need to treat your plants with Dipel. The only way to secure your plants in the long term will be attempt to exclude the pests by screening them out, You can do this by installing white mesh nets over your veggie garden. Ideally installing the white mesh early in the season will prevent you having to spray.

• Topics:

• Gardening