GARDEN TIPS for APRIL plus FREE Gift

Get ready for work in the Garden – With all the inspiration from The International Ellerslie Show you can begin creating…from the Incredible Edibles to Organics, to your own corner of paradise in your garden.  This is the time we roll up our sleeves and do a great effort in the whole garden from veges to flowers to trees to bulbs

Enjoy the work out!    -    Plus FREE Bulbs – See below

Edible Garden

• Perfect time for planting winter veges beetroot, broccoli, brussel sprouts cabbages, cauli, silverbeet plus winter lettuces
• Dig out/bag up all of your potatoes/onion now.  Harvest pumpkins store in cool dry place
• Autumn is a time to watch out for slugs/snails.  An organic option is  to sprinkle rotted sawdust around slug loving plants.   Blitzem is another option to control these pests.
• Plant citrus, blueberries/raspberries also get ready to prune/tying raspberries now to encourage good fruiting season in summer.
• Sow green crops in cleared areas
• Fruit Trees – Once leaves fall spray with Champ DP Copper Fungicide” This will protect leaf scars from fungal and bacterial infection

Flowers/Colour

SPECIAL for WEB READERS – Mention you have read the “Garden Tips for April” and you will receive a FREE bag of bulbs for every 3 bags of bulbs you have purchased.

• Plant your spring  bulbs e.g. daffodils, tulips, hyacinths,.  Tip – Chill tulip bulbs in fridge 4 – 6  weeks prior to planting
• Plant in groupings around letterbox/under specimen trees or in the flower garden
• Tip: If planting bulbs in pots, plant bulbs a little later or plant and put pot in colder area
• Avoid using soft bulbs or watch out for old stock
• Don’t forget to feed existing bulb area with bulb food ‘Fiesta bulb plant food’ also use when planting new bulbs
• Annual Flowers: Prepare beds, compost, fertilise – Plant Polyanthus, Pansies, Poppies, Wall flowers etc. for early spring flowering

Roses

• Lightly deadhead roses
• Leave hard pruning for winter

Seeds

• Plant flower seeds now, fertilise with a slow release fertiliser

Garden Clean up

• Rake autumn leaves for compost heap Tip: Avoid using Walnut tree leaves
• Prune hedging to allow new growth to harden off before winter sets in
• Place fresh pea-straw to help keep garden weed free

Lawns

• Fertilise lawns to keep green – If any bare patches sprinkle a little topsoil and grass seed, water in if the autumn rains haven’t arrived after the sowing
• Autumn is the very best time to form a new lawn/revamp existing one – Ask at Evergreen Garden Centre for tips on creating a new lawn
• Check for grass grub (dead patches in lawn) Apply ‘Soil Insect Killer’ now to control
• Lawn weed problems?  Apply Turfix or Versatill for flat weeds and broadleaf

Trees/shrubs

• Fertilise camellias, rhodos, azaleas, Daphne, buxus hedging with “Rhodo fertiliser”
• Hold off from pruning your Rhodos and Camellias – or you will cut off the flowers
• Any potted plants – indoor/outdoor fertilise for autumn flush of growth
• Best time for planting trees and shrubs – While soil is still warm, this encourages root establishment
• Lightly trim hedges/topiary now before the frosts set in.
• Moving plants? – Dig around them but don’t move yet – Tip: – Don’t move plants in flower

- ENJOY The Season -