Happy New Year! Welcome to 2023 and an exciting year in the garden. It is still a great time of year to stop and enjoy the rewards of the projects of the last few months. But before you put your feet up, there is still much to be achieved to keep your garden looking great.
Garden jobs for January:
Now is the time to focus on protecting your garden from the severity of summer. Consider setting up some shade cloths to cover garden beds. It’s a great way to protect your veggies and flowers from that harsh summer sun.
Be water smart! It’s best to water your garden first thing in the morning. This will give your soil a chance to absorb the moisture before the day gets too hot. Also treat your entire garden with a plant and soil conditioner like Seasol, this will promote healthy growth, and increase your plants resistance to heat.
Remember to top up your gardens with mulch, it looks great and will help with water retention. Watch out for unwanted pests such as aphids, they will still be about and wanting to feast upon your flowers.
Flower Garden:
January is a great time to get out in the garden. It may be a lot hotter than any of us would like, but there are still plenty of flowers in bloom and thriving. This month’s ideal plantings consist of:
- Alyssum
- Calendula
- Marigold
- Nasturtium
- Salvias
- Vincas
- Portulaca
- Petunia
- Dianthus
- Lobelia
- Zinnia
Cut back and feed all annual flowers. Deadhead and fertilise flowering plants such as fuchsias and geranium to encourage a new flush of blooms.
Spray roses to control black spot and pick up any fallen leaves around your roses.
Be sure to weed, and keep your garden tidy, to deter snakes and other creepy crawlies that come with the hot summer days.
Lawns:
Keep lawns mowed back, but be sure to raise the mower blades, to avoid scalping your lawn. Scalping your lawn will encourage weeds to take hold and reduce the foliage protection to soil. This effectively results in shallow lawn roots and grass with poor disease resistance. Scalped grass is also at risk of drying out and becoming unsightly.
We suggest adding a water retention granule such as Searles Penetraide to your soil or lawn. This can reduce water usage by up to 50% and will save money on your water bill by making efficient use of summer rains.
The Edible Garden:
Harvest beans and other summer veggies regularly so they’ll continue to produce more crops.
Crops such as sweetcorn and tomatoes are likely to be looking top-heavy, so make sure you have adequate support for your plants. Offering a trellis for your tomatoes to climb and a stake to keep your sweetcorn standing tall.
Add a layer of Rocky Point Pea Straw or Lucerne Mulch. They will add nutrients including Nitrogen to the soil as they naturally decompose.
That’s all from us, make sure to check back with us next month to discover what to do in the garden in February, until then happy gardening from Nicholas and the team at Capalaba Produce.
