January
Enjoy the sun-soaked garden this month, but spare a thought for your thirsty plants! Don’t forget to summer-proof by topping up mulch and help your garden beat the heat.
Flowering now
- Trees & Shrubs:
Crepe myrtle, frangipani, fuchsia, gardenia, hibiscus, hydrangea, lavender, murraya, roses, tibouchina, NSW Christmas Bush, wattle, grevillea, native hibiscus. - Annuals & Perennials:
Begonia, geranium, impatiens, Marguerite daisy, marigold, petunia, alyssum, verbena - Bulbs:
Agapanthus, canna, dahlia, daylily - Climbers:
Bougainvillea, mandevilla, nasturtium
Plant/sow
- Create a garden full of colour with ageratum, alyssum, calendula, French marigold, Iceland poppy, linaria, liriope, petunia, primula, snapdragon, stock, sweet pea and verbena.
- Plant beans, lettuce (summer and loose-leaf varieties) and sweet corn.
- Sow seeds of next winter's vegetables, such as cabbage, broccoli, kale, cauliflower and lettuce, into seedling trays. Keep in a shaded spot.
Fertilise
- Nourish your plants with a complete slow-release fertiliser.
- Fertilise azaleas, daphne and camellias with a specially-formulated product, such as Kahoona. Camellias should be well watered this month to ensure good flowering from late autumn to spring.
- Apply complete rose food or a mix of 3 parts blood and bone and 1 part potash around each plant. Roses are heavy feeders, so this treatment is needed to encourage more flowers. Sugar cane mulch is also beneficial.
- Keep leafy vegies thriving with regular watering and a foliar fertiliser.
- Feed hungry hibiscus, passionfruit, dipladenia and tomatoes with a fertiliser high in potassium.
- Feed palms, ferns and salad greens with seaweed, worm juice or fish emulsion.
Prune
- NSW Christmas bush can be pruned as soon as the ‘flowers’ have finished.
- Deadhead your roses by cutting back to the nearest bud below the dead bloom. This will help produce a good autumn flush on roses that repeat their performance, including all modern roses.
- Prune agapanthus flower heads to prevent seeding through the garden and bush.
- Trim whippy growth from wisteria back to 30 centimetres.
- Prune lavender into globes and dry flowers to use in potpourri.
Pests & diseases
- Watch out for cabbage white butterfly and treat with Success Ultra or derris dust.
- If lawn grub beetles are attacking your lawn, use a grub and insect control product like Munns Lawn Grub Killer.
- Spray azaleas and rhododendrons for lace bug.
- Remove any built-up scale by spraying or wiping foliage with white oil.
- Fruit fly can be controlled using bait.
- Use Success Ultra on citrus that’s being attacked by leaf-miner, which appears as leaf curling and silvery trails on foliage.
- Be vigilant against rust on frangipani, canna and fuchsia. Treat rust before it becomes prevalent by spraying a mix of eco-fungicide and eco-oil, and bin any fallen infected leaves.
General garden care
- Remove spent flower heads from summer annuals to promote more flowers.
- Stake your dahlias and chrysanthemums.
- Divide perennials such as agapanthus, day lilies and bearded iris.
- Water your fruit trees regularly to ensure a good crop.
- Check your drip irrigation system to ensure there are no blockages.
- Top-up your mulch to conserve moisture and help stop the weeds.
Buy now
- Dipel or derris dust
- Azalea and camellia plant food
- Rose food
- Annuals
- Mulch such as lucerne