December Monthly Tips

The Flower Garden

• There is still time to plant out some annuals or potted colour to have the garden looking a picture in time for Xmas – try alyssum, lobelia, petunia, zinnia, salvia, verbena or marigolds.
• Now is a good time to plant up pots and hanging baskets – the smaller flowered calibrachoa, and colourwave petunias are ideal for this.
• For shady spots in the garden, try some of the new impatiens available now, or chose from one of the many Fuchsia varieties for a stunning Christmas display.
• Keep deadheading roses and water deeply to ensure a second flush of blooms.
• Trim back any flowering shrubs that have now finished – this will encourage new growth over summer for next year’s flowers.
• Any spring flowering bulbs that have died off can now be lifted and stored in a cool dry place until planting out again in Jan or Feb.
• Mulch flower beds with compost or pea straw to conserve moisture and reduce the number of weeds that may appear.
• Don’t forget your indoor houseplants either – this warmer weather will be stimulating them into growth – you can help them along with a weekly dose of a liquid or soluble plant food such as ‘Ican Liquid Fast Food.’ For those of you who are time poor a teaspoon of slow release fertiliser such as Osmocote or Acticote will keep them happy for 3-6 months – what could be easier?

The Edible Garden

• December is the month when things really get going in the vegetable garden and you will start to see some of the rewards for all the hard digging and prep work you put in earlier.
• The main tasks for this month are watering, feeding, continued planting of seedlings, and maybe a touch of spraying if necessary.
• When watering, focus the water on the ground and roots of your plants, rather than spraying water all over the foliage. This will help prevent the spread of fungus diseases and will ensure plants get the water they need. A soaker hose is ideal for watering the vege garden. Remember a good soaking every 2-3 days is more beneficial than a daily light sprinkling. For more on watering for holiday makers.
• Side-dress fast-growing green veggies with some Sulphate of Ammonia – this will stimulate some good leaf growth on lettuces, spinach, and silverbeet. For veggies which are produced from flowers such as tomatoes, peppers, courgettes, a weekly feed of liquid tomato food or ‘Thrive Flower and Fruit’ will produce a better crop.
• Continue planting seedlings of lettuces, beans, courgettes, cucumbers, radishes, beetroot, tomatoes and sweet corn. More on the Whanganui vegetable planting plan.
• This is a good month to plant out rockmelons, watermelons, and pumpkins – all of these love the warmer weather.
• Keep pinching back lateral side shoots on tomatoes so that all their energy goes into producing ‘fruit’ and not stems and leaves. Pick courgettes daily as they start to come on otherwise they will get too big very quickly and the plant will stop producing more flowers. More on cucurbits.
• In more humid climates you may notice a touch of mildew or other fungal disease creeping in to the vege patch. React early and a quick spray with ‘Yates Fungus Fighter’ should get these under control quickly. Healthy, well fed and watered plants are much more resistant to bugs and diseases so make this your first priority. More on sprays or more on Organic sprays.
• Any bugs can be controlled with Mavrik, or if caterpillars persist knock them on the head with a dose of ‘Yates Success Ultra’.
• Set your codling moth traps. More on codling moth.