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This is a month of rapid growth. Keep your garden well watered. Water before wilting to minimise stress on plants. Application of a compost mulch will help retain soil moisture. Also pay particular attention to weeding, feeding and spraying.
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Gardening Tasks for December:
Vegetable Garden
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Sow seeds directly into the soil: Beans, beetroot, carrots, parsnip, swedes, turnips, radish, spinach, lettuce, silverbeet and sweetcorn. Make successive sowings every two weeks. |
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Plant seedlings of lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, spinach, tomato, sweetcorn, beetroot, pumpkin, courgette, capsicum, eggplant, melon, cucumber and gherkin. |
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Protect plants from caterpillars with Derris Dust. |
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Courgettes and cucumbers can be protected from powdery mildew by spraying with Copper Spray. |
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Feed tomatoes at least once a week with a fast acting liquid feed such as Phostrogen Tomato Food. Pinch out laterals (side growths) on tall tomato varieties as they grow and ensure they are firmly staked. |
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Apply a mulch of compost around vegetable plants to conserve soil moisture. |
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Fruit Trees
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Feed fruit trees for bumper crops later and water well to prevent fruit drop. |
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Spray pip and stone fruit with Copper Spray to prevent fungus diseases. |
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Spray citrus with Copper Spray to prevent verrucosis and leaf curl. |
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Summer prune peach and nectarine trees as soon as fruiting is complete. This will help prevent the spread of silver leaf blight and leaf curl. |
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Flower Garden
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Sow seeds of ageratum, alyssum, aster, celosia, cosmos, cyclamen, gerbera, nasturtium, petunia, phlox, portulaca, rudbeckia, salpiglossis, sunflowers, verbena, viscaria and zinnia. |
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Plant seedlings of alyssum, aster, chrysanthemum, cosmos, dahlia, dianthus, gypsophila, nasturtium, impatiens, marigolds, petunia, phlox, portulaca, salvia, verbena, viscaria and zinnia. |
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Roses and perennials can still be planted. Keep new plantings well watered. |
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Prune roses lightly and water well in preparation for autumn flowering. Feed with Rose Fertiliser and spray with Super Shield to prevent pests and diseases. |
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Lift spring flowering bulbs once the leaves have died down completely and store in a cool dry place. |
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Mulch garden shrubs with compost to conserve moisture and so protect roots from hot sun, especially rhododendrons, azaleas and camellias. |
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Water each evening or early morning, especially plants in containers which will dry out quickly in hot or windy weather. |
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Houseplants and Outdoor Containers
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Fill pots with flowering annuals such as petunias, marigolds, phlox or impatiens. |
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Keep up watering in warm weather. Installation of a Buyright in-ground irrigation system saves time and makes watering easy. |
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Use SaturAid to help plants survive infrequent watering while you`re away on holiday. This can be added without necessarily repotting the plants. |
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Lawns
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Raise the lawn mower up a level for summer season. The longer lawn will aid in moisture conservation and helps to keep the lawn green. |
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Water in dry weather and apply fast acting lawn food such as Scotts Lawn Builder. |
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