This is a month of rapid growth. Keep your garden well watered. Water before wilting to minimise stress on plants. Also, pay particular attention to weeding, feeding and spraying.

Tasks for this month:

Vegetable Garden

	Now the frost danger is over and soil is reasonably dry and crumbly, seeds of tender annuals can be safely sown directly into the soil. Vegetables to sow include: beans, peas, carrots, radish, sweetcorn, beetroot, silverbeet, spinach, and parsnip.
	Sow directly into the soil or in trays; eggplant, lettuce, cauliflower, cucumber, courgettes, peppers, pumpkin and tomatoes.
	Transplant vegetable seedlings into the garden. Soil should be prepared prior to planting by adding generous amounts of compost and a dressing of Butlers General Garden Fertiliser and lime.
	Control slugs and snails with Slug Bait.
	Regularly liquid feed all plants with Phostrogen.
	Spray potatoes, fruit trees, grape vines and vegetable plants with Champion Copper to prevent fungus diseases.
	Dust cabbages and cauliflowers with Derris Dust to prevent white butterfly caterpillar.
	Plant new herb plants, including parsley so that new plants are established before existing plants go to seed. Plant herbs and vegetables in pots.

Fruit Trees

	Plant passionfruit, rhubarb and tamarillos.
	Feed all citrus trees with Citrus Fertiliser.
	Spray citrus at the pre-blossom stage with Champion Copper to control verrucosis and brown rot.

Flower Garden

	Spray roses with Super Shield to prevent fungus diseases and pest damage.
	Feed all roses with Rose Fertiliser.
	Plant new roses. Use Magamp & compost at planting time.
	Prune spring flowering shrubs after flowering. Deadhead rhododendrons.
	Feed acid loving plants (eg. camellias, azaleas etc) after flowering with Butlers Acid Fertiliser.
	Sow seeds of flowering annuals, directly into the ground; alyssum, Californian poppy, statice, marigolds, cosmos, nasturtium and sunflowers. Sow in trays for transplanting later; carnations, dahlia, livingstone daisy, petunia, salvia and gerberas.
	Plant out seedlings of flowering annuals.
	Plant perennial and summer flowering bulbs such as dahlia, begonia, gladioli and calla lily.
	Plant hanging baskets and terracotta pots with flowers for summer colour.
	Start watering before the soil dries out, especially roses.
	Mulch all plants to conserve moisture and check that your watering systems are operational.
	Liquid feed all flowering annuals and perennials with Phostrogen. Feed flowering shrubs with a side dressing of General Garden Fertiliser.

Lawns

	Apply Lawn Fertiliser.
	Spray with Turfix for broad leaf weeds and Prickle Weedkiller for Onehunga weed to stop the summer prickles in lawns.
	Sow new lawns. Mitre 10’s range of lawn seed allows you to select the most suitable seed type for your conditions.