November checklist

The warmer weather is now in sight and with it comes the weeds, pests and diseases. The focus for this month is keeping these under control and the best way to do that is to make sure your plants are well watered and well fed.

Key points for this month:

• Existing tomato plants will need a little care, ensure they are staked, laterals are taken off and they are fed with tomato food.
• Keep planting salad crops for summer harvesting.
• Finish planting summer vegetables and herbs such as chillies, courgettes, cucumbers, beans and basil.
• Watch for insects on roses. Spray them if necessary.
• Feed all fruiting crops, flowering annuals, perennials and flowering shrubs.
• Plant your colour for Christmas and summer in pots.
• Plant to attract bees into the garden.
• Now is the time to plant a second crop of potatoes.
• Keep on top of weeds.

Kitchen Garden

Watch out for pests and take action as soon as possible to prevent them becoming a larger problem. Use an environmentally friendly spray around your vegetables if they become a problem. Spray late in the day when the bees have gone home.

Remove any plants failing to thrive as they will attract pests and disease, better to replace them now.

Remove weeds as soon as they appear. This is where pests hide and weeds take valuable nutrients and water.

Water deeply less often rather than a little bit every day.

Protect cabbages and cauliflowers with Derris Dust to prevent white butterfly caterpillar and diamondback moth. Make sure you get to the undersides where they like to lay their eggs.

Stagger planting of green salad crops like mizuna, lettuce and mesclun for continuous supply. 

Plant seedlings: tomatoes, cucumbers, capsicums, eggplant, lettuce, corn, gherkins, spinach, spring onions, melons, cucumber, beetroot, celery and cabbage.

In most areas seeds can be planted directly in to the garden and now is the time to put in another round of summer crops. Beans, pumpkin, courgettes, carrots, beetroot, radish, corn, capsicum, eggplant, melons and spring onions. 

Plant a second crop of potatoes and remember to mound up soil around the foliage as they grow.

Plant blueberries, they are easy to grow and require minimal pruning.

Passionfruit and tamarillos can be planted, prepare the soil with compost and sheep pellets.

Plant annual herbs like basil and coriander, pinch out the tips for a bushier plant.

Pinch out the laterals on tomatoes. Fertilise with a specific tomato food.

Feed and water strawberries, make sure you have mulched underneath the bushes to protect the growing fruit. Bird netting may be needed to protect the fruit.

Spray copper oxychloride and spraying oil to combat verrucosis, aphids and mealy bugs. 

Spray copper oxychloride on grapes and passionfruit to combat mildew and black spot.

Apply a side dressing of blood & bone to all vegetables.

Feed all vegetables with liquid fertiliser ever two weeks, use a watering can to apply.

Protect all seedlings from slugs and snails, scatter bait around each plant.

Garden Colour

Keep on top of the weeds around your vegetables when they are small, use a torpedo hoe to nip them off at the roots. We’ve got some advice on how to deal with weeds here.

Liquid feed all flowering annuals and perennials with an all-purpose fertiliser.

Plant seedlings: cosmos, petunias, lobelia, impatiens, marigolds, phlox, verbena, portulaca, petunias, impatiens, dahlias, verbena, cosmos, marigolds, nemesia and dahlias.

Sow seeds: alyssum, Californian poppy, marigolds, cosmos, nasturtium, portulaca, salvia, sunflowers and hollyhocks. They can be sown directly in to the ground.

Plant for bees: pineapple sage, bergamot, lemon balm, blue salvia, coreopsis, gaillardia alyssum, rosemary. They love these simple flowers.

Spray roses with insect and fungus control products suitable for roses and feed with a rose specific fertiliser. Reduce the spread of disease by removing any dead leaves and clippings from around the base.

Feed spring bulbs with blood and bone as the foliage dies away, they use this food for next season.

Lift tulip and hyacinth bulbs once the foliage has completely died away, store in a cool dry place ready for next season. Most other bulbs can stay in the ground for a few seasons.

Water your pots more in the warmer weather and use a water retention product to retain the moisture. 

Trees and Shrubs

Feed flowering shrubs with a side dressing of general fertiliser.

Keep on top of the weeds around your vegetables when they are small, use a torpedo hoe to nip them off at the roots. We’ve got some advice on how to deal with weeds here.

Once weeded and fertilised start applying mulch around the shrub beds, trees and rose bushes. The mulch will help conserve water in the coming dry months, remember to keep the mulch away from the trunks.

Lawn

Apply lawn fertiliser and water in well.

Avoid mowing your lawn too short, longer grass shades roots and helps prevent drying out.

Spray established lawns with a treatment for broad leaf weeds.