The sun is lower in the sky and adds a luminous quality to the warm colours of pink camellias, golden wattle and orange aloe. On the 21st the equinox compels gardeners to finish early winter jobs like planting spring flowers and reminds us of colder, drier times to come.
Sow cool season lawn seed to cover bare patches. Loosen and make soil Level before sowing. Water well and regularly. Feed annuals at half strength using a low-nitrogen feed like a flower and fruit fertilizer.
Complete planting wallflower, stock and foxglove early in June. Sow or plant fast-growing cosmos, nigella, larkspur and calendula to fill Gaps in borders. In frost free areas, wait until July to prune roses.
Sow low growing alyssum and nasturtium above your bulbs which will pop up through them later. Plant garlic and onion sets and sow spring onions, shallots and leeks in recently limed soil.
Lift and divide and replant thick clumps of perennials, such as salvia and day lily, to encourage them to grow and flower freely. Water well.
Keep indoor plants away from heaters. Mist their foliage daily and stand
pots on saucers filled with moist sand.
Sow or plant mint, rue, sage, thyme, bay leaf, parsley, oregano, and lavender. Sow quick growing radish between rows of leek, potato or cabbage to maximise space.
Kangaroo Paw, Geralton Wax, Lavenders, Rosemary, Proteas and leucospermums all expect June to be rainy.
If you’re not getting a good fall each week, water these plants well, They can all take dry summers but they need plenty of water in winter.
Start looking for bindi in the lawn, it grown through winter and it’s very easy to dig out with a two pronged weeder now. If you have too much use a lawn weedkiller.
Many of the succulents plants come from places where autumn and winter is the rainy season. They do their growing while conditions are milder and wetter, so now’s a great time to propagate them. All you have to do is break off a piece and
stick it into a container of moist potting mix. You can use a leaf, a stem or if the plant forms them, a whole rosette you have just pulled away from the clump.
For stems cut long leggy stems back, they’ll re shoot. Use the cut stem and its leafy top to make more plants. Cut the stem into segments 8cm long. Insert into moist potting mix, right way up.
Place in brightly lit, dappled shade, water in. Water once or twice a week.
Always plant roses in full sun. Roses are sun lovers and need plenty of it to grow well and produce masses of flowers.
Don’t add fertiliser when planting roses, wait until spring to do that.
After planting, water roses twice a week if the weather is fine. When new growth comes in spring, apply a specialised rose fertiliser at half strength and water it in. Give another, full dose of fertiliser one month later then follow the package instructions after that.
