Peas to meet you
Edibles
Peas may be sown as soon as the soil surface dries out a little. A sprinkling of lime dug in before sowing favours them.
Sow broad beans sooner rather than later. Like peas and coriander, broad beans don’t like the heat or dryness of summer.
Sow cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce and silverbeet seeds under cover, then transplant once the soil – and days – warm up a bit.
Ornamentals
Unlike many other bulbs, snowdrops, snowflakes and bluebells can be divided now – after flowering and while they’re still in leaf. Gently lift a clump with a hand fork and tease it into individual bulbs which should be planted straight away, at least two bulb widths apart and about the same depth as they were dug out from. Water in well, if your soil is dry.
Gladioli, tuberous begonia and dahlia bulbs are coming in to garden centres now: get in early to find your preferred choice.
Lightly trim macrocarpa and other conifer hedges.
Prune wisteria, cutting back shoots pruned after flowering in summer to about four or five buds. This will help prevent too much foliage obscuring the flowers. To keep this beautiful vine going completely wild, owners are advised to keep secateurs handy – ready to snip a wayward wand whenever it appears (which is often).
A light dressing of blood and bone stirred gently into the topsoil of flowerbeds will encourage healthier roots and foliage.
Rose chores
Prune roses, removing any dead, dying, diseased, spindly, or crossing over branches to encourage regrowth.
Cut to just above a healthy bud – about the third or fourth one up the branch. Choosing an outwardfacing bud is not paramount; it is more important that it be a healthy looking one, and if, for example, the bud faces a path, then you would not want to encourage growth in that direction.
Cut on a 45-degree angle away from bud so water does not run into the cut and rot the branch. The bottom of cut should be a couple of millimetres above the bud.
A conscientious pruner will carry an open container, such as an empty tin can, with methylated spirits in it to dip the secateurs and lopper blades into between each rose bush to minimise the chances of spreading disease.
After pruning, spray with copper and winter oil, and sprinkle blood and bone around the base. The bush will also appreciate a hefty mulch of compost.
All roses may be pruned now except for banksias and climber varieties, which should be done in summer after the first flush of flowering.
– Mary Lovell-Smith