in the garden

Keep tomatoes healthy and producing with regular watering and feeding with a tomato-specific fertiliser. Tip: cut off and destroy any diseased lower leaves to avoid further disease spread.

Collect seeds of favourite summer annuals and store in envelopes in a dry spot, for sowing next spring.

Cut back herbs that have run to seed. Divide perennials such as bearded iris and day lilies to increase numbers. Brighten up vegie beds

and keep those pollinating bees buzzing by planting a colourful array of flowering plants among crops. Good choices are purple, blue and yellow plants – try

borage, salvia and sunflower – which attract bees. Celebrate Australia Day

on Saturday 26 January by planting a toothbrushflowered bottlebrush. There

are now many vibrant colours and forms to choose from, and the birds love them. Keep them well-watered through summer and into autumn. Take cuttings of your best geraniums to expand your display. Cut an 8-10cm long stem just below a leaf joint, remove all but two or three upper leaves, and insert vertically in propagating mix (not potting mix) in a protected pot out of direct sunlight. Water occasionally and plant out once roots have developed. Deadhead agapanthus flowers to stop the seeds spreading and becoming a nuisance.

Cut back bougainvillea

and other climbers that got away over spring.

Deadhead and lightly fertilise repeat-flowering roses to ensure a spectacular display in autumn. Singleflowering species can be pruned back hard now.

Trim back lavender bushes as flowering slows down but avoid cutting to bare wood, as it will seldom reshoot. Ensure shallow-rooting trees such as camellias and citrus are getting water. One soaking a week is best.

Frangipani