It’s time to ...

Cut lush greenery from the garden to add to florists’ flowers for stunning holiday vases. Put out fruit-fly traps or exclusion netting. Keep tarpaulins handy to cover cars, flower and vegie beds before hailstorms – tie down well. Discover that a home-ripened cherry, tomato, mango or melon is more delicious than anything shipped to market. Dig a narrow garden bed along the lawn and plant “happy holidays” in fast blooming alyssum seedlings (grass will grow over it in January). Show children the magic of climbing trees, picking and eating their own fruit, or chasing butterflies through the garden.