THINGS TO DO THIS MONTH
Lawns still have another six weeks to two months of active growth. Keep cutting the grass as long as possible, fertilise with 5.1.5 fertiliser and top dress with lawn dressing which you can purchase at any of the garden centres.
Plant a groundcover that will do well in winter. A few good examples are Crassula multicarva, Plectranthus ciliatus plus other Plectranthus species, Chlorophytum comosum, bowkeri and krookianum, Asystasia gangetica, Aristida junciformis and the natal Red Top Melinis nerviglumis. All flower in late autumn and early winter. Try to plant them in huge sweeps so they give a dramatic display.
Many shrubs will be in spike and will flower in winter. Make sure these plants are staked to stabilise them and also to prevent them from breaking. Do not prune these shrubs until they have finished flowering. Examples would be Leonotis leonorus, Hypoestes aristata and Plectranthus ecklonii. Some Aloes will produce flower spikes in the next few months so look forward to the winter show of Aloes.
There are other shrubs that would have flowered in summer and need to be pruned before the onset of winter. Pruning has many benefits: removal of dead wood, reducing the plant to the size of your garden, removal of diseased growth, induces new growth and creating a design form.
Check out your container and indoor plants to see if they need repotting before winter. If so, remove the plant from the pot, remove and wash all the soil from the roots then repot the plant back in the container using a new potting medium. Sprinkle some slow release fertiliser in the container.
Great time to do some late summer planting for flowering in winter. Most shrubs and groundcovers planted now will flower this winter.
Invasive plants are a huge problem in South Africa. Keep an eye out for alien plants that may have germinated in your garden. Seeds are either blown in by the winds or dispersed by birds so it’s important to know what is an alien and to remove them before they become a problem. The best way to remove aliens is physically and before they flower so seeds are not dispersed and become more of a problem.
Try to prevent creating open patches in your gardens because this is when aliens become a problem. Open patches are exposed to the sun and the first plants that appear are aliens. Try to cover those areas with indigenous plants, especially groundcovers.
Happy gardening!