Welcome to November in the garden!

As we move into late spring here, this month brings warmer days and longer evenings – perfect for spending more time in the garden. Whether you're tending to new plantings or maintaining what’s already flourishing, this is a key month to prepare for the summer ahead, there's plenty to do!

ican Chef’s Best seeds to sow
directly in prepared soil:

Bean Dwarf Supreme
Beetroot Red Lightning
Buttercup Dry Delight
Carrot Europa
Corn Tender Sweet
Courgette Leader
Cucumber Prolific Mini
Leek Baby
Lettuce Trendsetter
Parsnip Trafalgar
Radish Olympus
‍Tomato Flavoursome

Caring for your Vegetable Patch

Allow space for succession plantings of dwarf beans, beetroot, carrots, lettuce and radishes, sowing successive crops 3 to 4 weeks apart.
Sow ican seeds of Parsnip Trafalgar now for winter harvest. These tasty roots take a good six months from sowing to harvest.
Sow or plant climbing beans such as Stringless Scarlet Runner, Purple King, Shiny Fardenlosa. Scarlet Runners need a warm sunny sheltered position for good fruit set.
After sowing dwarf and climbing bean seed, water well only once until they have appeared above ground, unless conditions are very dry, to avoid the seed rotting.
Plant seedlings of summer veges of capsicum, chillies, eggplant, kumara, spring onions, tomatoes and lettuce.
If space allows, plant seedlings or sow seed of vegetables for late summer and autumn – celery, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower.
Sow small batches of rocket and other easy salad leaves every three weeks for a quick and continuous supply of salad greens.
If you’re planting out seedlings in cooler temperatures you can protect them from frost—and slugs andsnails—by using 2-litre soft drink bottles. Take off the lid, cut off the bottom and push the bottle down over the seedling, into the soil. When the seedling is ready to face the elements, remove the bottle during the day and pop it back on overnight, until the seedling is mature enough to grow on its own.
Protect vege seedlings from slugs and snails with Quash or Blitzem.
Protect young vegetable and flower seedlings from downy mildew with Grosafe FreeFlo Copper.
Protect summer brassica crops (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower) from aphids, moths and white butterfly with Success Ultra and Enspray 99.
Cultivate (hoe) between rows of vege seedlings regularly as weeds grow rapidly at this time of year.

Tomatoes

Plant tomato seedlings deep – the stem and first set of leaves should be buried in the soil. Roots will grow from the buried stem to anchor the plant and take up more nutrients and water.
Feed rapidly growing tomatoes and vegetables with liquid ican Fast Food, and a side dressing of ican General Garden Food. Once tomatoes start flowering, switch to ican Tomato Food which is higher in potassium. General-purpose fertilisers are high in nitrogen, which is great for getting fruiting plants off to a good start, but can result in lots of leafy growth during the period when you want your plants to put their energy into flowering and fruiting.
Protect tomato plants from blight and bacterial speck with FreeFlo Copper and Enspray 99.

Potatoes

If space allows, plant a second main crop of potatoes for harvesting and storage in late summer.
Feed growing crops of potatoes with ican Potato Food, and mound the rows as the shoots grow. Mounding supports the plants, protects the developing potatoes from exposure to light (which makes them go green), and prevents them being attacked by caterpillars of potato tuber moth.
Protect potato shoots from blight, aphids and tuber moth with FreeFlo Copper and Enspray 99.

Strawberries

Liquid feed strawberries with ican Fast Food. A layer of straw around strawberry plants will help keep developing fruit clean and free of disease.

Berries

Protect berry fruits from Dryberry by spraying with Free Flo Copper. Dryberry can occur when there is heavy rain when the plants are in full flower. The fruit develop but become shrivelled and dry and completely inedible. Spray before petal fall and again in 10 days.

Rhubarb

Plant new rhubarb plants and lift and divide any established rhubarb clumps. Plant rhubarb in fertile, free-draining soil with added sheep pellets and compost.

Passionfruit

Plant passionfruit in a warm sheltered spot with ample support for the growing vine. Plant into free-draining soil enriched with sheep pellets, ican Slow Food and California Value Compost.
Spray passionfruit with FreeFlo Copper, Enspray 99 and Mavrik monthly to protect against diseases and sap-sucking bugs – aphids, mealy bugs and passion vine hopper.

Fruit & Citrus Trees

Feed new, established citrus trees with citrus food. Use ican Slow Food for citrus in pots.
Protect citrus trees from aphids, scale and sooty mould with Conqueror Spraying Oil which will smother the pests and their eggs. Add Free Flo Copper for Verrucosis.
Feed new and established fruit trees, small fruits and ornamental trees and shrubs with a ican Slow Food. Add a layer of mulch around the drip line and up to but not against the trunk of the tree, to help retain moisture over the summer months.
Feed all fruit trees in containers with ican Slow Food to support and enhance growth and flowering.
Protect apple and pear trees from codling moth attack using Success Ultra every 14 days from petal fall. Add Fungus Fighter against black spot and powdery mildew.
Install a Codling Moth trap which will indicate the presence of the moths, as well as capturing the male moths, disrupting the breeding cycle.

Ornamental Garden

Sow seeds and plant seedlings of your favourite summer flowers in the garden enriched with compost. Water in and feed with ican Fast Food or ican Ocean Grow to give the plants a boost and keep them healthy.
Sow sunflowers in a sunny open site, then water regularly and protect emerging seedlings from slugs and snails with Quash or Blitzem.
Plant up containers and hanging baskets with seedlings of your favourite summer flowers such as lobelia, alyssum, dianthus, geranium, petunias and zinnias. Use California Premium Outdoor Potting Mix and liquid feed with ican Fast Food for quick results and plenty of blooms.
Feed lilies and gladioli with ican Bulb Food as they emerge, to ensure good bud development and flowering.
Roses will be blooming. Protect from aphids and early fungal disease with Combat 3-in-1 for Roses spray. Feed with ican Rose Food and mulch with Tui Mulch and Feed.
Protect the new shoots of hostas, delphiniums, lupins and other vulnerable plants from slugs and snails with Quash or Blitzem.
Rejuvenate the lawn with a dressing proprietary lawn fertiliser for lush deep green grass.
Fix any bare spots in the lawn with Easy Patch Lawn Repair. Get lawn weeds under control with Weed n Feed Double Action.
In dry regions, begin regular watering. The best time to water is in the morning or early evening. Water the soil not the plants. Incorporate California Value Compost and SaturAid to help the soil hold onto more moisture.
Prune spring flowering shrubs such as forsythia and chaenomeles after flowering to keep them compact.
Plant fuchsias in shady parts of the garden that get dappled sunlight - they make a colourful summer display. Use lots of California Value Compost to get plants off to a good start.
Re-pot outdoor container plants that are root bound. Either go one pot size larger, or trim the rootball and reuse the same pot. Replant into California Premium Outdoor Potting Mix , add a handful of ican Slow Food, and start regular liquid feeding with liquid ican Fast Food.
Re-pot houseplants that are root bound. Go one pot size larger. Replant into iCalifornia Premium Outdoor Potting Mix and start regular liquid feeding with ican Indoor Plant Food.
Increase watering of all plants in containers and pots as the weather warms. Use liquid ican Fast Food to support new healthy growth.
Swan plants are available. Get them established quickly before the new monarch butterflies arrive. Plant in a sunny free-draining location, enriching the soil with California Value Compost and a handful of ican Slow Food.
Don't spread your swan plants out but plant them close together and close to other shrubs or large annuals like cosmos and zinnias. The caterpillars get more protection from predators in the 'forest' than those planted as 'specimen trees'.

Hydrangeas

Treat hydrangeas now to get the right colour.

White hydrangeas will always be white (and not able to turn pink or blue) but a feed with sulphate of potash 2-3 times per year from late spring will stop them fading to green.
Red varieties should stay red in any soil.
Pink hydrangeas can be kept pink in soils that are alkaline (high ph) by adding lime.
Blue hydrangeas must be capable of being blue and grow in an acidic (low ph) soil that contains aluminium. Add aluminium sulphate.
Purple hydrangeas need acidic soils with high concentrations of aluminium.

Happy Gardening!

November

October

DECEMBER