October
October Gardening: Long Weekend Tasks
As Labour Weekend approaches, October sets the stage for a flurry of gardening activities. From planting vibrant annuals to preparing for the warmer months ahead, this month's gardening calendar is brimming with exciting tasks that will get you outside again after a gruelling winter.
Edible Garden
Beans, pumpkins/buttercups, courgettes and cucumbers require minimum germination temperatures of 15C. For an early start sow in pots before planting out.
Plant seedlings of capsicum, chillies, eggplant, kumara, silver beet, spinach, spring onions, cabbage, broccoli and lettuce.
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 or snails—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.
Shade newly planted seedlings and young plants with newspaper or netting placed over a bamboo frame on hot days to stop them losing too much moisture.
Protect vege seedlings from slugs and snails with Quash or Blitzem.
Protect young vegetable and flower seedlings from downy mildew with FreeFlo Copper.
Cultivate (hoe) between rows of vege seedlings regularly as weeds grow rapidly at this time of year.
Herbs
Replenish the herb garden with fresh seedlings – parsley, basil, coriander, dill, thyme, chives, sage, mint, oregano – to name a few. Or divide existing clumps and replant in pots or the herb garden. Replenish the soil with California Value Compost and ican Real Blood & Bone. Cut back mint to encourage fresh new growth for summer.
Potatoes
Plant main crop potato varieties now for harvesting January or February to store.
Feed growing crops of potatoes with ican Potato Food, and mound the rows as the shoots emerge. Mounding supports the plants, protects the new potatoes from exposure to light (which makes them go green), and prevents them being attacked by caterpillars of potato tuber moth.
Protect early potato shoots from blight, aphids and tuber moth with FreeFlo Copper and Enspray 99.
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 California Value Compost.
Fruit & Citrus
Continue to plant new citrus trees and small fruits including tamarillos, raspberries and blueberries, into free- draining soil enriched with California Value Compost. Plant with ican Slow Food.
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 ican Premium Compost.
Protect citrus trees from aphids, scale and sooty mould with Enspray 99 which will smother the pests and their eggs.
Liquid feed strawberries with ican Fast Food. A layer of straw around strawberry plants will help keep developing fruit clean and free of disease.
Feed newly planted and established fruit trees, small fruits, and citrus with ican Fruit Food.
Feed all fruit trees in containers with ican Fruit Food for Pots & Planters to support and enhance new spring growth and flowering.
Protect apple and pear trees from codling moth attack using Success Ultra every 14 days from petal fall. Install codling moth traps to indicate the presence of the moth and capture the male moths which disrupts breeding and reduces infestation.
ican Chef’s Best seeds
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
Spinach Nutriplus
Tomato Flavoursome
Ornamental Garden
Flowers
Sow seed and plant seedlings of your favourite spring and summer flowers in the garden enriched with California Value Compost. Water in and feed with ican Fast Food to give the plants a boost and keep them healthy.
For tall summer colour, sow sunflowers and hollyhocks 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 spring and summer flowers such as lobelia, alyssum, pansies, violas, petunias and cornflower. Use California Premium Outdoor Potting Mix and liquid feed with ican Fast Food for quick results and plenty of blooms.
Increase watering of all plants in containers and pots, including indoor plants, as the weather warms. Add ican Fast Food to support new healthy growth.
Roses
Feed roses with ican Rose Food, and mulch to conserve precious moisture as summer draws nearer.
Look out for clusters of aphids on shoots tips and young leaves and wipe off before they multiply.
Protect the new shoots of hostas, delphiniums, lupins and other vulnerable plants from slugs and snails with Quash or Blitzem.
Bulbs
Apply potash or ican Bulb Food to spring bulbs as they finish flowering to enhance flowering for next year.
Shrubs & Trees
Prune back and shape the winter and spring flowering shrubs as they finish flowering to encourage new growth e.g. azaleas, camellias, magnolias, luculia, leucadendron, viburnum.
Bolster new growth of 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.
Lawn
Rejuvenate the lawn. Spray with Yates Turfix Lawn Weed Spray to eradicate broadleaf weeds.
Sow grass seed to create a new lawn or repair bare patches and feed the lawn with a proprietary lawn fertiliser for a lush deep green lawn.
Apply Yates Insect Killer for Lawns on the lawn to control grass grub and porina caterpillars. The granules must be watered in, so sprinkle before moderate to heavy rain (~10 mm) or water the area thoroughly after treatment with a sprinkler.
Indoor plants
Re-pot indoor plants that are root bound. Go one pot size larger. Replant into California Premium Indoor Potting Mix and start regular liquid feeding with ican Indoor Plant Food.
Swan plants
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 ican Premium Compost and a handful of ican Slow Food.
