August Gardening Tips and Jobs

Jul 22, 2010

What to Do in the Garden in August

Written by Living Earth for Auckland Landscape Supplies Customers

Warmer weather means spring’s around the corner.

Daytime temperatures are creeping up, so here are some garden tasks that can be undertaken now:

• Garden Beds generally: Condition existing soils with Living Earth Black Gold – layer it on, then dig it through the soil. Heavy clay benefits from more aeration and clays natural minerals work with the compost to provide a nutritious growing environment. Working compost through free-draining sandy soils helps add structure and particles that water and fertilisers can hold on to, for the benefit of the plant’s roots. Living Earth Organic Veggie Mix.

• The Veggie Bed: Work existing soils as above or simply shovel on Living Earth Organic Veggie Mix.($12.95 per 40 litre Bag) Either way you add organic weed-free matter to your soil, thus giving you the best growing environment to produce healthy food for the family.

• Vegetable seedlings available now include silver beet and spinach, mixed coloured lettuces and beetroot. Stir fry greens are also in the veggie stands, offered in mixed packs, so you get a few different varieties.

• Liquid feed all newly planted seedlings with Living Earth Reward Liquid Compost. Available for $9.99 per litre bottle (makes 100 Litres)

• Under a cold frame or in a sheltered area sow vegetable and flower seeds for the coming season. A bag of Living Earth Veggie Mix ($12.95 per 40 litre bag) is one of the best and most cost effective soils to sow them into – it’s been designed for successful seed germination.

• Planting trees and shrubs: a nice wide hole at least half as deep again as the root-ball. Make sure that any bare-root plants are well soaked in a bucket of water, before planting. Place some friable soil into the hole, settle the plant in to it and fill around the roots firming as you go. An excellent topsoil alternative to bulk up the soil is Living Earth Black Gold (see this months Special) that can be added straight into the hole. Remember to stake all plants that are exposed to the wind.

• Prune roses and hydrangeas. Take out any skinny or dead wood and thin out the centre of both shrubs. Good air circulation through the bushes prevents the spread of disease. For bush or shrub roses cut back by up to one half of the size of the bush, making the cut just above an outward facing new growth shoot on the branch. Hydrangeas are cut back to a pair of leaf buds, unless there’s a sharp point of tight leaves still at the end of the stem – leave this on as it’s the first new bloom in spring. Fork Living Earth Black Gold (see this months special) through the soil around both shrubs. It’s all they need at the moment and it gives them great friable soil for their roots to move through

• Renovate your existing lawn by digging out or selectively spraying existing broadleaf weeds. It’s important to get rid of them before you over-sow the grass, otherwise they’ll compete for space and ruin the look. If you’ve used a herbicide to kill weeds, check the withholding period before sowing new grass. Fill bare patches and slight dips with our Lawn Mix. Later in August, when overnight temperatures are at 7plus then you can sow grass seed.

Collecting Greenwaste : Greenwaste from your garden can be deposited at our St Johns Site located at 88A Merton Road in St Johns. For more information phone 09 521 3412