• Prepare your winter and spring flower garden. Think pansies, violas, primulas, poppies and spring bulbs such as daffodils, freesia and ranunculus.
• Make a splash by sowing Namaqualand daisies or scatter packs of indigenous mixes or winter flowering annuals.
• Water deeply once a week.
• Fertilise the lawn, perennials and shrubs for the last time before winter.
• Use a granular fertiliser such as Vigorosa 5:1:5 that includes trace elements. Water well afterwards.
• This is the last month to fertilise the roses with Vigorosa. Morning dew can bring on black spot. Prevent it by spraying with Chronos or Garden Protector.
• Protect conifers from conifer aphid that becomes active in April. Spray monthly with Ludwig’s InsectSpray or Pyrol. Put the spray nozzle against the stem or branches and allow the
spray mixture to run down the stem and branches. This will kill the aphids but not the ladybirds.
• Broad beans, beetroot, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, lettuce, peas, spinach and Swiss chard can all be sown.
• Use fallen leaves as mulch around shrubs where they will eventually decompose and enrich the soil. It is only necessary to remove leaves from lawns, paths, steps and around
seedlings, and they can be added to the compost heap.
