Believe it or not, autumn is around the corner …
You’ll slowly notice that the hot sunny summer days have an early morning ‘chill’, a sure sign that the seasons are changing yet again.
Autumn is an excellent time in the garden and there is much to look forward to. Bright winter flowering bulbs, flushes of stunning rose blooms and beds of massed colour annuals. Ensure you make the most of all these plantings by incorporating compost into all prepared flower beds. A handful of bone meal or super-phosphates will ensure the plants have all the nutrition they require to get off to an excellent start.
Remember, potting soil should be replaced at least once a year to ensure it retains the essential elements needed for growth. Enrich your potting medium with bone meal/supers when planting and replenish the nutrients with regular foliar feeding or granular fertilizer applications.
Remember your lawn!
Lawns are typically the focus of attention during spring, and sadly are neglecting during the cooler seasons. Healthy soil will stay green for longer during the extreme Gauteng winters, and more importantly, will recover and rejuvenate much quicker in spring.
Change your ways and treat your lawn to an application of lawn dressing during autumn. The added nutrition and goodness will be evident within days and you’ll be rewarded with a healthy lawn for an extended time.
A green carpet is the envy of everyone’s eye and autumn is the ideal time to sow seed grass. Visit your local garden centre for advice on the best lawn seed mix for your garden. With a wide selection now on offer you can have a soft, lush green lawn in full sun and full shade throughout winter with rye-grass base seed mixes.
Autumn over-sowing is highly recommended on existing seed lawns and ensures lawns remain thick and luscious all year round. An application of compost prior to the sowing of lawn seed is essential to improve and enhance the soil structure. Once germinated, you can further boost the colour and intensity of your lawn growth with a lawn dressing.
It’s never too late to learn something new!
