Our garden blog

Tomatoes and other summer vegetables can be planted. Add companion flowers around them for the bees and the salads. Fruit trees require fertilising and install traps to control Guava and codling moths. 

Weed the garden so the plants can flourish, do a pest check on the roses and spread sheep pellets and mulch. Trim proteas, leucadendons but avoid fertilising them. Great time for sowing or repairing lawns.

Prepare for a great summer harvest, condition and feed the soil, get the strawberry bed ready and install climbing frames ready for tomatoes and beans. Add some lemon flavours in the herb garden.

Download our gardening and landscaping tips for June 22. Plant some fiery winter reds, get spring flowering bulbs in now and check out flowering camellia varieties. Rake the leaves up and check out NZ’s smallest kowhai.

The modern urban garden is undergoing a re-think as the priorities of owners change according to the way they live. In these gardens, landscaped by Rochford Landscapes to plans by Shafer Design Studio, we see a mix of soft and hard surfaces with planting in and around paths and seating...

Nature’s Planting Time

With more time at home these days, take the opportunity to get new plants established. Late autumn is a great time for this because shrubs and trees have time to settle into their surroundings before winter hits in earnest. Read our Central's Tips for May 22.

Give the garden a good clean-up and apply fertiliser around shrubs. Nature’s best planting time, so get into the garden with shrubs, trees and perennials. Sow lawn seed and plant spring flowering bulbs.

Time to sow a green cover crop in garden beds that you’re not using over winter; sow or plant seedlings of brassicas – cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli and put in some silverbeet. Put straw under pumpkins and melons. Trim hedges and get on top of weeds and pests.

The vegetable garden is in full swing, harvest frequently to keep plants producing, water morning and evening evening and keep an eye out for insect damage. Harvest the summer berries and thin out developing autumn fruit to ensure a better quality crop.