Episode: #6 7/10/2006
Presenter: Sue McDougall

1. When the weather warms up all of a sudden the garden plants need more water and one of the indicator plants in the garden which show water stress firstly is the lawn. You start to see dead patches and die back, usually black beetle gets the blame because the larvae is active at this time of the year when in fact 9 times out of ten it is water repellent soil.

You can stop the dead patches by applying a wetting agent now, before the weather gets too hot and don?t forget to water it in. You can then check that it has soaked in by digging a patch of lawn out after the water has been on. This will give you an indicator where the water is getting, hopefully past the root zone, if not reapply again. It is recommended to use a wetting agent twice a year, once now and then again in February.

If you feel your garden needs more than that or you see the water beading don?t be scared to apply it again, because it is going to save your garden over summer and water consumption by up to 50%.

We have just experienced the driest winter on record and only a fraction of the run off into the dams than we would expect so all these water saving hints are more important than ever.

2. A slaters job in the garden is to break down dead and decaying organic matter and mulch is just that. Slaters are fairly harmless when only a few are around, unfortunately when they are in plague proportions small seedlings like petunias get in their way. A great tip is to put orange or grapefruit skins, save them after you have had fresh juice, upside down around the seedlings.

The slaters will hide under them at night and in the morning you can get rid of them, no poison, no mess and no fuss. Perfect if you have pets.

3. You may have noticed that plants look terrible this time of year. They will benefit from an application of Thrive for Flower and Fruit. This can also be applied in a sprayer over the foliage, to green them up immediately.

If you have a garden question you would like answered, why not join our online garden club.

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