With temperatures on the way up, gardeners will need to focus on watering, feeding and mulching in the garden this month, writes Helen Young.

Timely tasks

As the weather warms and plants put on growth, they'll be demanding more water. Applying a wetting agent such as Seasol Super Soil Wetter to pots, beds and lawns will help water penetrate the soil. Renew mulch cover to five-centimetres thick on garden beds after fertilising. Prune spring-flowering shrubs and climbing roses as soon as blooming finishes. Trim hedges and prune lanky growth on sasanqua camellias and wisteria. It's also time to strike cuttings of azaleas, camellias, Buxus, Murraya and lilly pilly. Fill any bare spots or empty pots with colourful petunias or impatiens, which will flower right through the holiday period.

Pest watch

Aphids multiply rapidly on new growth in warm weather. Their natural enemies are ladybirds and hoverflies, but if these aren't present in your garden, squish the aphids with your fingers and spray with a soap (not detergent) mixture or a pyrethrum-based solution. While fruit trees and fruiting vegetables are ripening, fruit-fly protection is essential in affected areas. Cover the plants or fruit clusters with exclusion fabric (available from www.greenharvest.com.au). Alternatively, use Eco-Naturalure or Nature's Way Fruit Fly Control.

The productive garden

Cherry tomatoes are fun for kids to plant and their thick skins make them resistant to fruit fly. You can train them on horizontal wires or up a stake. In tropical areas, plant snake beans, ginger, peanuts and sweet potato now. Keep all vegetables watered, fed regularly and mulched with lucerne, sugar-cane mulch or pea straw.

November in bloom

Cottage favourites flowering in the garden right now include pretty columbines (Aquilegia), stately foxgloves, deep-blue cornflowers and two fragrant beauties, star jasmine and gardenias. This month is also jacaranda time, when those distinctive silvery-purple canopies are dotted throughout every city and town. In cool-climate gardens, voluptuous peonies are making their appearance.

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