A slice of the sweeter life . . . in the garden

fresh ripe watermelon sliced on a wood table over white background

As festive decorations creep into the stores and countdowns appear on social media telling us how many days there are until Christmas, it’s nice to be able to spend some relaxing ‘green time’ in your garden, whether it’s burying your nose in a fragrant rose, picking salad greens for dinner or just enjoying spending time in your outdoor space with a nice cuppa . . . or glass of bubbly.

Wonderful watermelonCool, crisp juicy slices of watermelon on a sweltering hot day are one of summer’s delights. You can grow your own watermelon at home if you have a few spare square metres in a sunny garden bed. No room left? Try growing watermelon up a sturdy trellis or over an archway. The watermelon vines will need to be trained up the supports, using soft ties. Yates

Watermelon Sugarbaby is ideal for a trellis as it produces smaller fruit that aren’t as heavy. As fruit matures it might need to be supported with slings, made easily out of pantyhose or netting.

Before planting watermelon seeds, enrich the soil with some Yates Thrive Natural Blood & Bone. Seeds can be sown direct into the bed. Sow 3- 4 seeds in mounds of moist soil, 1m apart and later thin to the 2 strongest plants. Feed the plants regularly with fast acting Yates Thrive Flower & Fruit Soluble Fertiliser, which contains nitrogen to promote strong vine growth and extra potassium to encourage the watermelon vines to flower and set their fruit.

The sweeter lifeEating a fresh lemon requires a lot of courage, unless it’s a variety called ‘Lemonade’ which is much sweeter and doesn’t have the intense sourness of most other lemons. Lemonade lemon trees are great for backyards as they don’t get much taller than 2.5 metres and produce lots of fruit which can be peeled, segmented and devoured or juiced. Lemonade is also available as a compact dwarf plant, which can be grown happily in a pot. Lemonade trees do best in a well-drained sunny spot and will grow in all but the coldest areas of New Zealand.

Spring is an ideal time to plant a new citrus tree like a Lemonade. When planting a new Lemonade tree, mix some Yates Thrive Natural Blood & Bone into the planting hole to help improve and enrich the soil and supply the newly planted lemon with gentle, organic nutrients as it establishes.

When planting citrus into containers, choose a well-drained pot that’s at least 40 cm in diameter and use a good quality potting mix like Yates Premium Potting Mix.

Like all citrus, Lemonade lemon trees are heavy feeders and require lots of nutrients to stay healthy and productive.

Diluting 1-2 capfuls of Yates Thrive Citrus Liquid Plant Food in a 9 litre watering can and applying over the foliage and root zone each week will help to encourage healthy green leaves and a great harvest.

Keep the new tree well watered, particularly during its first summer. Citrus trees have a shallow root system which can dry out quickly.

It’s also beneficial to apply a few centimetres of mulch over the soil (or potting mix) surface, which will help the root zone stay moist. Keep the mulch a few centimetres away from the trunk to allow good air flow and reduce the chance of collar rot disease.

Keep your roses looking fabulousRoses are in gorgeous full bloom across much of the country now, so enjoy the rainbow of colours and heady fragrances that these beautiful plants can bring to our gardens.

Here are some simple tips to help maximise your rose flower show:

Deadhead spent flowers regularly or cut blooms for a vase.Give plants a thorough and deep watering at least once a week (more often for potted roses). Watering gently at the base of the plants rather than over the foliage will help reduce leaf diseases by limiting the amount of disease spores splashing up onto the foliage from the soil and keeping the leaves drier.Fertilise each week with a specially designed rose food such as Yates Thrive Roses & Flowers Liquid Plant Food. It’s a complete fertiliser that contains the right balance of nutrients to encourage healthy leaf growth and is boosted with additional potassium to promote lots of flowers. Monitor for signs of common leaf diseases such as black spot and powdery mildew, which can be more common after periods of damp weather. Spraying rose bushes with Yates Rose Gun every fortnight is an effective way to help keep these diseases from damaging your roses. Yates Rose Gun will also control common insect pests like aphids and caterpillars, so it’s a handy and versatile rose protection spray for rose growers.