Radish salad crunch are easy to grow and can be sown directly into a sunny spot in the garden or into containers. Finely shaved radish makes a crunchy and colourful addition to salads.
Large leaf rocket is a rapid grower with peppery tasting leaves that add zest to salads. Rocket can be grown in a full sun or partly shaded spot in both the vege patch and pots.
Before sowing your salad ingredients, improve the soil first with some Thrive Natural Blood & Bone. It helps enrich the soil, is a natural soil conditioner and encourages earthworms and beneficial soil microorganisms. It is also boosted with New Zealand seaweed to promote strong root growth.
Once the seedlings are established, apply some Thrive Fish Blood & Bone around the root zone. It’s a complete plant food for veges and herbs like cucumber, lettuce, radish and rocket that’s a natural source of organic nutrients boosted with fast acting fertilisers to encourage healthy vege and herb growth.
Aphid watch: aphids are sap-sucking insect pests that are attracted to the soft tender young growth on vege and herb seedlings. They can adversely affect plant health and reduce your harvest. Aphids are easy to control with Nature’s Way Natrasoap Vegie Insect Gun, which is an insecticidal soap spray that controls insects like aphids and is certified for use in organic gardens.
TIME FOR ROSES
Whether you’ve just planted a new rose during winter or have had a favourite rose in your garden for years, spring is the time to set roses up for a fantastic season of healthy growth and masses of flowers. Here’s your easy spring rose-care plan:
Aphids are one of the main pests to look out for on young rose leaf growth and also flower buds.Aphids can occur in their hundreds and feed on the delicious sweet rose sap. Left unchecked, aphids deplete roses of valuable nutrients and plant sugars as well as causing new leaves to deform. Aphids can also transmit plant viruses. So it’s important to control aphids in spring before they do too much damage. Applying Rose Gun over new rose foliage and flower buds every two weeks will help keep aphids under control and roses healthy and protected. Sprinkle some Dynamic Lifter Organic Plant Food around each rose and then apply a layer of mulch (keep mulch a few centimetres away from the stem). Dynamic Lifter contains a rich blend of composted chicken manure boosted with the goodness of blood and bone, fishmeal and seaweed and is a fantastic soil improver. Feed roses each week with Thrive Roses & Flowers Liquid Plant Food, which is a specially formulated rose food that’s fortified with additional potassium to encourage lots of gorgeous flowers.
ORGANIC WEED CONTROL
Weeds are very opportunistic and as the weather warms up during early spring, they can be some of the first plants to take off. Weeds compete with garden plants for water and nutrients as well as often harbouring pests and diseases, so controlling weeds and grasses is an important part of creating a healthy and thriving garden.
Stay on top of weeds while they’re still small, before they become too large and have the chance to flower and set seed (creating future generations of weeds).
Organic gardeners can control weeds with Yates Nature’s Way Organic Weed Gun.
It’s a ready-to-use spray based on two natural ingredients — clove oil and acetic acid — which work together to quickly dehydrate and kill a wide range of broadleaf weeds and grasses. Visible results may be seen on some weeds after just one hour.
Certified for use in organic gardening, it’s ideal for people wanting to use organic methods of weed control.
SPRING LAWN-CARE PLAN
If your lawn is looking a little winter weary then spring is a fantastic opportunity to bring it back to its lush green best.
Repair the bare patches. Bare spots in lawns can be as a result of many different factors, including lawn insect pests, diseases and wear and tear from kids and pets. Weeds are opportunists and will quickly invade bare patches in the lawn if you don’t repair them. Early spring is a great time for lawn repair as new grass seedlings will be able to establish before the hot weather arrives. Remove any dead grass and gently cultivate and loosen the soil in the bare patch. Spread a 3mm layer of 4 in 1 Yates Easy Patch Lawn Repair over the area and water in thoroughly.Feeding. It takes a lot of energy for lawns to grow the thick, deep green growth that is beautiful to walk and play on and help create a fantastic looking front and backyard. Regular feeding with an organic lawn food like Dynamic Lifter Organic Lawn Food will help improve the organic matter and health of the soil.
