Patience rewarded after picking

WAITING GAME: Rockmelons develop in flavour if left to mature for a few days after picking.

Heavenly harvestRockmelon sown during spring will soon be ready to pick. It’s time to harvest your rockmelons when the stem begins to break away from the fruit. You’ll be desperate to taste your beautiful homegrown melons, however, the best flavour will develop if the fruit is left to mature for a few days after picking.

If your rockmelons are not quite mature, then continue to keep the soil moist and feed each week with a fast acting fertiliser like Yates Thrive Flower & Fruit Soluble Plant Food, which is a complete plant food that’s rich in potassium and phosphorus to promote fruit development.

Keep a watch for downy mildew and leaf spot diseases on rockmelon leaves. When watering, gently water the soil rather than the leaves, which can help reduce the spread of disease, and apply Yates Liquid Copper Fungicide to help keep diseases under control.

Large LisbonsLisbon lemons (Citrus limon Lisbon) are thought to have originated in Portugal and are large, cold- and heat-hardy trees that produce heavy winter and spring crops.

The thin-skinned, juicy fruit are highly acidic and Lisbon is one of the most common varieties grown around the world. Being a sizeable tree (growing up to 8m tall and 4m wide) Lisbon is a great citrus for a large backyard. For smaller gardens, look out for dwarf grafted Lisbons which reach a more manageable 3m and can be grown in a medium to large pot on a sunny balcony or deck.

When planting a new Lisbon lemon out in the garden, choose a spot with well drained soil that receives at least six hours of sunshine a day and enrich the soil in the planting hole first with some Yates Dynamic Lifter Organic Plant Food. It promotes increased soil organic matter content and water-holding capacity, in addition to providing the new tree with gentle slow-release organic nutrients as it establishes. For potted citrus, choose a pot with good drainage holes and fill with a good quality potting mix like Yates Premium Potting Mix. Keep new citrus trees well watered as they settle into their new home.

For established citrus, it’s important to keep deep watering and feeding during late summer, as autumn and winter fruit are continuing to develop. Moisture and nutrient stress can adversely affect the quantity and quality of the harvest so it’s well worth devoting extra care to your citrus at this time of year. Feeding is as simple as diluting 2 capfuls of Yates Thrive Citrus Liquid Plant Food into a 9L watering can and applying over the root zone each week.

Sweet sugary sap that’s flowing through citrus plants is a magnet for sap-sucking pests like scale. Scale insects can be brown, white, pink or grey and appear as small raised bumps along leaves and stems. Sometimes the scale are hard to spot themselves, however, if you see sooty mould developing on the leaves (a black ash-like film) or ants moving up and down the stems then they’re indicators of a sap-sucking insect pest like scale.

Regular sprays of Yates Nature’s Way Pyrethrum & Oil Citrus & Ornamental Gun, on both the upper and lower leaf surfaces, will help keep scale under control. It’s based on natural pyrethrin and vegetable oil and is certified for use in organic gardening, so is ideal for gardeners wanting to use organic methods of insect pest control.

Summer nectarinesNectarines are an absolutely delicious smooth-skinned summer stone fruit that come in both yellow and white-fleshed varieties.

They can be used in trifles, tarts and crumbles, grilled on the BBQ and tossed into a salad, made into jams and salsa and, of course, eaten delightfully fresh and juicy.

If you’ve been enjoying supermarket-bought nectarines over summer, consider growing some of your very own. You can grow nectarines at home if you live in a climate where you receive enough “chilling hours”. So nectarines are best suited to areas with cool or cold winters.

Nectarine trees vary in size from medium height trees down to dwarf varieties that grow to around 2m tall and wide, which are perfect for smaller gardens and growing in pots. In addition to delicious fruit, nectarine trees also have pretty blossoms in spring. They need a spot with at least 6 hours of sunshine a day and well-drained soil (or a medium-sized pot filled with good quality potting mix, like Yates Premium Potting Mix, for pot-suitable dwarf varieties).

It takes a lot of energy to produce all that delectable fruit so applying some Yates Dynamic Lifter Organic Plant Food around the root zone each spring and autumn will both provide the tree with gentle organic nutrients as well as helping to improve the quality of the soil.

Nectarine trees are most commonly available in winter as bare-rooted plants. Choose a variety that’s suited to your climate. Nectarines are self pollinating, which means they don’t require another tree to be able to set fruit. However, if you adore nectarines you could think about growing a few different varieties that set fruit at varying times over summer. Plant tags will give you an idea whether it’s an early, mid or late fruiting variety. A few dwarf trees won’t take up too much space and just imagine picking your own amazing nectarines all through summer. Awesome!

Fabulous frangipanisIf you live in a frost-free area (or can find a warm sheltered spot to position a medium to large-sized pot), frangipanis are stunning trees that can create a lush tropical look in your garden, make a superb shade tree and of course the flowers are absolutely gorgeous and beautifully fragrant.

Frangipanis come in a range of very pretty colours, from the traditional white through to apricots, pinks, yellows and rich burgundy, with many varieties having multi toned blooms.

Here are some tips to help keep your frangipani healthy and looking fantastic.

Feeding: frangipanis will benefit from a feed in February with a fertiliser like Yates Dynamic Lifter Organic Plant Food, that will provide a complete blend of nutrients for encouraging lots of flowers and healthy leaf growth, as well as enriching the soil with valuable organic matter. Apply around the root zone of both in-ground and potted frangipanis and water in well.Watering: if the weather is hot and dry, frangipanis will appreciate a deep watering once a week, especially if the tree is still young and the root system is small. There’s no need to keep the soil constantly moist as frangipanis do best in slightly drier conditions.Disease control: one of the most common problems with frangipanis is rust. Rust appears as yellow or orange coloured pustules on the underside of the leaves with a corresponding yellow spot on the upper surface. It ruins the look of the foliage and can cause the leaves to prematurely drop. Damage can be minimised by spraying early infections regularly with Yates Super Shield, which contains a systemic fungicide that travels through the plants sap system to control rust. Yates Super Shield will also control common pests on frangipanis like two spotted mites and thrips, which can damage and deplete plants.— Yates New Zealand