The constant gardener

It's a new year, a peak growth and harvest time. Look after your hard-working plants by watering and feeding well

- By MARY LOVELL-SMITH, Garden editor

Chores

A new year, a new set of gardening resolutions – or rather, more of a reiteration of those made 12 months ago and not entirely kept. This year, I will try to adhere to a calendar, doing the regular chores at the right time of year, not at whim.

Feeding at the right time
In summer, feed roses, tomatoes, capsicums, courgettes, hanging baskets and pots (weekly), citrus (midsummer) and flowering annuals (fortnightly).

In autumn, it's the turn of lawns, perennials, fruit trees and veggie beds. Add compost post-harvest, winter/spring flowering bulbs (at planting), camellias and rhododendrons (as buds form).

Over winter, garden beds will get a compost mulch and winter vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, spinach), roses (late winter, after pruning) should be fed.

And in spring, it's feeding time for shrubs, roses, lawns, deciduous fruit trees, vegetables and container plants (every 2–3 weeks). And, after flowering, attend to camellias, azaleas and bulbs.

CUTTING HEDGES AT THE RIGHT TIME

Cut evergreen hedges in late spring to early summer to encourage dense regrowth (and to look smart for the festive season). Then again in late summer and early autumn, when a light trim will keep them looking that way over winter. Deciduous hedges are best cut in mid to late summer once the main flush of growth is over.

ALWAYS LETTUCE