Monthly Checklist
Plant Now
Tend To
Essentials
Plant Now
Veggies, garlic and potatoes, stone fruit and strawberries, trees and shrubs, flowers and perennials.
Tend To
Weeding, protecting, pruning, spraying, deadheading, watering, cutting back, dusting, and harvesting.
Essentials
Kings Sheep Pellets, Yates Lime Sulfur, Quash, Strawberry Mix, Kings Lawn Moss Control, and Yates Slasher Organic Weedkiller.
Plant Now
Veggies, garlic and potatoes, stone fruit and strawberries, trees and shrubs, flowers and perennials.
Veggies
- You can still plant lettuce, onion, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, cabbage, silverbeet and leek seedlings now.
- Plant garlic and start chitting potatoes now, letting them sprout for a few weeks before planting.
Fruit Trees
- Peach, plum and nectarine trees are coming into stores in late June. Order specific varieties now instore.
- Strawberries are in stores now so start planting them in hanging baskets and in the garden.
Trees and Shrubs
- Plant trees, shrubs, hedging and hardy climbers now.
- Plant daphne now to add a beautifully scented bush for winter.
Flowers and Perennials
- Plant hellebores under trees and shrubs for a beautiful winter display for colourful blooms.
- Plant winter annuals for glorious colour, including cineraria, pansies, viola, primrose and polyanthus.
Tend To
Weeding, protecting, pruning, spraying, deadheading, watering, cutting back, dusting, and harvesting.
Veggies
- Depending on how cold your garden gets, shield tender plants and seedlings from frost with frost cloth.
- Keep newly planted veggie beds weed-free.
- Check to make sure beds aren’t becoming too sodden in the rain, and if necessary improve your drainage.
- Don’t keep seedlings too wet, or they risk collapsing from damping-off disease. If water restrictions are still in place, use grey-water to water your garden (make sure you use eco-friendly soap).
- Protect tender veggies against slugs and snails with Quash.
Fruit Trees
- Prune back any new growth on established deciduous fruit trees, keeping them short, so that they are easy to harvest from. Make sure you prune on a dry, sunny day to reduce the risk of diseases.
- Spray lime sulphur on your deciduous fruit trees only. If you have had leaf curl in the past, gather up all fallen leaves and dispose of them in green-waste bins (not the compost).
Flowers and Perennials
- Deadhead Hydrangeas, and any other flowering shrubs, perennials, or annuals with flowers that are past their best and clean up dead foliage.
- Remember to water cyclamen from the saucer if they are in small pots.
- Cut back perennials that have finished flowering, and trim back trees and shrubs where necessary.
- Leave pruning roses until July.
Lawn
- Remove any lingering leaves to prevent parts of the lawn dying off.
- Fertilise your lawn and help get rid of moss with Kings Lawn Moss Control.
- Spot spray larger weeds in your lawn now with Slasher Organic Weedkiller.
Indoor Plants
- Start watering less, keeping an eye on moisture levels by testing the soil with your finger.
- Keep plants away from heaters and drafts.
- Wipe dust off leaves and wash windows for better light.
Harvest
- Harvest veggies such as silverbeet, spring onions, leeks, lettuce and parsnip.
- Harvest citrus including mandarins, oranges and lemons.
General Tasks
- Gather up leaves from trees (that have not had a history of disease) for next year’s leaf mould.
- If you are making a strawberry patch, make sure it has the right amount of drainage and use Tui Strawberry Mix and a layer of strawberry straw.
- Help break down existing clay pockets with ClayBreaker Gypsum.