Urgent jobs in the garden for December

• Cover tomatoes, chillies, capsicum and eggplant with exclusion netting and weigh down the hem with soil, mulch or heavy objects so Queensland Fruit Fly cannot enter beneath the netting.
• Net your fruit trees with exclusion netting, tying tightly to the trunk at the base or weighing down the hem to prevent Queensland Fruit Fly entry and to protect from birds.
• Check lures for codling moth in apples, pears and quinces. Every 2 weeks change and burn cardboard or hessian traps that have been placed around tree trunks.
• Spray citrus to prevent gall wasp attack with Kaolin clay (also marketed as ‘Overhaul’) fortnightly, until the end of second week in December. Cover the entire tree.
• Check pear and cherry trees for pear slug and treat with ash thrown onto damp leaves.
• Harvest garlic and hang to dry with leaves attached as these form the skins on the garlic heads.
• Spray summer vegetables with seaweed solution.
• Water, weed and mulch all beds to keep maximum moisture in the soil.
• To prevent caterpillar infestation of eggplants, spray eggplant fruit with Dipel or use exclusion net bags and tie firmly around the stem.
• Prepare simple shade structures for days of very high temperatures.
• Fill wicking beds weekly, but daily in extreme heat.

Note: blossom end rot on summer vegies is caused by under watering.

Written by Robin Gale-Baker