Urgent jobs in the garden for September

•  Make compost.
• Add potash or wood ash (both potassium) to soil to increase flower and fruit set.
• Tie hessian or cardboard around apple, pear and quince tree trunks for codling moth to lay in (remove and burn in 4 weeks then replace).
• Sow seeds in punnets and/or plant spring seedlings if beds are ready.
• If beds are not prepared, clear them of dead plants, weed and test pH for suitability for subsequent crops. Adjust pH if necessary (with compost and/or dolomite to make beds more alkaline, or sulphur to make them more acidic). This needs to be done at least a month, preferably two, before planting.
• Dig over beds removing stones, rocks, twigs and roots in preparation for spring planting.
• Dig in any green manure crops previously planted.
• Fertilise citrus trees with citrus fertiliser around the drip line. Avoid nitrogen based manures which cause soft leaf growth exposing leaves to damage from citrus Leafminer. Treat Leafminer with white oil (home-made recipes on the internet).
• Implement your Queensland Fruit Fly prevention strategy:
  • spray citrus trees now with kaolin clay, and net after pollination of flowers, weighting down or burying the hem of the net
  • put out pheromone lures (Wild May) to monitor presence of male fruit fly
  • put out protein baits to kill both male and female flies NOW
  • net vegetable seedlings such as tomatoes, chillies, capsicums and eggplant wjhen planted out, weighting down or burying the hem of the net. All are self fertile but chillies, capsicum and eggplant may need hand pollinating for maximum cropping.

To follow a step by step Queensland Fruit Fly strategy, go to our Queensland Fruit Fly page on the website now under Our Projects.

To buy lure bottles, Wild May and kaolin clay go to the shop on our website. Contactless pick up available from 5 Fairlie Ave Macleod.

Written by Robin Gale-Baker