Summer’s not far away, so it’s time to get the garden in shape and give it a bit of a tidy up. Now is the perfect time to trim any hedges or shrubs that have flowered earlier in spring to encourage new bushy and compact growth before the hot summer months ahead.
If your plants have got a little out of hand like these liliypillies, you can cut them back harder. Start first by pruning larger branches with a pair of loppers and then take the plant down to the required height. Next prune the sides using a hedge trimmer with an up and down motion tapering the sides so that they are always slightly wider at the bottom. This ensures that the bottom of the hedge will receive enough light, so it does not go bare and leggy.
Pruning can be stressful for many plants, which may also find it tough going with the lack of adequate rainfall, the hot sun and drying winds that the summer weather brings. The new soft vegetative growth is also often susceptible to attack from pests and diseases.
So what can we do about it to help our plants and garden cope with these extreme conditions? Why not try an application of Seasol, a complete health treatment for your plants. Put three capfuls per 9-litre watering can and apply to the plant foliage and soil around the roots over an area of 2 to 4 square metres, every 2 to 4 weeks.
Seasol is a completely organic seaweed extract that is safe for all the plants in your garden including natives, flowering and fruiting plants and seedlings and can be used all year round.
Seasol is also perfect for keeping your vegies like tomatoes; coriander and lettuce in top condition reducing transplant shock and stress from heat. It contains plant nutrients, trace elements, alginic acid and other bioactive compounds that promote vigorous flowering and fruiting. This also helps to stimulate strong root growth and beneficial microorganisms, strengthening and creating stronger plant cell walls, making them much tougher and resilient to attack from sucking insects and fungal diseases.
For larger areas like this lawn area the 2 litre hose-on spray pack makes it easy, just click on the hose and away you go. Seasol is sustainably sourced from a blend of the finest brown kelps – King Island Bull Kelp on the remote Southern Ocean shores of Tasmania and Knotted Kelp from the North Atlantic Ocean. These are not harvested from living stands, but from storm-cast material collected from the shores.
Remember next time you are feeling stressed in the heat and sun, your garden and plants are probably too. So do something about it and give your plants and garden the complete health treatment, a regular application of Seasol every two weeks, it’s just the tonic they deserve. The Seasol concentrate and 2 litre ready-to-use hose-on packs are available from Bunnings throughout WA and to find out more go to Seasol.com.au.
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