# Continue to plant tomatoes, peppers, kumara, cucumbers and all those vegetables that like it warm.

# Mound up your potatoes. Any potato tubers on the surface will go green and then not edible.

# Sow sweet corn and bean seeds directly into the ground. Watch for slugs and snails on your beans, they love them. Sweet corn produce better if planted in a block.

# Feed tomato plants with a specific fertiliser, high in potash. Also take out laterals and tie plants up a stake, carefully.

# Cover berry fruit with bird netting, as the birds will find them, as they colour up. Keep plants watered and well fed.

# Tie or support new growth on climbing roses, dahlias and delphiniums.

# Spray lawns now for prickle weed and don’t forget to do it again in the autumn. Read more about Gardening Jobs for November 2017 by Judith Halford

# Longer days are welcomed and warmer temperatures[we hope]

# October is a busy month, particularly in the vegetable garden. But be warned, some things prefer it quite warm so wait until end of month.

# Start to fertilise…as with warmer soils and moisture plants put on good growth, especially citrus, roses and fruit trees.

# Sow carrot and parsnip seed. Put a board on row of parsnip. This keeps them moist during germination. Don’t forget to take it off after 10 days. Take time to sow carrots or use seed tapes so you don’t have to thin.

# Sow pumpkin, cucumber, zucchini etc. seeds in peat pots in warm spot, too plant out at end of month, without having to disturb them. Read more about Gardening Jobs for October 2018 by Judith Halford

# Enjoy the scents of winter, Daphne and Winter Sweet. Pick the flowers to prune, encouraging new growth and therefore flowers for next year.

#  The shortest day has past but still time to plant your garlic. Push each clove into the soil, about finger length and the point facing up.

#  Plant new fruit trees…plums, peaches pears etc.

# Purchase new and plant replacement roses. Remember to remove soil where old rose was and replace with rose compost. When planting a new rose bed add lots of compost and use slow release fertiliser under each plant. This will begin to work as the soil warms up in spring.

#  Sharpen, clean[with hot soapy water], and  oil secateurs and loppers for your rose pruning.Avoid walking on garden beds when very wet.

# Prune gooseberry, blackcurrants, grapes raspberries and rambling boysenberries. Read more about Gardening Jobs for July 2017 by Judith Halford

# With moist weather seedling weeds will appear, so hoe or fork out and allow to die in the sun.

# Cut down tops of asparagus and give good dressing of general fertiliser.

#Plant spring maturing cabbage, cauli, silver beet, spinach, Kale and broccoli seedlings. Continue to liquid feed leeks, they love worm wee.

# Sow lupin or mustard seed, in vacant areas, digging plants into the soil in early spring to boost fertility.

#  Prepare ground for onion seedlings and garlic, digging in compost and sheep pellets.

#May is the last month to plant spring flowering bulbs, before the soil gets too cold.

#Get ready to put frost cloth over frost tender plants or move pots to a sheltered position.

#Collect fallen leaves and add to compost or use as mulch on the garden.

# Lily bulbs will be available in garden centre in May. Read more about Gardening Jobs for May by Judith Halford

#  Keep up the watering. Remember to water early in the morning if possible and give a good soak rather than a light sprinkle.  We can help with installing a fixed irrigation system if this would make watering easier for you.

# Remove spent blooms from your flowering plants e.g. roses, petunias and geraniums. This will encourage them to continue too flower and give them more fertilizer.

# It is time too plant leeks and Brussels sprout plants for winter eating.

# Lightly trim the dead flowers from lavenders and hebes. This will help to stop them becoming leggy.

# Watch for white butterfly caterpillars on your cabbage, broccoli etc. either spray with Mavrik, dust with Derris Dust or squeeze them with fingers.

# Cut down to the ground,  canes of raspberries that fruited, leaving new growth which will fruit  next year. Read more about Gardening Jobs for February 2017

# A typical Hawke’s Bay summer is hot and dry. Water conservation is very important.
I find the raised beds for my vegetables great, but they do dry out quickly. So every 2 days give them a good soaking, NOT a sprinkle with the hose every night, and use a good compost when replanting.

# Beans will be very plentiful from now on. Keep them well watered and continue picking every couple of days, as this will keep them flowering and cropping. If you have space, sow some more seed. Climbing beans up a ring of bamboo stakes is a good idea. Vertical cropping! Read more about Gardening Jobs for January 2018

#  Protect newly planted seedlings from the wind and the hot sun, using windbreak cloth or shade cloth. Only water in the evening, then the plants has all night to absorb the moisture. Never water during the heat of the day, as you can burn the leaves and give garden a good soaking regularly, rather than a light sprinkle.

#  Keep garden free of weeds and give plants a light dressing of general fertilizer.

# Tie up tomatoes, and remember to take out the laterals if you want nice tidy plants.

# Look at zucchinis daily, so you don’t end up with marrows.

# Potatoes planted in September, or earlier, can be dug and I bet they will be delicious with a little butter and mint sauce {bring to the boil, then turn element down very low] Read more about Gardening Jobs to do in December 2017

•    Continue doing the jobs that never got done in October, or are ongoing.
•    It’s not too late to plant tomato, cucumber, pepper and kumara plants.
•    To keep the Psyllids off potato and tomato plants, there have been great results from covering them with Insect Mesh.
•    Over the summer months, remove excessive leaf growth off grapes, cutting back to a bunch of grapes.
•    Cover berry fruits with bird netting. Keep well watered and apply fertiliser high in potash.
•    As roses flower and dead heads appear, remove them and this keeps bushes flowering through Christmas. Apply more rose fertiliser and water deeply once a week if no rain.
•    Sow bean and sweet corn seed. Continue planting lettuce plants, at intervals to have a steady supply over summer.

Read more about Gardening Jobs for November 2016 by Judith Halford

# Early spring can be frustrating for us gardeners. We are keen to get planting but we have to remember how changeable the temperatures can be. Later in the month you can begin to sow seeds of tender plants such as cucumbers, pumpkins, cucumbers and tomato seeds in containers in a greenhouse or somewhere warm and protected from frosts. These can then be planted out mid October, depending on the weather. But don't forget  to harden them off before planting out into the elements. Be weary of frosts to avoid disappointment!!!!

# Top up veggie bins with compost and sheep pellets. Dig in cover crops that have been cut down. It will then be ready for planting into in October. Read more about Gardening Jobs for September 2018 by Judith Halford

# Continue to prune your roses. Renew the ties on climbers and standards, using soft stretchy cotton strips of fabric. Follow with spray of spraying oil.

# Later in the month fertilise roses with a specific rose food and apply a layer of mulch/ pea hay/ compost.

# Add groups of colour by planting potted colour flowering polyanthus...it won't be long before summer flowering annuals are available. Keep off very wet gardens.

# Keep planting fruit trees, berries, roses, and ornamental trees. Cut runners from strawberry plants and use as new plants. Replace plants if more than 3 years old.

# Clean out greenhouses/glasshouses in preparation of new season tomato and cucumber plants. Replace soil if needed as you don't want too plant tomatoes in the same soil as last year. Replace with good quality vegetable mix. Read more about Gardening Jobs for August 2016 by Judith Halford

#  Plant Christmas Lilies in containers to enjoy their perfumed flowers at Christmas

#  Sprinkle a little Lime around carnations, lavenders, dianthus, sweet peas and gypsophila

#  Feed Polyanthus, Primula and Pansy both in the garden and pots. They like very small amounts of Dried Blood or mix some Thrive with water. Also take off dead heads, this encourages them to keep flowering.

#  Vegetables you can plant in June are…Garlic cloves, Red Onions, Pukekohe Longkeeper Onions, Shallots, Silver Beet, Spinach, frilly lettuce,  and Broccoli.

#   You can plant a punnet of frilly lettuce [these you can pull off individual leaves] in a pot, using good potting mix and placing it in a warm sunny spot and don’t forget to water it. Read more about Gardening Jobs for June by Judith Halford

# Leaves will be starting to drop, so rake up and add to compost. Now you can make a pile of this good brown material to add to compost with green stuff during the coming months. We tend to have plenty “green”  and not much ‘brown’ and too much “green” makes gluggy compost.

# Sow lupin or mustard seed in areas of veggie garden not in use over winter.

# Christmas and other lilies are available in garden centres from mid May. So don’t forget if you like to have them to pick at Christmas.

#Flowering Polyanthus are good value for instant colour over winter. Give existing ones a teaspoon of Dried Blood and they will come away.

# Prepare areas where you plan to plant new roses now. They will be available beginning of June so it’s good to prepare the hole now. Read more about Gardening jobs for May 2016 By Judith Halford

# Happy New Year and may most of your gardening be successful. We always have to have the odd failure, but we aim to do better next season. Gardeners are generally optimists.

# Your garden should look after itself for a week or so. Just make sure someone is watering and harvesting your crops[so they continue too produce] when you go away.

# Continue to dead head annuals and roses, so they produce more flowers over the next few months.

# Summer prune peaches and nectarines. Trim and tie down new growth on grapes. After berries have fruited, remove these old canes and select the strongest of the new canes for next seasons fruiting.

# Summer pruning is OK for once flowering roses and wisteria. Read more about Gardening Jobs for January 2016 by Judith Halford

# Plant leeks by drilling a hole with a stick and just drop them in it.

# Plant heat loving annuals like petunias, zinnias and marigolds for summer colour.

# Continue to remove laterals from tomatoes.

# Liquid feed all newly planted flower and vegetable plants.

# Adding compost will help the soil to hold more water and also attracts earthworms which will make more nutrients available to plants.

# Set mower blades high...if you scalp your lawn it can burn and also dries out and allows stronger weed varieties to establish.

# Tie up to stakes delphiniums, dahlias and roses new growth. Read more about Gardening Jobs for December

# This is a typical Hawke’s Bay summer, hot and dry. Water conservation is very important. So if you haven’t mulched, you will remember too early next spring. I find the raised beds for my vegetables, which are great, but they do dry out quickly. So every 2 days give them a good soaking, not a sprinkle with the hose every night and use a good compost prior to replanting.

# Beans will be very plentiful from now on. Keep them well watered and continue picking every couple of days, as this will keep them flowering and cropping. If you have space sow some more seed. Climbing beans up a ring of bamboo stakes is a good idea. Vertical cropping! Read more about Gardening Jobs for January 2015 By Judith Halford