Time to plant strawberries and protect vulnerable fruit trees from frost damage. Add some stunning winter vegetables for eye-catching colour. Check the bargain bin for tulips at your local garden centre.
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Winter flowers Add the plants that love winter conditions such as camellias and hellebores, plus scented shrubs. |
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In the Edible Garden
Cover the worm farm for winter. Rugs and old carpet are excellent for this purpose.
In go the strawberry plants. If you have runners coming off last year’s strawberry plants, snip them and plant into fresh soil. Add plenty of compost and sheep pellets as they will use food quickly when they begin to grow.
Stake or build supports around broad beans – if the plants are bushy and plentiful you can pinch out the tips and use in stir-fries.
In frosty areas, build frost shelters for young citrus, tamarillo and avocado trees and cover passionfruit vines. Or, frost cloth or newspaper is also a cheap and easy option on the nights where the temperature dips.
For eye-catching colour in the vegetable garden plant rainbow stemmed chard and beetroot. Small beetroot leaves jazz up winter salads. Structural plants for vegetable gardens include artichokes cavolo nero.
The rest of the garden
| A good way of encouraging new plants in the garden is to liquid feed them, sending nourishment directly to their roots. Aquaticus Organic Garden Booster is ideal. |  |
Plant any tulip bulbs left on sale in the garden centres – it’s been a warm season, and the cooler soil is better for these bulbs.
Winter scent in the garden: plant daphne, wintersweet, boronia and the Burkwood viburnum, all of which flower over the next three months and have fragrant blooms.
Plant winter roses (hellebores) in raised beds or on banks to view the remarkable and varied interior petals of their beautiful flowers.
Camellias are a wonderful winter flower with shades from white and soft pink though to deep rose and red. Sasanqua varieties make excellent hedges and will flower earliest in the season, avoiding petal blight that damages blooms in spring.
Liquid frost protection oil can be sprayed on susceptible plants, to provide a protective coating on the outer leaves.
Project for June
Condition soil by adding compost and sheep pellets. Compost breaks down clay and enables the soil to retain moisture, which will help when weather turns drier. Sheep pellets add nitrogen. For heavy clay soil, adding gypsum will assist in making it more workable.