Spring Gardening In Adelaide

After spending several months hibernating from Adelaide’s rain and cold, all of a sudden, we are greeted by the occasional beautiful day in late August, with more warm days arriving as the year progress into September. Deciduous trees are soon in full swing, with new green foliage appearing every day and fruit trees are starting to bloom.

The following are our suggestions to make the most of this wonderful time to be outside in the garden.

Maintenance

Start with a clean-up and maintenance of areas that have gotten away from you over Winter. Unfortunately, it’s not just your plants that love the combination of moisture and warmth that comes with early Spring. In what seems like the blink of an eye, weeds can be sprouting everywhere and growing at an alarming rate.

So before you look at doing any else, it’s time to remove as many weeds and other pests as possible. Most of the time, simply pulling them out is the best solution, although if you find stubborn weeds popping out between pavers, a chemical spray might be a better solution.

The next task will be to give your established plants a good prune before their next major grown cycle. In particular, hedges and fruit trees.

Check your watering system before you need it! Switching the system on and doing a quick walk around is a good idea. Ensure there are no leaky joints, broken dripper heads or ones that are blocked by roots.

Top up those garden beds. The heavy rains we experience over Winter can often leave our garden beds in need of a bit of attention. Now is the perfect time to top up the soil. We recommend using Jeffries Special Soil as it includes a proportion of organic matter, which will allow for the gradual release of nutrients to support the growth of your garden plants over the coming months. At the same time, the free-draining characteristics of this soil allow for improved water infiltration and aeration.

Compost and Fertilise

With many plants beginning their primary growing cycle in Spring, ensuring that your soil is at its very best can make a significant difference. Compost and Fertilisers can work together to make your garden shine.

Compost consists of concentrated organic material that will improve the quality and health of your soil, providing small amounts of the nutrients that your plants require and significantly enhances the quality of your soil. It also helps soil hold nutrients, encourages the plants’ roots systems, and ensures the last heavy rains are properly absorbed into the ground.

Fertiliser can be either organic or chemical and contains specific trace elements in the exact ratio plants require. Fertiliser will not help the condition of your soil as much but will provide high concentrations of those trace elements that plants need for optimum growth. Many of the natural fertilisers offer slow-release formulations.

At Forsters Landscape Supplies, we stock a significant range of Neutrog fertilisers along with Jeffries famous organic compost. We have chemical and organic fertilisers to suit your preference and the type of plants in your garden. Make sure you pop by and have a chat – we’ll point you in the right direction.

Spring is also a great time to spread another layer of mulch over the garden before the sun starts to heat up. The mulch helps conserve the moisture in the soil from the Winter rains and minimises the regrowth of weeds. Make sure you check out the wide variety of mulch options available at Forsters – there is something for every taste and style of garden.

Did we also mention that it makes your garden look fantastic!

Some of the mulches we supply, such as Jeffries Recovery Mulch, also contain additional compost and nutrients, making them convenient for adding everything your plants need in one product.