What to Grow, Sow and Know This Month: June

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:05

Hello, I'm Elizabeth, an obsessive backyard gardener, who might be able to offer you a couple of tips.

SPEAKER_01 0:11

And I'm Keith, a landscape consultant, and I'm also passionate about gardening.

SPEAKER_02 0:16

The one thing we both have in common is Muddy Boots. The month of June and the winter season is on our doorstep. And while the garden might feel like it's slowing down, there's still plenty happening beneath the surface. Plenty happening above the surface at my place, too. Weeds, weeds, and weeds. In this episode of Muddy Boots, we're embracing the quieter season and sharing exactly what we can be doing in our gardens right across Australia this month. From pruning and planting to prepping and planning. Whether you're in the cool south, feeling the full chill of winter or enjoying milder days further north, now is the perfect time to set your garden up for a strong comeback in spring. So grab a pen and paper or click record, whichever works for you. And let's get into the essential gardening jobs for June. So, Keith, how does June differ in the southern areas of Australia compared to the warmer northern re northern regions?

SPEAKER_01 1:14

Well, they're going to be doing they're going to be growing different things at different times of the year. So up north, it's a great time to be growing tomatoes and and garlic and all these other things.

SPEAKER_02 1:24

Not down here.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Not down here. No. Tomatoes we're finished. But up there, yeah, you've got all that up all the opportunities. And you got look, it's you live up there, you you should know what what you're you know, what you can and what you can't do in your various seasons.

SPEAKER_02 1:37

So there you go, that's it. You can turn off now. So what can we what can we plant in June? Starting with trees, what can we do? Um bare rooted?

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Absolutely brilliant time of the year to be doing bare-rooted planting.

SPEAKER_02 1:50

Yeah. Um things like roses and roses, all your fruit trees, all your deciduous trees.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

You if you can get hold of those plants w without the pot and without the you know the the the potting mix and everything else, you're paying a a third of the price that you would if they were in in pots. But the most important thing that I think that you should be doing in June, in actual fact, is something that you have just done following a post that I did. Oh, we haven't got to that yet. All right, all right, well we'll cover that later. Okay, so so bare-rooted plants are uh are fabulous at this time of the year. And and if you can't get a bare-rooted plant and you you want a deciduous tree of some sort, it's also a great time to be putting them in the ground. Because um there's a lot of plants that that have will still carry a few leaves, even even into June. And one example uh is is apple trees. So you can't get those bare-rooted at this time of the year because they're still carrying leaves.

SPEAKER_02 2:51

Okay, but you can when July August?

SPEAKER_01 2:53

Yeah, July-August is the best time for for those. So, you know, apples are a little bit different. But if if you if you're gonna be doing if you're gonna be doing bare-rooted um plum trees and nectarines and these sorts of things, then do a little bit of research now. Um I I love I love digging one big hole and putting two plum trees into one hole.

SPEAKER_02 3:14

Yeah, how does that work? Remind us again.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

Um well if you you you buy your bare-rooted plants um and you dig one big hole, mix it with full of compost, mix it, put chuck some some uh rock dust in there as well, and if you're lucky enough, get some some bio stin stim. Yes. Some micro gold by biostim, yes. Um, and put a put a teaspoon in the bottom of the hole and then add a bit of water before you put that plant in. The water activates the the fungal spores, so when you put the the roots in, they will immediately be associated and attached to the bear roots. Best way you can do that is is is by doing it that in this particular manner. So if you with plums, for instance, you need to check what plum you want. So if it's a if it's a blood plum, it might be say a Santa Rosa, you need to have a cross-pollinator. And the best thing, as I said, you can do is dig one hole and put the two plants in the one hole, along with your your your uh your myco gold in the bottom, and then fill it back in with your your beautiful composted soils. That and then you prune that those.

SPEAKER_02 4:19

So you're putting two Santa Rosa in? No, no, no, no. You're putting something Santa Rosa and uh Mariposa. Okay, so a satsuma. Right.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

So they've got to be two different varieties. So you've got a cross pollinator. You don't need to do that, do that for nectarines or for for apricots and for certain cherries, for instance. You don't need cross pollinators, and the cherries I'm talking about will be something like Stella is a is a is will is is uh one that will pollinate itself.

SPEAKER_02 4:46

Um but you it's gonna say this on the information, you need to cross make sure it's pollinator.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

No, it doesn't necessarily, but this is where you've got to do a little bit of research and work it out yourself. Yeah, okay. You know, so with apple trees, for instance, um you've you've got to have a a pollinator for your apple tree that is flowering at the same time. And that applies to to plums as well. So the the the both plants have got to have flowers on them at the same time. Yeah, right. And that's your cross-pollination. Of course they do.

SPEAKER_02 5:16

Okay, okay, fantastic. Good advice. What sort of flowering plants can we pop in about now? Can you think of any off the top of your head?

SPEAKER_01 5:23

Well, I I you can do a lot of lot of camellias and things now. Yeah, right. Um I think they're great. Flowering plants.

SPEAKER_02 5:30

Um rhododendrons.

SPEAKER_01 5:32

Rhododendrons, yeah, camellias and rhododendrons, gardenias, these sorts of things. Hellibores. Hellibores, not winter roses. Um, so there's lots and lots of of beautiful plants that are going to produce fabulous flowers that you can go sticking in now.

SPEAKER_02 5:46

And we can get the bare-rooted roses right now, can't we? Yes, you can, yeah. Okay, so that's a good one as well. All right, this is more you. What winter vegetables are suitable to plant at this time of the year?

SPEAKER_01 5:56

Everything in the brassicay family. So broccoli. Broccoli.

SPEAKER_02 6:01

Cabbage.

SPEAKER_01 6:01

What collies? Collie, yeah. Yep. Um you can put things like silver bead in. Yep. Um and if you're gonna put silver bead in, get a use the rainbow chart rather than that bloody horrible forward hook, which is just the most revolting tasting thing that I've ever had in my plate as a kid.

SPEAKER_02 6:21

Okay, don't have that. It's horrible.

SPEAKER_01 6:23

Um you can do potatoes too now. You can do put potatoes in and if you're worried about frost, do them in bags and you can just move them up move them out under the under the covers. So that's another great thing that you'd be putting in into the ground.

SPEAKER_00 6:36

Garlic?

SPEAKER_01 6:37

Garlic garlic has got to be planted before the shortest day, which is in June. I don't know what what it is, whether it's the twenty-eighth or something around.

SPEAKER_02 6:47

It is the twenty.

SPEAKER_01 6:48

So if you s if you haven't got garlic in, you can still get garlic in up until the shortest day. Okay. And then after that, don't bother.

SPEAKER_02 6:56

Okay. What should we avoid planting at this time of the year, Keith? There are plenty of things.

SPEAKER_01 7:02

Well, yeah, there's plenty of things you you you don't want to be planting. Um, you don't want to be planting anything that that is not going to be surviving the the cold weather. Yep. Simple.

SPEAKER_02 7:10

Especially down here, down in Melbourne. Absolutely. What should we be pruning in June?

SPEAKER_01 7:15

Um you should be pruning all your fruit trees or or any any plant that has produced a flower, you need to cut in behind the back of that flower and get rid of it. You know, so if you've got things flowering plants like like you've had leucodendrons or leucospermums or proteas, you need to take off the the dead heads and you just simply need to go in behind the the the actual dead head and cut it off. With with those plants, be very mindful about how far back you cut with proteas and leucosperms and leucodendrons, because you've got to leave at least six leaves on the stem behind where you're where you're cutting. So you can re-reshape and reprune things, but make sure you're leaving six to eight leaves back behind where you've made that cut.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

Okay. Tell us about hydrangeas. When is the best time? Because I get differing information about the thing. Some people say you can do it in autumn, some people say no, you can't do it until late winter. I don't think I'm which.

SPEAKER_01 8:11

No, look most of the hydrangeas, um the hydrangeas macrophillas, for instance, the big leaf ones, they should have just about lost all their leaves by June. Yes. So you can start cutting those back. So I would always recommend the first thing you should do in cutting back a hydrangea is have a look at see if you've got dead old canes. Cut the dead old canes out first. And that that opens up those up that plant. So then you can get a decent look about what you're going to be pruning off next. Um look for the look for the the the two fattest um buds that you've got on on those stems and cut just a little bit above it. And if you can cut it on a little bit, a little bit of an angle so that any water hits it'll just shed off because hydrangeas have this long elongated cells going running down through those those stems, and that's where you can get disease in. So cut it back on a bit of an angle. Um and always prune if you can to buds that are growing outwards.

SPEAKER_02 9:09

I um um because I've got some in a pot which I want to put into the ground soon uh in July, August. Um so I uh I'm trying I was trying to shape it too and cut it back, and so I haven't gone I've I've I haven't always got the double buds. No. So I've cut it back, but I think that just means I'm not gonna get as many flowers next year. You probably won't. It's not gonna hurt the plant, it just means it's not gonna get as much flowering. So then from then on it will be.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

But what I think you'll find is next year is is when they get in the ground and they've got access to the good stuff you've been putting in the ground, that you'll get a a far better growth out of them. You get far thicker, healthier, stronger stems. Yes. And then you'll get those those double buds forming up next year to be cutting back too.

SPEAKER_02 9:50

They have had enough time in the pot, so they're over it.

SPEAKER_01 9:52

Yeah, and that's it. I mean, growing anything in a pot, you know, you've got to be regularly feeding them in order to give give them the best shot that they've that they've possibly got.

SPEAKER_02 9:59

Got a bit of a use by date in the pot, I think. Absolutely, there is. Okay. Do you have any top pruning tips to avoid common mistakes? I mean, you've just talked about pruning on an angle. What about what about crepe myrtles? Because I know we talk about that quite a lot and people get upset because you've got to make it.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

Yeah, I look I I got a I got a photograph sent to me after uh the you know, people go back and have a look at some of the old posts that I put on. Um and and I had one woman come back and say, crepe a murder. That's right, not crepe myrtle. And then I had a another woman sh send me in a photograph of this magnificent um crepe myrtle that was absolutely enormous, chocker block full of flowers. And she said, never been pruned. And I and I looked at it and I thought, well, that's fabulous because it looks spectacular, but it's taken over the whole garden. You know, what what is that the only thing you want in your garden? That one great big crepe myrtle? So you've got to prune them back so that it suits your needs and suits what's happening in the garden. So I always suggest to people cut your crepe noodles back by a third and always cut it back to a bud that is gonna be growing out. Um and when we get we're talking about pruning as well, think about the style of pruning that you're doing. So if you're gonna be pruning fruit trees, for instance, prune so that you've got this vase shape, so you've got this hollow center that allows all the light and the air and everything else gets in, because if you don't do that, your fruit are not gonna not gonna ripen as well, and you and you're gonna set up pest and disease because that's the perfect environment you're creating for those those plants. So always prune to an outside growing bud, prune so that it it's on an angle, um, and don't prune it too far away from the bud. So, roughly I I would always suggest about two to three mil above the top of the bud and on a slight angle so that the water sheds off it and that dries out and goes nicely.

SPEAKER_02 11:52

Great advice. Thank you. Now, time for a quick pause to hear from the people who help keep muddy boots growing, and today's sponsor is BioStim. Healthy soil means healthy plants, and that's where BioStim's Myco Gold comes in. This powerful blend of beneficial fungi and bacteria works underground to extend root systems, helping plants take up more water and nutrients, fight off pests and disease, and cope better during periods of drought. Just add myco gold when planting or mix it in around your established plants, and you'll be setting your garden up for success. Discover more at biostim.com.au. So speaking of myco gold, is June a good time to focus on soil health, Keith?

SPEAKER_01 12:34

Um yes and no. Great. All right, and the yes is that if you've got if you've got um established plants that are evergreen, then you can go around and and add some micro gold to those. Um and the best way you can do that is to go out and get yourself if you haven't got one, and if you haven't got one, you must be about the only person that hasn't got one, and that is an FD Ryan prepping fork.

SPEAKER_02 13:00

I haven't, I've got a broad fork. I need to get a prepping fork. You better get a prepping fork.

SPEAKER_01 13:04

I gave mine away, it was too big for me. You know, the by the time you you get to my age, the smaller the and more effective the tool is for prepping for prepping fork. So what what I suggest you do, and I've done it to my fruit trees at home, my citrus trees, is I've gone around the the drip line of the actual tree, which is where the the outer edge of the leaves are, and I've gone down with my my prepping fork, rocked it backwards and forwards, so I've I've opened up and I've got these holes going all the way down into where the roots are. And then I've got um some mico gold and I put it into a uh a watering can, mixed it all up, and then I've gone around each tree and I put it I I use about a teaspoon and about ten litres and I've tiny all the way all the way around the fruit tree. So I ten litres per tree per tree of of of the uh the one big teaspoon of of the myco gold. And that will wash down to where those roots are, and then they'll attach themselves to the roots of the plants, and they will create a root system that is up to six hundred percent larger than what the tree can ever ever create.

SPEAKER_02 14:12

Amazing.

SPEAKER_01 14:13

Deep mining those wonderful trace elements and minerals that are deep down in the soil where moisture will be down there in in in the in the summertime when we've got no moisture up the top, so you set those plants up for success. It's not a great time of the year to be thinking about um adding them to plants that are going to be dormant.

SPEAKER_00 14:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 14:31

Alright, so um bear you can use it for bare-rooted plants because th at this time of the year there could be enough root development still happening within those plants that they might just send out and start up that that that relationship. But if you're gonna be putting in deciduous trees, then I would suggest that you use that process in summer of getting the broad fork around the drip line and putting that in in in in that manner.

SPEAKER_02 14:56

So, what happens if you accidentally pour use it with the dormant plants? Is it gonna happen?

SPEAKER_01 15:00

It's not gonna it's not gonna be a problem. You should still get that relationship happening with those plants.

SPEAKER_02 15:05

Okay. All right. All right, so okay. Um so what about composting and manure and mulching and uh doing all that sort of stuff? Is that not really a good time to do it? Or is that always that's always a good time?

SPEAKER_01 15:14

No, it's it's always a great time to be doing that because the you know the the the compost is gonna be gonna be broken down and ready and available for the plants when they come back into life in the springtime. So that's a great thing to be doing. You know, applying your rock dust, your monash rock dust is a great time to be doing that now anyway, because that's feeding the microbes that will then feed the plants. You know, so that's a beautiful beneficial thing that you do.

SPEAKER_02 15:38

You need to get some more monoche rock dust. Um being a new season, it is a good time to apply a fertilizer to the garden. What do you recommend for the whole garden? And do you suggest we apply a liquid and a pelletized fur uh fertilizer at the same time? And at what rates if we do?

SPEAKER_01 15:54

Okay, so in a in a dormant garden, um one of the best things you could be applying is is a form of either blood and bone or a chook manure. Because it's it can take up to three months for that those products to become available to the plants. So with with my trial garden, I've I've ripped out a whole lot of plants and um and and just gone out there and spread a whole heap of of um uh blood and bone and also some rooster booster.

SPEAKER_02 16:23

I was gonna say rooster booster.

SPEAKER_01 16:24

So so it it'll it'll just work its way down. So so I managed to get some blood and bone, which is um it's a new it's a new trial product. Um Meatworks, it's called or something like that.

SPEAKER_02 16:36

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:37

And it's fabulous.

SPEAKER_02 16:38

So the combination of the two.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

Yeah, I use the combination of the two because you know, y if you keep on adding the same thing, you know, you you're getting too much of the same thing. So you need to mix it up a little bit. Um for instance, with with the trial garden, um I during during the summer months, the hot summer months, I dug up and lifted probably about 20 uh Raphaelpsis snow maidens and put them into a totally new area. And because I had great stuff in the soil and followed up with a bit of a liquid fertilise, every one of those plants survived that that transformation. I never lost one. That's good. Because the soil is is all sitting there ready to go, packing it up with goodness. So liquid feeding is great.

SPEAKER_02 17:24

But can we combine the two? You can combine the two, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:26

Because the liquid feed's going to be there, there available for the plant right now, providing it's it it it's a not a non-deciduous plant.

SPEAKER_02 17:33

Do we need to cut back on the amounts? Or is uh on the packet it says, you know, two tablespoons or something. Do we need to cut it back? No, you do the fact that we're combining the two doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_01 17:42

No, I no, because so I said to you the the the blood and bone and and the and the rooster booster can be up to three months before it's available. Whereas the liquid fertiliser is available straight away.

SPEAKER_02 17:54

All right. Okay, what general tidy up job should we be doing at this time?

SPEAKER_01 17:58

Um you want to be going through and cutting back lots of things in your garden, like pruning all the all the spent flower buds on your plants, have a look at your um your ornamental grasses and think about cutting those back.

SPEAKER_02 18:11

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 18:11

Um and and doing whatever you have to do with them. Um I'm lucky enough to be able to put mine through a multi, so I've got all that.

SPEAKER_02 18:19

The miscanthus out there doesn't look as though it's ready to cut back yet? No, it hasn't. No, that needs that's probably the end of winter, I think, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 18:25

Yeah, well, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:26

Because they've gone berserk out there.

SPEAKER_01 18:27

Has gone berserk out there. Time for a bit of a culling there, I think.

SPEAKER_02 18:30

Yeah, yeah. Yes, I agree. Yeah, okay, what else? Um what oh well you want to talk about tools, but that's something we should be doing, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 18:39

Tools are cleaning our tools is the most important thing you can do.

SPEAKER_02 18:43

And and um that's a good tiding.

SPEAKER_01 18:45

And I'm I I did a little post the other day which you saw and I cleaned my tools. You went out and did the same thing. So clean up your secateurs because if if you're gonna go out with a your with a pair of secateurs that you haven't cleaned, you are you have the possibility of transferring disease and all sorts of crap to your to your your nice time spent out there pruning. So if you've got a pair of secateurs, then I would suggest you get some white vinegar, put it into a jar, and stick your your your secateurs in the vinegar for two hours, no more. And that will soften down and and because um it it's a it's a it's an acid, vinegar is an acid, so but it's a it's not as bad an acid as sulfuric or one of the other ones. But it it will help to break down the gunk and stuff that's on it. And then if you be very careful, because secateurs will still be sharp, if you get yourself some steel wool, some some some coarse steel wool, and just go over them and just take off that sludge and rust and all the rest of the food. And then you need to um apply either some um some oil of some sort, and and I always recommend using a spray called Lanox, which you can buy from Bunnings. It is a it is a a natural-based spray that contains lanolin from the sheep. Um and you spray that on and and just let it just let that the the tools sit out there in the open and that will set those tools up for the greatest set of cutting you've got coming up in your pruning procedures.

SPEAKER_02 20:22

And give them a bit of a sharpen if you've got a sharpener.

SPEAKER_01 20:24

The sharpener's great, yeah. Um the rise set make a fabulous sharpener.

SPEAKER_02 20:28

Yeah, um I didn't I'd realize when I saw the picture, I thought, I've got one of those. Yeah, you can use that sharpen.

SPEAKER_01 20:32

And and and and the beauty about that is that you've got the the little steel at the top, which is for your sharpening, and you just rub rub that across the sharpened part, the same angle that that it's been set at. And then at the back of the rise set sharpener, you've got this little thing that you can screw off and it's got oil in it. I know. And you wipe that over the part you've just done. Incredible. Fabulous. Incredible. Um, backyard botanics have got those those tools.

SPEAKER_02 20:55

Backyard botanicals. Backyardics.

SPEAKER_01 20:57

Botanicals.com.au. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 20:58

Yes, they do.

SPEAKER_01 20:59

So they're gonna have all those things.

SPEAKER_02 21:00

Okay, so uh other general tidy-up jobs. Well, I know I've been doing lots of raking and cleaning up leaves and um sweeping and water. There's a lot of there's always a lot of things to do at this time of the year. If you think you're gonna be sitting inside, you're not, because there's plenty to be done. Um depending on the amount of rain we've had, one thing we don't need to be doing much of is watering, obviously. If there hasn't been a great deal of rain, how often would you recommend we use our sprinklers per week? Well because we haven't had much rain really until last month.

SPEAKER_01 21:28

Yeah, last month. Yeah, we had a big dump.

SPEAKER_02 21:31

Last month, didn't we? Oh, yeah, last that was last month. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

We had some big dumps last month, which was good. And that's probably starting to wet things down. And once again, you know, if you haven't had a lot of rain, um then get your FD Ryan prepping fork out there and get that into the soil, whether it's your lawns or your garden beds or anything else, get that in. But in terms of watering, um uh because I've got eight raised vegetable gardens, I um monitor how much rain we're getting because My vegetable gardens need four mil of water per day. So I have my sprinklers coming on the on the on the raised beds uh roughly for ten minutes every day. The system I've got up, which is all set up through the web, I've I can program the soil type, the the weather, and and put in my postcode and it picks up the weather for my area specifically. That's a bit special. So so we it will it this system will then come on and say, um I'm gonna we're we're applying a 24-hour rain delay on your system, which is fabulous. I don't need to worry about turning it, turning it on or turning it off or letting it just go for through a program. It's all handled brilliantly.

SPEAKER_02 22:42

It must be AI working on that one.

SPEAKER_01 22:44

This is um a system called Orbit and it is Beehive. B-Y-H-Y-V-E. Beehive. Fabulous system. Um it's a Bluetooth system, but then you can add a um a Wi-Fi hub to it and and connect the whole lot together. So you can be in New South Wales or a thousand miles or a hundred you know miles away and just water your garden.

SPEAKER_02 23:07

Very clever. Off that, it's brilliant, absolutely brilliant. Very clever. Okay, what winter pests or diseases should we watch out for?

SPEAKER_01 23:14

Um this time of the year, the the worst little mongrel you're gonna have in your garden, and doesn't matter how how good your gardening is, uh you're gonna get aphids. Those stinking rotten little mongrels. I've got I've got nets still over all my brassicas because even though it's uh you know it's it's it's June, I still see the occasional white butterfly out there, and it it'll come and lay eggs on on the brassicus. Yep, it'll stink them.

SPEAKER_02 23:43

I took the nets off because I thought they were in the back of the phone.

SPEAKER_01 23:45

You've only just got to keep your eye open if you see them. No, I'll pop them back on but the aphids are the worst thing because they're they're sight unseen. And if one of the best indicators that you've got aphids on any plant is to have a look at the leaves. If the leaves are folding over, then I suggest you go out and have a look at where underneath it where it's folding over, and you might find that you've got an infestation of of aphids. Now, I always have in my in my shed mixed up in a you know container um econeme and eco oil for this time of the year, and I go out there regularly and spraying and that that will eliminate these stinking rotten aphids. So they're the worst thing.

SPEAKER_02 24:25

I notice my gardenias actually have been eaten too, and I don't know what it is. I'm spraying that with echo neem and echo oil, but I don't know if that's really the answer because I can't work out what it is. But they're in pots.

SPEAKER_01 24:35

They're in pots, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:36

They'll be needing to go into the ground as well.

SPEAKER_01 24:38

You you you might find that if it's in pots, um if you actually scrape back the top of the pot, you might find the culprit there, and it could very well be earwigs. So they're around too at this stage. There's no now looking it's just difficult, isn't it? It is. It's compot that's the way it is. Gardening is just one of those things.

SPEAKER_02 24:56

Yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 24:56

So another thing you should be thinking about doing, and that is um fungal spraying. Um so spraying for fungal spores that are on your bare branches of your fruit trees, your roses, these sorts of things. So get out there with either a lime sulphur and or a cup a copper fungicide and drench them to the point of of runoff. So you really give them a soak. And then do the same the following month and the month after before they before they start to f bud up and flower. So get the sprays out there, the lime, the lime um sulphur and the copper fungicide. Get the everything everything good dosed.

SPEAKER_02 25:30

These things are easier to find at Bunnings, are they? Or the good wherever else?

SPEAKER_01 25:32

Get all those at Bunnings, yep.

SPEAKER_02 25:34

Yep, okay. Uh how how can we stay on top of weeds during this lower season, Keith?

SPEAKER_01 25:40

Well, sorry. You've you've you you're gonna be getting on to yours shortly with your your your spray unit. Um, and this is a a good thing that um maybe you could explain what you've got set up for controlling weeds on your ground, because you've got a lot of lot of weeds that have germinated in amongst other plants. So, what are you gonna do and how you're gonna how are you gonna handle that?

SPEAKER_02 26:01

Well, you've all heard of my me complain about my verbena bonariances, which I absolutely love, but has just gone berserk. Um so I've had advice from wonderful Matt from Morningside Landscapes, who said, Oh, and you, of course, you've given me a lesson just today. Um, I've gone out and bought a battery pack sprayer. Um, and I have bought a shroud which goes on the end of that battery pack. I mean, on the end, sorry, the end of the spraying implement.

SPEAKER_00 26:25

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 26:26

And then I'm going to and I'm going to add firehawk. There was a discussion about slasher, but we've decided that firehawk is better. That's what you've said. Matt might disagree. Um, and I'm going to so this weekend, if I can, I'm going to get out there and I'm going to very, very carefully place that shroud onto the ground around my plants so I don't lose any plants, so that they're not touching the plants, and just spray till I run out, but there's so much of it.

SPEAKER_01 26:53

Yeah. So so we'll just explain the shroud. What it is is it's like a it's like putting putting a bucket over the end of the end of your hose.

SPEAKER_02 27:01

You're putting the bucket on your dog's head. It looks like that.

SPEAKER_01 27:05

Yeah, a little bit like that. So so the idea is that is that that spray can't go anywhere. It is concentrated into this one little area. Now, the reason that that I'm I'm suggesting that we use firehawk, and I've had we've had a few people come back and say, Oh, it didn't work with me, because they haven't used it properly. They haven't, if they've bought an RTU ready to use spray, they haven't shaken it, they've just gone out there and sprayed. It's got to be shaken and and agitated so that we're it's mixed all the way through.

SPEAKER_02 27:32

And so you can see white.

SPEAKER_01 27:33

Yep, so you can white see this white stuff on top of the leaves after you sprayed. Now, the beauty about using the firehawk and to a lesser degree the slasher is that if you happen to spray a little bit onto an existing plant, then it's not going to kill the whole plant because it is not systemic. It is it is uh it is a a surfactant, so it will kill what it sprays, but only the leaves, not the roots. So it's not systemic, it doesn't go back down to the roots.

SPEAKER_02 28:02

So if you do happen to just spray it when you say it, so it kills the leaves of my weed, and but it won't go down to the roots, but no, but it's not translocated down to the roots.

SPEAKER_01 28:12

So so the so the way that it works is is that with with the the wheats you've got out there, the thing that's keeping those those plants going is the is the photosynthesis.

SPEAKER_02 28:23

So once you take the photosynthesis out, yeah, the root roots are the roots, the roots are the roots are useless because they they can't operate. I'm looking forward to that. What maintenance should we be what maintenance jobs should we be doing during June? What about uh what about your lawn? That's a that's a a regular ongoing maintenance issue.

SPEAKER_01 28:42

And my lawn is as green today as it was in the middle of summer because I've got out there with the prepping fork and gone around and then fed it.

SPEAKER_02 28:51

We need that prepping fork.

SPEAKER_01 28:52

We all have a prepping fork.

SPEAKER_02 28:53

Obviously.

SPEAKER_01 28:54

Um yeah, so so uh I'm gonna I'm going to I'm going to still apply another application of um sudden impact for lawns, even even at this late stage in the year for my um temperate grass that I've got there, which is Kokuyu, I can give that and push that along a little bit more and I'll retain that green. So last year and the year before, just using that method of getting the prepping fork to allow the moisture and everything else deep down to draw the roots down deep, and then raising the height of my grass and then keeping that regular fertilizing up. I never had any any any yellowing of my grass at all last year. It stayed beautiful and green for the whole year.

SPEAKER_02 29:32

So when you say regular, how often are you?

SPEAKER_01 29:35

I'll give it a dose um in winter and then I'll and then I'll give it another dose in spring. Okay, so each each season.

SPEAKER_02 29:42

Each season, okay. So the beginning of each, or around the beginning of each season, depending on the moon calendar.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

Depending on the moon calendar.

SPEAKER_02 29:47

That's right. Okay, June and the whole of winter is a great time to make plans for any changes that we might want to make in our gardens. Planning new garden beds, refreshing tide areas, or mapping out bigger landscaping projects, is a good time to review what's working and what's not. That's right. Yeah. Yep. Because you've got the time to sort of, and things are slowed down, so you've got the time to really make some plans.

SPEAKER_01 30:08

And you you can and if you're lucky enough to be in your situation here where you can actually sit down on a cold day and look outside and say, hmm, I wouldn't mind better colour over there. I might move that and put that over there and away you go.

SPEAKER_02 30:19

I've got lots of things. I've been doing that a lot lately, and I just want the time to I just want to be able to get it's not obviously the time to do all those things. Some things aren't ready to be moved or transplanted or whatever, but I'm looking forward to it. So it is nice to be able to do that. What are some simple things listeners can do now to make spring easier, to be prepared for a spring and make sure the garden's ready to go?

SPEAKER_01 30:39

That's you've just set it at the prepping fork, the compost, get the compost down. And even if you use it, um use it as a mulch, it's still going to be breaking down and going down into the soil. And and this is a great time. If you if you're gonna apply compost uh over the top of the of your your garden beds, a little bit like like Petrina Bloom's is she's she's used Clyde Compost as as some mulch over the top. And this is the perfect time to be doing that because it's not gonna dry out and blow away, it's gonna work its way down with those microbes pulling it down and the earthworms pulling it down into the soil.

SPEAKER_00 31:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 31:14

So it's a great time to be putting compost onto your onto your you know your garden bits.

SPEAKER_02 31:19

And then a bit of mulch over the top.

SPEAKER_01 31:20

You put a bit of mulch over the top, yep, and don't have any weeds growing up.

SPEAKER_02 31:24

What are your top three don't skip jobs in June?

SPEAKER_01 31:28

Secrateurs, cleaning them up, sharpening them up, pruning, making sure that you you you are looking at every single plant that you prune from that plant's perspective. All right, so pruning to pruning if it's an ornamental plant, prune it to shape. If it's a fruit tree, prune it to shape as a vase. If it's if it's an Haspalian fruit tree, cleaning off all those, anything that's that's vertical, tidying all those up. So pruning is the is the major thing for this thing. And the third thing is giving everything a good dose of food or f or or fungal sprays.

SPEAKER_02 32:06

Okay. Great advice. So even though the pace has slowed, June is far from being a month to ignore in the garden. A little effort now, whether it's pruning, planting, or simply preparing your soil, can make all the difference when the warmer weather returns. We hope this episode has inspired you to step outside, even on those chilly mornings, and tick off a few jobs that your future garden will thank you for. Thanks for joining us on Muddy Boots and Happy Winter Gardening. Absolutely. Thank you for listening to Muddy Boots. For more information on today's podcast, please go to muddyboots.net.au and happy gardening.