How to Prepare Your Garden For Autumn in Australia

Getting out in the garden over the Summer holidays is a great way to enjoy the warmer weather and join your plants in soaking up that sunny vitamin D.

In Australia, these hot months are typically a quieter time of the year for planting schedules, though you can check out our guide on What To Grow This Summer for some inspiration on what to plant.

Otherwise, it’s the perfect time to catch up on garden maintenance and prepare yourself for the coming year. We’ve put together a list of seven important Summer gardening jobs that we recommend to help prepare your garden for Autumn. 

Before you start: One thing to remember with all of these jobs is that it’s important to start early in the day and wear adequate sun protection. Garden work is good wholesome fun, but there’s no need to do it in the glaring afternoon sun! You should always take it nice and easy. 

1. Weeding

This one isn’t much fun, so let’s get it out of the way early – summertime is weeding time. These pesky invaders go into overdrive in the warmer months, and it’s important to eliminate all of your weeds before the Autumn growing season begins. Not only are they unsightly, but they steal precious nutrients from your plants at a time when they’re needed the most.

To prevent a comeback, be sure to pull out the entire root system when weeding. Chopping off the top with your whipper-snipper won’t be enough to stop the plant from coming back quickly. Using a simple handheld weeding tool can help save you some hard work, while also eradicating the weed’s root system more effectively.

Weeding can be tough, so it’s important to start early in the day and take breaks as often as necessary. If you find that you actually have a lot of weeds to pull, there’s no need to do it all in one day! Using a high-quality weedkiller can also save you some time and effort, though it’s important to take some safety precautions to protect your other plants.

2. Deadheading and Pruning

For many plants, late Summer is also the perfect time of year for some routine pruning maintenance, though it’s important not to cut back too hard during the heat. Generally, there are three types of pruning you’ll be doing at this time of year:

• Deadheading Perennials. For Spring & Summer flowers that come back every year, cutting off or ‘deadheading’ the spent flowers will help the plant redistribute nutrients to new growth over winter, allowing them to grow back stronger next season. It also prevents seeds from forming.  Daisies and Dianthus can both benefit from this in late Summer, and it will stop them from spreading too vigorously via seed transmission.
  
• Tip Pruning The practice of tip pruning, also known as ‘pinching off’ plants, involves removing just the tip of any growing shoots as they appear. This encourages multiple new shoots to grow from the cut, which leads to denser plant growth.
  
  It’s a particularly popular practice with flowers. You can snip the top with secateurs or simply pinch with your finger and thumb! Pinching Marigolds and other similar flowers at the start of their growing season will help to create bushier, fuller flower displays.
  
• Trimming Tougher hedge plants like Syzygium will likely need a lot of trimming during Summer, as this is their growing season. Hedges will typically start to look very bushy if they are not trained and trimmed at least monthly. Trim them less if you are looking to increase bulk and size and are not as worried about neat aesthetics.

As you can see, these are all very light forms of pruning. Again, any hard or heavy pruning should be avoided during hot weather, as your plants will be using any available nutrients and water to simply survive the heat. Save any serious pruning for later in the year.

3. Watering Citrus Trees and Other Summer Pants.

If you’ve planted new Summer plants, it’s important to make sure that they’re getting enough water during sunny periods of no rain. Planting Citrus Trees is particularly popular at this time of year, especially in the Melbourne Metro area where our Diacos stores are located.

While citrus trees do love the warmer soil of Summer, growing citrus trees requires a lot of watering to help them reach maturity and avoid drying out in the heat. It’s good to water deeply at least once a week; this regular, thorough soaking will be more effective than lots of brief, shallow watering. You want to let the roots drink deeply to store enough moisture.

Other popular Summer plants, like Hydrangeas, will also benefit from some extra care and watering during the hottest temperature peaks. Thankfully, late February tends to see a few late Summer showers or thunderstorms. This can prove a welcome rejuvenation for your thirsty garden – and a welcome break from you holding the hose!

Hot Tip: Use Mulch To Retain Moisture

If you find that you’re struggling to keep up with regular watering, adding a layer of Mulch can prevent evaporation and help your soil to retain more moisture over longer periods.

It will also help to eliminate weeds, pests and grasses from encroaching on your tree’s space. When mulching, always leave an un-mulched gap around the base of the tree. This will help your tree to breathe and avoid causing any accidental root rot. 

Most organic mulches are suitable for citrus trees. Woodchips or bark will provide good moisture retention, whilst something like lucerne or composted leaf litter will decompose faster over time, providing your citrus tree with extra nutrients for growing delicious fruit.

4. Rotate Seasonal Food Crops

Speaking of tasty homegrown food, preparing your herb & vegetable garden for a new season has got to be one of the most satisfying gardening tasks out there. 

As you come towards the end of Summer, it’s time to start harvesting any warm-weather crops like tomato, basil and lettuce. Not sure if there’s more food to come? Just pick it all anyway! Regularly picking ripe fruit & veg extends the growing season by encouraging your plant to start the growth cycle again, keeping it producing for longer and longer

Late Summer is the time to make an early start on cool-weather crops – think Kale, Leek, Silverbeet and Spinach. Once the nights begin to cool, you can also plant Broccoli or Spring Onions. Herbs like Oregano and Rosemary can be planted from as early as mid-January, whilst Parsley and Chives can be planted in March as Summer ends.

Many of these cool-weather vegetables will reach fruition just in time for the cold weather to begin. You’ll feel great when you get to enjoy your fresh homegrown ingredients in hearty, soul-warming autumnal dishes.

5. Keep Pots Cool – Especially Terracotta

When the temperature starts to reach sweltering heights, plants in pots tend to do it a bit tougher than their garden-dwelling friends. This is because pots heat up in the sun, gradually increasing the temperature of the soil within and raising the risk of cooking your plant’s roots.

This is obviously not good news, and it’s a particular problem for Terracotta Pots. This is because this ancient style of Mediterranean pot is made of very porous clay, which absorbs more water than other materials. This can leave the soil drier than in other pots, so it’s important to water & soak your Terracotta frequently to help keep moisture levels stable.

Cheap black plastic pots are by far the most susceptible to heat damage. They are not ideal for outdoor Summer use, or even indoors by a window where the glass can magnify the sun’s heat. Watering the pots down can also be helpful here, but it’s not a long-term solution and it’s best to avoid keeping plants in black plastic pots for long periods if you can.

Another helpful tactic for cooling down pot plants is to add a few centimetres of Mulch. As in the garden bed, this can help trap moisture from watering and insulate the soil from sunlight, keeping the overall soil temperatures much lower.

6. Manage Your Lawn, But Don’t Overdo It

If you’ve got a lawn or a grassed area, you’ll know that it grows like absolute crazy over Summer. This is the natural growth season for most lawn grasses, and you’re likely to find yourself mowing a bit more frequently during this period – perhaps around once a week or fortnight.

However, don’t let yourself be tempted to trim your grass right down to nothing to save yourself a few mowing sessions. Keeping lawn grass too short during the growing season can disrupt its natural cycle and lead to a less resilient lawn. Instead, it’s best to tolerate it being a little shaggier than usual over the warmer months, allowing it to store more nutrients and gain a bit of momentum ahead of the winter.

Don’t panic if you see your lawn start to turn brown and crispy either. Unless it is also dying off in patches, then this is just its natural way of conserving energy during drought spells. It should tend to come back green and strong once conditions become more favourable.

7. Start Planning

Finally, it’s time to look to the year ahead. A little bit of planning in late Summer and early Autumn can help you to avoid a bare or depressing garden during the Winter months.

This is a fantastic time of year to plant many popular shrubs and flowers. Geraniums, Tulips and Black Magic Banksias are all beautiful flowers that do especially well when planted in early to mid-Autumn. Ornamental Grasses are another highly popular choice at this time of year as they are resilient to most weather conditions.

If you’re not sure what kind of plants will suit your garden, now is the time to do some research and plan ahead before it begins to get too cold and wet.

If you’d like a little help deciding, then why not ask one of our friendly gardening experts. They’re always happy to offer some expert advice on what you can grow.

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By following these seven easy Summer gardening tips, you should be well on your way to growing and maintaining the perfect Autumn garden. It’s a great way to start the year right. 

All of the plants we’ve mentioned in this guide are available in the Diacos Online Store, as well as plenty of helpful gardening supplies like Mulch, Fertiliser and much more.