HTML Copyright © 2001-2003, awsltd.netGARDENING
Jack Hardy
The month of March brings in spring, and with it the prospect of much warmer weather. The vegetable garden will fail early unless steps are taken to choose varieties that can take spring heat. Instead of regular bell peppers, try Cubanelles which are longer and sweeter. Use a tomato variety designed for tropical heat. If you can’t find one, grow paste tomatoes such as Roma.
Caladiums give colour all through the summer then sleep through the winter. Plant the tubers this month and they will soon be bursting through the ground and brightening shady areas. Cosmos, periwinkle, New Guinea impatiens and zinnias also give colour in the summer.
The beginning of spring is a good time to fertilize fruit and citrus trees. Make sure the ground is soaked before applying granular fertilizer and don’t forget to apply micro nutrient spray to the leaves.
Black powder on your citrus leaves is sooty mould, which is formed from the excreta of sucking insects. These insects usually feed on the underside of leaves and need to be sprayed from below. Once the sucking insects are disposed of the sooty mould will gradually disappear.
Still have Christmas poinsettias in their pots? Now is the time to move them to the garden. If there are two or three plants to a pot, separate them before transplanting. Transplant them to a location which does not receive light in the night, such as from a street lamp. Between now and August they can be pruned to encourage bushy growth. Once August is done, however, pruning may take out flowering nodes.