Garden guide: October - Tropical Region

HELLO SPRING

Your Gardening Guide for October

TROPICAL REGION

HELLO SPRING

Your Gardening Guide for October

TROPICAL REGION

Welcome to October!

Spring planting is in full swing in both the flower and vegetable garden this month. It’s another roll-up-the-sleeves month and a beautiful time to be outside.

October Jobs

#1 Mulch

Mulch beds and add some cover crops. Read our article on the different types on mulch.

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#2 Harvest

Harvest jackfruit, bananas, pineapple, pawpaw and white sapote. Mangoes are in season and watermelons are ready to harvest, along with remaining tomatoes, zucchinis, kale, bok choy and salad greens.

#3 Shade

Be prepared to shade sensitive crops on hot days and from mid season onward. Read our article on creating a shade garden.

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#4 Fertiliser

Mango fruiting in full swing. After flowering starts irrigate to avoid stress as fruit sets. Fertilise fruit trees with mix high in potash for fruiting. Read our article on fertiliser.

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#5 Strawberries

Pick strawberries daily to avoid mould.

#6 Water

Flowering trees and shrubs put on a wonderful floral display now, give them a good soaking hose in the early morning to lessen the effect of heat stress.

October Essentials

Get some hot tips and tricks for garden success this October, from pricking out, to seed saving rules as well as planting edible tubers.

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Diggers top garden idea

Get started with seeds

Start basil, mustard greens, sweet corn in seed trays or plant out seedlings. Read our article on seed sowing methods.

Learn more

Diggers Recommends

Diggers top pests tips

Black spot and aphids

Apply Epsom salts and sulphate of potash, spray with Eco oil (aphids). Keep a close eye out for aphids on all soft, young growth especially on roses, peaches and nectarines.

Citrus gall wasp

Cut out any galls that appear on your citrus (citrus gall wasp) and place yellow sticky traps, remove these in September so as not to mistakenly catch any beneficial insects.

Protect

Collect snails and slugs to reduce the population in the garden and check underneath leaves for caterpillars, aphids and whitefly. Protect seeds with netting to prevent chewing insects and possums feasting on them. Beer traps for snails if getting into strawberries.

Diggers recommends

Eco-Oil

$27.50

Insect Trap For Fruit Tree Pests

$14.50

Snail Trap

$12.50

Diggers top garden ideas

Mulch

Mulch helps reduce weeds as well as keeping valuable water in your soils.

Mulch with pea straw, lucerne or sugar cane mulch. You can add dolomite lime, rock dust and potash if you wish to boost nutrient levels into the soil for vegetable production.

Discover more on mulch

Fertilise

Feed your entire garden with all purpose organic fertiliser. Fertilise citrus and fruit trees and passionfruit vines and organic- Fruit & citrus food.

Shop fertilisers