Gardening calendar October 2023

October is a great month to plant just about anything as Spring starts to get into full swing. With so many plants in flower both in gardens and the bush this is a great month to flash the camera around. This is a good time of the year to plant new shrubs and trees and annual bedding plants for quick colour.

• Planting
• Feeding
• Pruning, Maintenance & Harvest
• Lawn Care
• Pest Control

Planting

Flowers & Ornaments

• Summer flowering annuals to plant now include petunia, marigold, livingstone daisy, salvia, portulaca and vincas.
• It's a good time to buy potted roses, as you can see many in flower in the garden centre and this way you know what you're getting rather than relying on a coloured label.
  
• Flowering annuals and roses do fantastically well in pots using Baileys Premium Potting Mix or garden beds improved with Baileys Soil Improver Plus. 

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Vegetable & Herbs

• Tomato time, get them growing. Also, all the summer dominant vegetables - squash pumpkins, cucumber, sweet corn, beans, eggplant, okra, runner beans, zucchini, capsicum, beetroot and carrots. 
  
• Take cuttings of sweet potato from the leafy shoots that grow from the tuber. These strike easily in sand. These rooted cuttings will give you the best return on your time and rapidly get growing in the hot season.
• Plant chillies either from seed or seedlings and you could be picking before Xmas. In fact, bright red chillies make showy Christmas tree decorations, but you may just have to warn the kids they're hot. 
• Pot into Baileys Veg & Herb Planting Mix or improve your veggie patch with Baileys Soil Improver Plus. 

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Trees & Shrubs

• This is a good time of the year to plant palms, shrubs and trees and annual bedding plants for quick colour.
• Start topiaries and hedges now that plants are in their growth phase, you will see rapid development.
  
• Plant native, butterfly & insect attracting plants including bottlebrush, tea tree and grevillea. Pot in Baileys Native Premium Potting Mix or enrich existing soils using Baileys Soil Improver Plus. 
  

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Fruits

• It's the best month to plant exotic fruit trees from the tropics because they can look forward to a long season of warmth to establish before the onset of their worst season - winter. Avocado, mango and even lychee are ideally planted now. If you're short on space grow in pots filled with Baileys Premium Potting Mix or improve sandy soils with Baileys Soil Matters Clay & Compost and plant in-ground. Read our blog How to Grow Avocados in WA. 

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Pot Plants

• Indoor and outdoor potted plants can be re-potted now. This gives plants a new lease of life. Potting mixes are pretty depleted after two years and the particle size of the mix gets smaller as the organics continue to break down naturally. Where possible, its good to re-pot plants into a larger container so there is fresh soil to nourish your plants. Where impractical, for large potted fruit trees for example, excavate some of the old mix and replace with fresh material. 
• Use Baileys Indoor Premium Potting Mix or Baileys Premium Potting Mix depending on location - both are premium quality growing mixes featuring the red tickets - your guarantee they are made to the highest standard. Everything your plants need is in the bag.
• Now is also a good time to re-pot orchids once flowing is finished. 

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Suggested Products

INDOOR PREMIUM POTTING MIX

PREMIUM POTTING MIX

SOIL IMPROVER PLUS

VEG & HERB PREMIUM PLANTING MIX

Feeding

Flowers & Ornaments

• Time to feed azaleas and camellias now that flowering is finished with Baileys Rose, Camellia & Azalea. They can also be pruned to shape if necessary.

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Pot Plants

• It's also a good idea to feed your indoor and potted patio plants as these are getting into their most rapid phase of growth for the year. Feed with an organically enriched fertiliser such as Baileys Soil Matters Garden. 

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