Life is a Garden has compiled an easy-to-follow, 4 season gardening guide to help you sow, grow, and eat all year round. Enjoy another year in the garden and never miss an opportunity to plant your favourite veggies and flowers. Don’t forget to keep an eye out for those pesky pests!
Summer (December, January, February)
Pretty plants
- Grab seed packets of show-stopping violas, primulas, pansies, snapdragons, ornamental kale, poppies, wildflowers, sunflowers, gazanias, and dianthus.
- Towards the end of summer, you can sow calendula, cosmos, daisies, violas, primula, pansies, snapdragons, ornamental kale, gazanias, poppies, wildflowers, Bellis, dianthus, and marigolds.
- Seedling trays for quick colour include petunias, impatiens, calendula, dahlias, verbena, alyssum, cosmos, marigolds, nemesias, and dahlias.
- For picture-perfect cut flowers, harvest your roses, cornflowers, hydrangeas, carnations, delphiniums, lilies, gladiolus, sweet peas, cosmos, gypsophila, agapanthus, sunflowers, and geraniums.
Top bulb tip: Buy flower bulbs for the new season but don’t plant them just yet. Wait for the weather to cool down and prepare the soil with well-aged organic matter before planting.
Everything edible
- In January, sow from seed or plant from seedling treys: dwarf beans, beetroot, broccoli, cabbages, carrots, cauliflowers, celery, lettuces, leeks, radishes, rocket, spinach, Swiss chard, Brussels sprouts, celery, eggplants, peas, potatoes, and pumpkins.
- You can harvest beans, beetroot, capsicums, chillies, courgettes, cucumbers, eggplants, garlic, lettuces, onions, and tomatoes this month.
- In February, you can sow beetroot, broccoli, cabbages, carrots, cauliflowers, celery, kale, leeks, lettuce, radishes, rocket, spinach, Swiss chard, coriander, parsley, Brussel sprouts, peas, rosemary, sage, and thyme.
- You should be able to pick passion fruit, strawberries, raspberries, apricots, peaches, plums, and apples during your last month of summer.
Top fruit tip: Once nectarines, peaches and plums have finished fruiting, prune the plants to shape, and remove any dead or disease-infected branches.
Quick Maintenance
- Mulch all beds and containers well to improve water retention and keep the soil moist.
- Aerate lawns after heavy rains using a garden fork and continue to apply fertiliser for lush green growth.
- Keep indoor plants looking their best by removing old or yellow foliage and stems. Dust the leaves regularly and consider using wick watering (link) for indoor containers.
- Pinch out the growing tips of poinsettias for a bushier flush of blooms in winter.
- Towards the end of summer, feed all your containers and beds with an all-purpose fertiliser to give plants a boost before winter sets in.
Top indoor tip: Changing light conditions, dry heat and blowing air conditioners can make summer a tough time for houseplants. Keep them happy by feeding them with plant food every eight weeks.
Pest alert
- Warm and moist temperatures encourage insects to multiply, breeding pests such as aphids. Aphids are small sap-sucking insects that can be controlled by applying the relevant pesticide spray available at your CGA Garden Centre. Be sure to ask for product advice when there.
- Is there fluffy white powder on the leaves of your cucumbers, courgettes, and marrows? This is powdery mildew – a fungus that causes plants to eventually die.
- To control snails and slugs, especially on damp evenings, place in snail and slug traps/bait stations around beds and containers.
- If your roses, impatiens or hydrangeas have bronzed or yellowish leaves, many of which are dropping off, you might have red spider mites.
Top lawn tip: Are caterpillar infestations wreaking havoc on your lawn? Their feeding will not stop until winter, and by then the damage will be done. Apply a fertiliser and insecticide combo product, available at your GCA Garden Centre.
Autumn (March, April, May)
Pretty plants
- In March and April, get your hanging baskets bulging with beauty by planting gerbera, lobelia, ornamental kale, primula, violas, snapdragons, wildflowers, and Sweet William.
- Get your autumn table décor from the garden by picking scabious, poppies, statice, roses, dahlias, lilies, sweet peas, gypsophila, cosmos, zinnia, agapanthus, and hydrangeas.
- Plant the rest of your spring-flowering bulbs in April to give them plenty of time to settle in.
- As autumn reaches its end, sow lovely bellis, pansies, poppies, wildflowers, gazania, dianthus, and lupins.
Top tidy tip: Prune and tidy daylilies, daisies, lavender, phlox, and other perennials that have finished flowering to keep the garden looking well-maintained. Don’t forget to collect all trimmings and fallen leaves to use as mulch or add to the compost heap.
Everything edible
- March is the time to sow or plant beetroot, broccoli, cabbages, carrots, cauliflowers, celery, lettuce, parsley, radishes, rocket, spinach, and coriander.
- Add kale, Swiss chard, spring onions, parsley, rosemary, sage, and thyme to the veggie garden from April.
- May is harvesting time for beans, beetroot, broccoli, cabbages, carrots, cauliflowers, celery, courgettes, lettuces, marrows, parsnips, peas, pumpkins, and tomatoes.
- Speaking of ripe edibles, remember that grape bunches will begin to ripen at the end of autumn. Prune back excessive leaves to allow more sunlight into the crop and seal with a suitable product to prevent regrowth in the cleared areas.
Top pumpkin tip: Harvest pumpkins from March and leave them in an open sunny position to dry before storing.
Quick maintenance
- Start making your own compost using gorgeous fallen autumn leaves. Mix leaves, plus kitchen scraps with a compost activator product. Keep your heap moist and let the beneficial composting microorganisms get to work.
- Prune hedge plants such as Buxus, coast rosemary (westringia) and murrayas to maintain the shape you desire.
- Feed fruiting vegetables like beans, tomatoes and cauliflowers with a high-potassium fertiliser.
- From the end of May, begin moving all your frost-tender container plants to shelter and ensure you have secured frost cover to all the necessary plants and trees.
Top grass tip: Transplant runners (sideways-growing pieces with some roots) from Cynodon, Kikuyu or LM Berea grass lawns to fill bare patches in the ground.
Pest alert
- Shorter days and fewer sunshine hours on your lawn can leave it with a bit of fungus, such as brown patch. Treat infected areas with recommended products from GCA Garden Centres.
- Indoor plants can be affected by red spider mites – tiny sap-feeding pests that create spidery webbing when in colonies that cause leaves to yellow and mottle. Control them by spraying plants each week.
- Are you seeing raised bumps along stems and leaves? This may be a sign of scale so act fast, ensuring all sides of the stems and leaves are covered with the necessary spray.
- Aphids are commonly attracted to tender new leaves and stems of cool-season veggies. They can multiply rapidly and damage plants.
Top seedling tip: Remember that tender new seedlings are irresistible to cutworms. Luckily, these pests are rather easy to get rid of with the cutworm-specific treatments available.
Winter (June, July, August)
Pretty plants
- Flowerscape a winter wonderland by sowing poppies, sweet peas, wildflowers, calendula, violas, and pansies. In warmer areas, petunias and impatiens can be sown too.
- When it’s chilly out, bring the flower power indoors by picking proteas, azaleas, daffodils, tulips, camellias, viburnum, winter roses, dianthus, and ornamental kale.
- Speaking of indoors, remember to feed orchids during their busy flowering season. It's as easy as pushing a spike into the potting soil, midway between the pot edge and the stem, to make way for some fertiliser every eight weeks.
- From August, you can indulge by sowing lupins, aquilegia, hollyhocks, larkspur, sweet peas, marigolds, calendula, and petunias.
Top regrowth tip: Feed camellias and azaleas after flowering to encourage new growth. If you’ve pruned plants, remember to seal pruning wounds with the correct sterilising plant product.
Everything edible
- Winter veggies and herbs to sow include beans, beetroot, broccoli, cabbages, cauliflowers, celery, garlic, kale, rocket, spinach, onions, peas, and coriander.
- It’s berry galore from August – hooray! Plant raspberries, currants, gooseberries, blueberries, boysenberries, strawberries, and blackberries.
- Fruit tree treats to harvest this season include apples, pears, lemons, limes, mandarins, oranges, kumquats, grapefruit, and avocados.
- It’s important to collect and compost any rotting fruit from under fruit trees. Check harvested fruit to make sure nothing is rotting. Remove fruit as soon as it starts to decay as rot can spread throughout a whole harvest within a week or two.
Top strawberry tip: Strawberries can be planted this season but take note: research shows that planting strawberries in winter rainfall areas will produce a higher yield in summer. The delicate flowers can’t handle frosty conditions, so in frost-prone areas, it is best to protect plants from the elements or wait until a little later to plant.
Quick maintenance
- Winter is probably the easiest time of year to kill a houseplant. Gruelling growing conditions like lower light levels, dry air, shorter days, and chilly temperatures put houseplants through the paces. Help them out with a feeding every two weeks.
- Fertilising your lawn over winter keeps it strong and green. In warmer parts of South Africa, lawn grass does not go into full 'hibernation' and will continue to grow but at a slower rate.
- Prune hydrangeas and take cuttings to grow new plants. Only cut back those stems that flowered last season and feed afterwards.
- Plant or transplant deciduous trees now while they’re at their most dormant. A huge selection awaits you at your GCA Garden Centre.
Top bulb tip: Cut or pluck dead flowers from bulbs but allow their leaves to die down naturally. Feed plants every week until the leaves yellow.
Pest alert
- Wax scale is making its rounds this season. These sap-sucking insects form a protective shell over their bodies. If left untreated, they can eventually kill your plants. To treat, spray with a recommended insecticide from your GCA Garden Centre. Depending on how bad the infestation is, you may need to reapply a few times to get the pests under control.
- Aphids are a common pest on beans, tomatoes, and peas. They feast on sugary plant sap and cause leaves to curl and distort. To control aphids, spray plants every ten days.
- Watch out for powdery mildew on pumpkins, cucumbers, and squashes. Initial symptoms are small powdery white spots on leaves, which can multiply and lead to leaves yellowing and dying.
- Winter is the ideal time to break the life cycle of a range of common pests and diseases lying in wait on deciduous plant stems, ready to infect new spring foliage and flower buds. Spray leafless stone fruit and apple trees, grapevines, roses, and other deciduous shrubs like hydrangeas.
Top rodent tip: Your roof void offers a fantastic retreat for rodents like rats and mice to spend their winter. It gives them shelter and warmth, and places them fairly close to a food source – your kitchen. Take control by placing tamper-proof bait stations.
Spring (September, October, November)
Pretty plants
- We are spoiled for choice in spring with salvia, zinnia, alyssum, aster, chrysanthemums, Californian poppies, carnation, cosmos, dahlias, dianthus, gazanias, gypsophila, impatiens, marigolds, petunias, nasturtiums, phlox, salvia, snapdragons, statice, sunflowers, and verbena. You can sow all these from now in well-prepared, nutritious soil.
- Roses have emerged from their winter hibernation with a fabulous flurry of new growth and beautiful blooms. Keep your roses looking gorgeous by feeding them regularly and don’t forget to visit your favourite GCA Garden Centre for new varieties to add to your collection.
- Keep vases stocked with cut flowers of iris, delphiniums, larkspur, stock, snapdragons, lavender, chrysanthemums, sweet peas, roses, and poppies.
- Plant hanging baskets with summer colour in mild areas, and blend in herbs or strawberries for some edible options.
Top free plant tip: Split, divide, and repot congested clumps of cymbidium orchids. Transplant these stunners in other areas of the garden or in containers to gift to loved ones.
Everything edible
- All these yummies are ready for sowing this season: beans, broccoli, capsicums, carrots, courgettes, cucumbers, eggplants, sweetcorn, tomatoes, basil, broccoli, cabbages, carrots, cauliflowers, celery, eggplants, lettuces, radishes, rocket, spinach, sweetcorn, tomatoes and Swiss chard.
- Enjoy an early spring harvest of broccoli, cabbages, cauliflowers, celery, kale, leeks, early-season lettuces, parsnips, rocket, Swiss chard, spinach, and spring onions.
- All the best berries can still be planted in September (strawberries, raspberries, currants, gooseberries, blueberries, boysenberries, and blackberries).
- From October, plant fruit trees such as lemons, limes, mandarins, oranges, and grapefruit.
Top fruit tree tip: Feed figs, bananas and pawpaws for a powerhouse harvest. Most fruit trees love a seaweed-based plant tonic that promotes strong root growth and increases fruiting and flowering capacity.
Quick maintenance
- With so many plants bursting to life, spring is the perfect time to nourish and improve your soil. Look for vitamin-boosting products to improve and condition your soil as well as feed your plants.
- Prune spring-flowering shrubs as soon as their flowering has finished. Also prune back camellias, magnolias, and azaleas as soon as they finish flowering to encourage new growth for next season’s flowers.
- Prune apples, pears, apricots, and citrus, opening the framework of the plant to allow more light into the centre. Wait for summer to prune peaches, plums and almonds.
- If your grass looks like it’s in need of a refresh, spring is the best time to get to work on it. Maintenance may involve dethatching, aerating, and feeding.
Top weed tip: Keep on top of weeds, catching them while they are young is much easier than once they have established. Keep products on hand and treat as needed.
Pest alert
- Be careful this season of aphids feasting on new shoots and flower buds. They just love everything in the flower garden. You’ll be able to spot them quickly if you take a closer look at buds – they are small, usually green, and like to group feast.
- Powdery mildew flourishes in spring. Apply the recommended solution to control powdery mildew on flowers and ornamentals.
- Scale and mealybugs enjoy citrus fruits, and if allowed, will slowly suck the vigour from your trees. If you find these pests, ask your GCA Garden Centre assistant for the best product to use.
- Fruits can be ‘stung’ while they are still small, before they even change colour. Eggs hatch and larvae tunnel into and ruin the fruit. Prevent possible heartbreak by researching when to spray your particular tree and of course, ask your nursery assistant for product advice.
