Story: Preparing Your Summer Crops
Episode: 9
Presenter: Sue McDougall
Air Date: 17th October 2020

Summer is on its way and it’s nearly time to begin planting your summer crops. Sue has a few tips and tricks that will help you get off to the best possible start.

• Some summer vegetables are quick to grow, while others take a few months to mature. You want to plant a mixture of both.
• Lettuce, silverbeet and rocket seedlings are the instant gratification varieties. If you plant these, you’ll be able to start harvesting within a few weeks.
• Growing these plants fast and strong is the key. This depends on three things: warm soil temperatures, water and good soil.
• Longer maturing varieties include tomatoes, beans and corn. All of these take a few months to produce crops.
• It’s essential to feed the soil when planting new crops, as any old crops will have depleted its nutrients.
• The team at Scotts have been working on a range of 100% natural, organic-based granular fertilisers that make getting ready to plant easy.
• Scotts Performance Naturals Fertiliser contains a blend of blood and bone, chicken manure, feather meal, seaweed, biostimulants and a unique, fast-acting, natural source of nitrogen that promotes rapid growth.
• Tomatoes will respond well to this fertiliser. Burying their stem and trimming off the side leaves will ensure they grow even better.
• Use the tomato formulation when growing tomatoes. Other formulations in the range include All Purpose, Vegetable and Herb and Citrus and Fruit.

For more information, head to
www.lovethegarden.com