Frost cloth is easy to use when the night temperatures fall. Have lengths ready cut to cover sensitive plants. Expect frost if the overnight temperature will be below 4 degrees and there is no wind. 

Here's some top tips to help you protect your tender plants. Mild autumn weather encourages lots of fresh growth which can be damaged by frost. Protection is cheap and effective but needs to be planned for:

1. Completely drape the plant from the top all the way to the ground.
2. Apply the cloth just before sunset to make sure the heat produced in the ground during the day is captured.
3. Don’t leave any openings in the cloth for the warm air to escape or cold air to enter at night.
4. It is crucial that the frost cloth touches the ground, to the drip line of the plant.
5. Placing a heavy object like bricks or securing the fabric into the ground with weed mat staples will ensure that the cloth forms a seal with the ground and works well. The bricks or staples will also secure the cloth reducing the chances of it damaging the plant and blowing away should a wind arise.

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Edible Garden

To take the guesswork out of sowing old seed, do a simple viability test. It will tell you if the seed is worth sowing at all, and how much to sow. 

1.    Lay a damp kitchen towel on a plate, then sprinkle over a sample of your old seed .

2.    Cover the plate with cling film and keep it in a warm place indoors. Keep the towel stays moist and check regularly for signs of germination.

3.    After two weeks most viable seed should have sprouted.Count how many have germinated – if it’s about half, then you’ve got 50 percent viability. The lower the percentage, the more seed you’ll need to sow toget a decent crop. 

Prepare the vege garden for spring crops. Dig in green crops, adding lime which will aid breakdown and give the lime time to react with the soil before adding other fertilisers in spring. Use gypsum if the soil is heavy clay. Add organic matter by way of leaf mould or ican Premium Compost. 

Feedinter brassica crops (cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and Brussels sprouts) which are heavy feeders, with ican Fast Food. 

Protect winter brassica crops from caterpillars, aphids and fungal disease with Success Ultra + Enspray 99 +Free Flo Copper. 

Protect vege seedlings from slugs and snails with Quash or Blitzem. 

Sow seeds in seed trays in a warm light location- seeds sown now will develop into seedlings ready to plant into the ground mid spring. - beetroot, lettuce, Chinese cabbage, silver beet. 

Broad beans are an easy care cold weather crop.Sow seed directly into prepared soil. Provide some support with stakes and twine as they do get quite tall.  

Plant seedlings of silver beet, spinach, spring onions, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and lettuce.  

Replenish the herb garden with fresh seedlings – parsley, thyme, chives, sage, mint oregano – to name a few. Prepare the soil with ican Premium Compost and ican Real Blood & Bone. 

Potatoes will always be one of the best value vege crops. From a 1kg bag of seed, expect to harvest up to 20kg of delicious potatoes. Early seed potatoes can be sprouted in trays (chitting) in a light (not direct sun) cool place, allowing the sprouts to form. Remove all but 3 or 4 of the strongest sprouts when planting. Egg cartons make great chitting trays.  

Plant asparagus into free draining garden beds prepared with compost and ican Real Blood & Bone; feed with ican Fast Food.  

Plant new rhubarb plants and lift and divide any established rhubarb clumps. Rhubarb plants are heavy feeders so dig in plenty of ican Premium Compost at planting time and follow up with ican General Garden Food at regular intervals through the year. 

Plant new citrus trees and small fruits including raspberries and blueberries, into free- draining soil enriched with ican Premium Compost, using ican Slow Food as a base fertiliser. 

Protect citrus trees from aphids, scale and sooty mould with a combination spray of Bioneem and Enspray 99 which will smother the pests and their eggs.  

Plant strawberries into free-draining soil enriched with ican Premium Compost and ican Real Blood & Bone.Getting them in early will yield more fruit and they will fruit earlier. When they start to grow, feed with ican Fruit Food. Five plants per person will supply the family at each harvest. 

Feed newly planted and established fruit trees, small fruits and ornamental trees and shrubs with ican Fruit Food. Add a layer of mulch around the drip line and up to but not against the trunk of the tree. 

At the first signs of green tips and flower buds on stone fruit trees (peaches, plums, nectarines, cherries and apricots) spray for leaf curl, and bladder plum disease. Use FreeFlo Copper every two to three weeks until the blossoms have faded and the leaves have unfurled, for best control. 

Protect against brown rot that destroys peaches, nectarines and sometimes apricots and plums, just as they ripen—the only fix for this is preventative spraying early spring. Use Fungus Fighter or the new biological organic spray Botry-Zen, spraying once in full bloom, and once at shuck fall (when the remains of the flower drop off the developing young fruit–usually 1-2 weeks following petal fall).

Ornamental Garden

Sow seed of your favourite spring and summer flowers in seed trays with Black Magic Seed Raising Mix. Cold sensitive plants such as marigolds, impatiens and petunias can be sown now in a warm sheltered environment. 

Plant seedlings of your favourite early spring flowers such as pansies, violas, cineraria, poppy and cornflower. Liquid feed with ican Fast Food for quick results and plenty of blooms. 

Plant lilies, gladioli, dahlia and begonia bulbs. Prepare the planting site with ican Premium Compost and ican Real Blood & Bone or ican Bulb food. Gladioli will flower approximately 90 to 100 days after planting.  

Lift and split summer flowering perennials and hostas. Replant into freshly dug soil enriched with ican Premium Compost, sheep pellets and a handful of ican Slow Food.  

Plant new roses with ican Premium Planting Mix, sheep pellets and ican Slow Food. Watering with Root Gro after planting will stimulate the plant’s root development and help it to establish quickly. 

Plant daphne for fragrance, azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons for spring colour. When planting, use ican Premium Compost or ican Premium Planting Mix and ican Slow Food for the best start.  

This is the last month to prune your roses. Remove all diseased wood, excessive growth and any shoots thinner than a pencil. On old bushes, prune away very old stems and scrub the crown with a wire brush. This removes any flaky bark where insect eggs and fungal spores can hide, and will stimulate fresh new shoots. On the same day as pruning, spray the bush, crown and surrounding soil with a mixture of Free Flo Copper + Enspray 99 mineral oil for control of fungal disease and insects. 

Moss can be a problem in poorly drained or shady areas of lawn. Improve lawn drainage by spiking the area thoroughly with a fork, and apply sulphate of iron (10g per square metre) to kill moss.