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Lawns:
Lawns can help cool the house, offer habitat for smaller birds, and also be a fantastic place to lie around in summer.

Millie’s lawn is by no means perfect but it works for her; she gives it some extra care to set it up for summer use.

– Soil under turf is often compacted through high foot traffic, so Millie goes over the lawn with a garden fork, gently lifting and aerating the soil.

– Excess thatch from mowing is raked up.

– Flat weeds are dug out to stop them spreading and smothering the grass.

– Summer is a good time to feed grass because it’s actively growing; Millie uses an organic fertiliser that feeds the microbes in the soil, as this keeps plants healthy.

– She also uses a mix of fine sand and compost to fill some uneven patches, while the whole lawn gets a thin top dressing of the same mix.

– Water the fertiliser and compost mix in well.

Propagating:
Cuttings from many evergreen shrubs will take very quickly in the warm weather, and seed is constantly being sown to provide new crops for the productive patch.

Today she’s planting out cucumbers.

– Cucurbits do best when planted in warmer weather, so in cool areas hold off planting cucumber, melons, pumpkin and zucchini seedlings until the soil temperature is above 16C.

– Prepare the bed by adding a layer of compost and forking it in.

– If using a climbing variety, provide a growing frame.

– Most modern varieties of cucumbers are bred to be gynoecious – that is they produce mostly female flowers. But these still need a male flower to pollinate and produce fruit, so plant a range of types to make sure there are some male flowers in the mix.

– Got room for a companion crop? Millie plants bush beans alongside hers. The seeds were soaked overnight in water to speed up germination; simply push two seeds in each hole about two knuckles deep, and thin to the strongest plant as they emerge.

– Mulch and water in the newly planted bed.

– As the plants grow it’s a good idea to avoid watering cucurbit leaves, as this can make them susceptible to fungal disease.

Flowering plants:
Millie has a rule that for every 10 vegies that go into the ground, there should be at least one flowering plant, whether it’s native, exotic, edible or ornamental.

There are already some cornflower seedlings planted and started to flower, but Millie adds “the big guns” – some dahlias. These were lifted last autumn, stored in the shed, potted up in early spring and are now itching to get back in the ground.

Featured plants:
Cucumber ‘Calypso (Cucumis sativus cv.)
Bush Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris cv.)
Dahlia (Dahlia cv.)

Filmed on Taungurung Country in Central Victoria
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