• Check out and see if thrips are starting, particularly on your rhododendrons. They build up more in shaded areas and also where there is little air movement. An insecticide spray now is well timed to kill off most of the little critters (look for dark and dirty threads on the underside of the leaves). If you don’t want to spray, at least open up around the plant so it is not crowded and if it is a variety that gets badly affected (you can tell by its silver foliage), consider replacing it with a healthier option better suited to your conditions.
• Keep copper sprays on tomatoes to prevent blight. Once your plants succumb to the dreaded blight, it can be too late to save them. If you are just starting to develop it (look for black spots on leaves which then wither and shrivel) then remove any affected foliage well away from the plant. Don’t put it in your compost unless you manage to make a hot mix which will kill the spores.
• Keep successional plantings going on brassicas (cauli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts and broc) as well as leeks, peas, corn and most other vegetables.
• Most seed sown vegetable crops will need thinning at an early stage and these thinnings can be eaten as micro veg.
• Make a New Year resolution to stay on top of the weeding and to avoid letting weeds get to the seeding stage. Weeds with seed heads are a real problem. Few people manage compost heaps that will generate sufficient heat to kill the seeds so all that happens is that you spread them far and wide when you use the compost later. And you can’t leave seeding weeds to shrivel in situ if you push hoe because all those seeds will take this as an invitation to grow then and there. Better by far to cut them off before their prime.
• Grapes need to be thinned – one bunch per runner, if you want good sized fruit. Stay on top of the laterals too, to prevent the foliage from shading and crowding the fruit too much.
• The only other piece of advice from the House of Jury this week comes not from either of us, but from a Christmas resident who advocated recommending that readers at least sit out in their gardens (between showers) to drink their Christmas booze and to eat their festive fare. You can then make plans for how to improve the outdoor scenery.

If you have left your run this late preparing the outdoors for impending visits by sometimes critical relatives, at least mow the lawns. If you can manage more, then remember that first impressions count so tidying the stretch from the letter box to the door is a start. Neat edges and swept paths have more immediate impact than a weed free garden. You have left it too late to spray weeds with glyphosate (Round Up) before Christmas (it takes from 10 days to three weeks to work) but boiling water will instantly kill pesky weeds in paved areas.

• If you are not a tidy or enthusiastic gardener, do not apologise to visitors. Practice throwing away airy comments such as, “We think matrix planting is the way to go, don’t you?” “We are trying a more natural way to manage our garden, organic almost.” “A weed is just a plant in the wrong place.” “We are working on a meadow garden.”
• Heed the rumblings about rubbish, burning and the environment. If you have never had a compost heap, it might be timely to suggest that a compost bin would make an acceptable last minute gift.
• There may not be a great deal of intensive gardening going on over the next week but if you want some quiet time, deadheading and weeding are never ending tasks.

Ornithological update at the Jury Garden: the kereru bebe is now flying and no longer needs its protective ring fencing. The morepork family of five are still in residence despite the best efforts of the tuis. Mongrel Mob vs Black Power has little on this territorial battle. The Californian Quail have hatched out fourteen babies of very tiny stature which Mama Quail is leading around the garden. We have our ginger cat under house arrest to protect the quail family though the trick is keeping her confined without her realising she is a prisoner. The quail have added greatly to the stress in Mark’s life as Mama is inclined to leave the slowest behind and he tries to reunite the family. We had the first fatality of the slowest, weakest and coldest fledgling despite his best efforts.

• In New Zealand, cabbage trees or cordylines get attacked by a native caterpillar. It is absent overseas which is why our cordylines can look so splendid over there. Running your hands up and squeezing the middle core of the leaves at this time can effect a reasonable kill rate on the offending caterpillar. The caterpillars hang out in between the leaves at the centre.
• With the Elton John rains having hit last weekend and intermittent showers since, you can lay mulch on the garden though we recommend getting the hose out for another soak before you do it. We may be in for a dry summer so get onto mulching immediately.
• The first crop of monarch caterpillars is steadily munching through the swan plants. There will be a second wave and it is these later ones which are likely to winter over in your garden. A bit of planning ahead can ensure that you have feed for the second coming. Start seed now and keep it protected from eggs while the plants get established.

• If you want decent sized leeks this winter, do not delay on getting seedlings planted. You will still get a crop from seed but they are likely to be smaller. It is also time to plant celery and brussel sprouts. Continue to sow corn, peas and salad vegetables all of which will mature before winter. Don’t delay on getting plants of capsicums, pumpkins, tomatoes and the like into the garden.

• Now that citrus has generally finished flowering, a spray of copper and summer oil is important to stop all sorts of nasties.

While we are hardly in the drought territory of Australia, the current dry season is certainly having an impact. Suspend planting ornamentals and trees until the rains return. Don’t lay mulch on dry gardens (the mulch will keep the gardens dry) but with the possibility of a dry summer continuing, be prepared with the mulch to lay after the next decent rain. Water container plants daily. If you spread fertiliser, water it in. At least the dry is keeping mildew problems at bay and the roses are loving the conditions with fewer fungal problems.

• Conditions are ideal for weeding generally and for push hoeing in particular. While you need to gather up weeds which have formed seed heads (even when pulled out, some will continue to ripen their seeds in the sun) you can just leave other weeds sitting on the surface and the sun will shrivel them to a cinder in a short space of time.
• Pruning is also a pleasant occupation in the dry weather and now is still the time to prune most plants except flowering cherries.
• Any planting in the dry vegetable garden involves thorough cultivation of the ground. Compacted soil dries out faster. By aerating the soil and tilling it, you increase its water holding capacity. As you prepare for planting, dig a trench, cultivate it well, fill the trench with water and compost and then cover it all lightly with soil. Leave the top dry so that it acts as a barrier to water loss. Done this way, you should not need to water again on a regular basis unless we get very dry in mid summer. Don’t delay on getting pumpkins in.
• Wisterias are making a bid for world domination. You can resort to hedge clippers for their summer prune if you wish because you don’t need to be too precise. If you are more particular, take off all their wild waving new growths and prune back to about four leaf buds from the main stems. Keep an eye open for borer holes. Oil (even cooking oil or CRC) or fly spray down the hole will work.
• Deal to convolvulus and wandering jew now. If you are not organic, Woody Weedkiller or Banvine is an effective option for the former and Shortcut, Amitrol or Grazon for the latter.

• We are getting very dry so make sure container plants get a dose of water daily. Few plants like a flood or drought regime (that is where you suddenly notice that the plants are wilting so you give them a really good soak and then ignore them until it happens again). Woody plants are likely to develop root problems. If the water pours out the bottom as fast as you pour it on top, you can be sure that it is flowing straight through and not being absorbed by the roots or the potting mix. In this case, water a little often, soak the whole container if you can or apply some surfactant or a little detergent to encourage penetration by the water. Scratch around the surface to see how far the water is penetrating.
• Wetting the surface of garden beds is not going to do anything except keep down the dust. Gardens need a good slow soak but if your style of gardening depends on watering, maybe now is the time to review what you are growing and how you are managing it. It is not good gardening practice to have to water all the time and not at all PC in an era when water is becoming a scarce resource. At the very least, make plans to pile on a mulch after the next good rains when the soil is damp.
• Keep turning your compost heap and make sure it does not dry out. It is probably acceptable to water compost and you do not want it developing fire fang.
• Do not cut lawns too short (scalping them) as it causes them to dry out faster and to burn.
• Keep sowing dwarf beans at two week intervals, assuming you like fresh beans.
• With the rise in temperature, summer weeds such as portulaca are starting to germinate. Push hoe often to try and get rid of these weeds before they get established.
• If you have not sprayed the onehunga weed in lawns, you are leaving it late so get on to it straight away. This is the nasty, prickly summer weed which can make it impossible to walk barefooted on lawns and is the bane of all children.
• Keep copper sprays on potatoes and tomatoes and keep up with pinching out laterals on tomatoes (the leafy side shoots) to encourage good cropping.
• Spring flowering perennials can be cut back and divided but you will need to keep them watered until they perk up again.