Larry Smith and the Riverside Gardens team talk all things pots, plants and pruning in their weekly gardening column.
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Driving around town it is easy to see that spring is well and truly on its way.
The wattles are coming into flower, deciduous magnolias are starting their impressive floral displays, the town is surrounded by fields of golden canola, and even some of the surrounding orchid trees are in blossom.
Spring is certainly arriving in the Goulburn Valley even though some of the odd grey dreary days make you feel like we are in the midst of winter.
It is remarkable what a little sunshine and a few extra minutes of daylight a day can do.
Over the past week, gardeners have emerged from their winter hibernation, keen to get into the garden.
It has been wonderful to see so many people visiting the garden centre, even just to stroll through and enjoy being among it all.
It has also been just as pleasing to see the new season stock start to make its way onto the nursery benches.
Leucadendron, proteas, grevilleas, leucospermum, magnolias, azaleas are all looking great in the nursery and hopefully in the next week we will see the first of the spring seedlings on the shelf as well.
The arrival of spring also means that the end of the bare rooted season is rapidly approaching.
We will be starting to pot our remaining bare rooted roses next week, followed closely by the ornamental trees and fruit trees.
So it is your last chance to take advantage of these cheaper plants, because once they break dormancy, we have no choice but to pot them up.
As the spring months approach, there is plenty that you can be doing to make the most of the growing season even though the ground is still cold.
Now is the time to be finishing most of your winter pruning.
This will help direct fresh new growth to where it will be most productive.
Japanese maples though can be left until just before they come into leaf, while blossom trees — including flowering plums, cherries, crab apples and magnolias — are best pruned after their floral display has finished.
Any frost damage is still better left unpruned for a week or two, depending on the weather, so that the frosts have well and truly past by the time the new growth emerges.
Applying fertiliser now ensures nutrients are present in the soil when plants begin their spring growth.
However, those benefits depend on the soil’s pH.
Soil pH affects which nutrients will dissolve and become available for the plant roots to absorb.
Because different elements become available at different pH levels, the right balance is essential.
Most garden plants prefer a pH of about 6.5, making that a useful target for the home garden.
A reading that is too high or too low can lock up certain nutrients or make others available at harmful levels, resulting in stunted, scorched or poor growth.
If you are unsure, bring a small sample into the Garden Centre and we can test it for you.
Alternatively, you can buy an easy-to-use soil test kit to do your own tests at home.
These tests kits are much more accurate than most pH meters you can buy.
The plants in your garden will perform best when given regular applications of an appropriate fertiliser.
Blood and bone or an organic product such as Neutrog Rapid Raiser or even cow or chook manure are highly recommended as these supply essential nutrients, while encouraging beneficial microbial activity and help to keep the soil open and friable.
The common objection is the smell,, but when the product is applied correctly, it soon fades but the benefits will continue for months.
Both element-formulated inorganic fertilisers and organic fertilisers, provide the foundation needed for healthy plant growth and should be used as a base feed.
Liquid fertilisers like Maxicrop, and Seasol, are beneficial to plants during the growing season, but are best used as supplements rather than substitutes for a good base fertiliser.
You can also start preparing the vegetable garden for the coming spring/summer planting crops.
The soil can be dug over incorporating a good quality compost, aged cow or poultry manure and a good dressing of organic fertiliser.
These plants over the coming months are going to grow rapidly to crop, flower, set fruit and hold it through to maturity over a short period of time and are going to need all their nutrients readily available.
By getting out and enjoying doing a few simple things in the garden now to get ready for the coming spring months you will be surprised at just how much difference it will make to the way things grow and respond to the spring weather.
This is important for younger gardens that have been trying to establish over the last few years.
A few consecutive good spring growing seasons will make a world of difference to the speed of development.
Giving you robust strong plants that will start to create their own microclimate for even better growing conditions into the future.
Your garden, your house and possibly, your neighbours will thank you for it.