Aside from getting the garden looking spick and span for when all your relatives come visiting over the Christmas period, there are certain, more mundane, things that need to be taken care of during these lovely mid-summer days. 

November is action stations for the seed-sowing vegetable gardeners. So much has to be sown to keep us going through autumn and winter and is a good time to plant your favourite summer vegetables such as courgette, cucumber, peppers, pumpkin and squash all of which need long hours of full sunshine.

Welcome to Spring! September marks the beginning of Spring and holds the Spring Equinox in the Southern Hemisphere. This means, the daffodils start coming out, Spring blossom is abundant, the days are getting warmer and brighter, and they all contribute to the sweet, fresh spring scent in the air and all the possibilities that the warmer weather entails. Lets get gardening! 

June is all about new season's roses arriving in store. Most flower gardeners consider it unthinkable to create a garden without roses as they can easily lift your garden out of the ordinary. Simply by situating them so...

April is about planting spring bulbs and the sooner daffodils are planted, the better they will perform. There are always a few places where a few more bulbs can be planted such as scatter plantings of bluebells and crocuses under deciduous trees, little dwarf tulips and irises tucked into rock gardens or fritillaria and dogs tooth violet enjoying some shady spots.

Tomato planting time is here again - and who can resist the temptation to eat sweet cherry tomatoes picked straight from the plant and still sunshine warm?! At Nichols we have a all types of tomato plants: the ever faithful Money Maker, the giant fruit producers, the newer varieties, and perfect lunchbox size varities.

Summer is here and our sunny warm days are spent outdoors enjoying nature, family BBQs and, of course, tending to the garden. It's now time to be planting our winter greens and getting them all sown before months end to allow enough time for them to reach full maturity before the colder months halt growing.  

August can be an interesting month; if the weather warms up it is ideal gardening time, however, you can get stung by an about-face from Mother Nature sending us back to winter mode. All things going well though, August should be all about getting back into the garden, preparing for spring planting and having a general tidy up.

Here in the south, late July is rose pruning time! After the worst of the frosts and before the new growth begins is the best time to prune so all...

With the hustle and bustle of summer is over the great autumn clean-up should be in full swing as autumn breezes flurry fallen leaves into little damp heaps and bedraggled plants are in need of a good tidy up. Tidying up the garden is a great way to start composting too!

Autumn is the best time for planting out bulbs for a delightful Spring blooming show. While planting bulbs in April and May is great for successive blooming, getting stuck-in with your early bloomers in March means flowers are ready to show themselves right at the beginning of Spring - just when we all need a lift from the dreariness of winter.  

This is your last chance to plant cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli for winter to give them enough growing time to form hearts before our growing season comes to an end.