With August about to kick off, we are just about through our winter months, which means now is the time to start preparing your garden for Spring.

There are still plenty of tasks that you can do during August to make sure you have a fabulous garden to look at and immerse yourself in come Spring.

Pruning
Now is the time to finish off pruning your dormant plants, especially those rose bushes. From late July to August they will start to grow vigorously again ready to absolutely take off once the weather starts to warm up. Remember, try to always prune at a 45 degree angle because this helps the plant heal better and therefore limits the chances of pests or diseases taking hold of your freshly pruned plant.

Fertilise
Use this time to apply a good fertiliser, preferably a slow release one, to all of your plants and also make sure you apply a good lawn fertiliser over all your grassed areas. You want your entire garden to be able to take advantage of any late August rains and then the warmer weather which comes around Mid September.

Mulch
The other key task is to ensure that all your garden beds have a healthy layer of mulch. Though this winter has been quite dry in most parts of Australia, you still want to lock in as much of the moisture that has fallen as possible. Once again, the weather does generally warm up in September which means more moisture will evaporate. This is limited by a good 10cm thick layer of mulch.

Vegetables
As your winter vegetables will be starting to come to an end, now is a great time for you to start considering what vegetables you would like to grow in Spring. Some good options are carrots, lettuce, leeks, onions, spring onions, peas, asian vegetables and beans. You may also like to grow some of your own strawberries.

A Pop of Colour
To add some instant colour to your garden, consider planting annuals such as Petunias, Marigolds and Periwinkles. Most nurseries will be stocking themselves to the hilt with a wide range of annuals for this Spring season so why not head on down to your local nursery and check out what stock they have in store for you to consider this Spring?