AS THE weather cools slightly and the evening temperatures drop, you will start to see autumnal colours develop in deciduous trees.
So it's a great time to have a look at these in other people's gardens and public places and see what might fit into your garden.
Autumn foliage adds an extra dimension to the garden and as the leaves fall they allow sun to reach through underneath to plants such as cyclamen, hellebores, cliveas and other shade-loving plants, which cannot withstand the hot summer sun but thrive in the less-intense light and heat.
Even the smallest of gardens can have a deciduous tree.
Weeping maples and weeping birches can be grown in large tubs or half wine barrels in units or townhouses, where space may be limited. Other smaller trees with changing autumn foliage include the Japanese maples, crabapples, crepe myrtles, ornamental flowering peaches, plums, apricots and almonds, and lilacs.
If you have the acreage, then go for spectacular large feature trees, such as the claret and golden ash, golden elms, Canadian or sugar maples and ornamental pears, to name a few.
The colder the climate the better the autumn foliage colour.
Make the switch
AS SUMMER vegie crops start to finish and you pull them out, you can rejuvenate the plot in readiness for new plantings of vegetables.
Remove all the leaf litter and dig in plenty of well-rotted animal manure or compost.
Crop rotation is important so that we don't put back the same crop in the same area every year, as this can cause pest and disease problems and also nutritional disorders if the soil is not prepared well.
Add a wetting agent if the bed needs it and straw mulch on top to keep the water in and keep the soil cooler. Leave for a few weeks and then plant seedlings of winter crops such as the brassicas, including cabbage, cauliflower, kale, brussels sprouts and broccoli.
If you decide to give the bed a rest for a while then sow a green manure crop such as chick peas, dun peas, lupins or lucerne to the flowering stage and then dig back into the ground to enrich the soil ready for a leafy vegetable crop that loves the extra nitrogen.
