Taking a book and finding a shady tree can be a relaxing and rewarding way to use your garden.

If you have fruit trees that are bearing now, it is very possible you have had visits from members of the local flying fox population.

If your trees are not too large, netting them will save at least some of the fruit.

Using fine-textured fruit fly netting that is white-coloured so the animals can see it will reduce the possibility of them getting caught in the net.

Likewise for parrots, rosellas, lorikeets, cockatoos and even crows.

Sometimes we have to make a choice between having the colours of these fabulous birds in our gardens or the colours of the fruits.

January is the time to cut back perennials such as shasta daisies, achillea, perennial aster, salvias and penstemon to encourage a second flush of flowers and extend the flowering period into the autumn.

Continue deadheading roses and other repeat flowering shrubs and keep mulching areas of bare soil to help retain moisture and reduce evaporation.

Keep harvesting crops like beans, peas, cucumbers, marrows and zucchini while the vegies are still young. They have a much better flavour and regular picking encourages the plants to produce more flowers and fruits to continue the crop into autumn. 

Dig underneath early-sown potatoes to see if they are ready to harvest before deciding to pull the plants up. “Bandicooting” is where you can take new potatoes from the roots of the plant without harvesting the whole crop and leave the smaller potatoes to continue growing.

You can still sow carrots, parsnips, dwarf beans, silver beet, summer lettuce varieties and radishes.

The first meeting for 2018 for the Armidale Garden Club will be February 22.