To make sure your garden is looking dazzling for the festive season, clean paving with a waterblaster or hard broom and refresh your outdoor timber furniture.

Trim fast growing shrubs, climbers and perennials to tidy them up and remove dead leaves and branches. Just this one task will make a terrific difference to your garden.

Take a few photographs when the garden is looking great. Remember that this time last year we were faced with brown lawns and paddocks so the green around us this year is worth recording!

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Cutting you lawn too low in summer is also known as "scalping" it and exposes the crowns and runners of the grass, which can damage them, stunt growth and leave your lawn looking brown and patchy.

The best thing for a healthy lawn during the summer months is to raise the height of the cutting deck on your mower. Letting the grass grow longer means greater leaf area for photosynthesis and thicker grass helps to outcompete weeds as well as shading the ground, reducing moisture loss from the soil.

Apply a liquid lawn fertiliser product to turf areas to green them up for Christmas - best applied after rain.

Dig broadleaf weeds out by hand or spray with an appropriate weedicide, if necessary. It is a good idea to keep a separate watering can for use when applying weedicides to avoid costly errors!

As your favourite flower or vegie seeds ripen, put some into tiny-zip-lock bags and slip them into Christmas cards for gardening friends.

Liquid fertilise house plants to get them looking their best.

With the warmer weather, make sure to keep the birdbath topped up.

By late November or into December the foliage of spring-flowering bulbs such as daffodils, jonquils and tulips will have died down. It is important NOT to remove the foliage until it has completely yellowed as nutrition has to be stored in the bulbs for next year's flowers.

Dense clumps of daffodils, etc should be lifted and divided every two or three years or flower quality and quantity will deteriorate. Replant them straight away or clean them off and store in a cool, airy place till planting time. Discard all bulbs showing signs of disease.