The sap is rising and some buds are beginning to swell and colour up. Regularly check deciduous fruit trees and vines to see if they're at bud swell.

If it has started, schedule some time for preventative spraying.

Lime sulphur will deal with powdery mildew on grapes.

For fruit trees that have suffered from leaf curl in the previous season, mix up a bit of lime sulphur - or copper hydroxide in more severe cases.

Before you spray, shake the tree to dislodge any old leaves to ensure good contact with stems and buds. Thoroughly wet the leaves just as the buds begin to swell - once the buds begin to open it is too late.

Stimulate new growth on old or poorly cropping peach and nectarine trees by pruning. Prune dead or crossing branches and branches of weak trees back to 60 cm from the trunk. Add a couple of handfuls of blood and bone and a handful of dolomite per square metre, mulch with compost and water in well.

Spread organic fertiliser such as aged sheep manure around fruit trees. Cover with wet newspaper topped with mulch to conserve moisture and stop weed growth.

Make sure the mulch is not too close to the trunk or it may cause rotting.

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Keep picking your Brussels sprouts - the sprouts lowest on the stems usually mature first. Pick them when they reach 2-4cm in diameter by breaking off the leaf below and then the sprout itself. They become bitter if grown too large.

Harvest the young tender leaves of kale by picking them from the centre of the plant. Frequent picking will promote new leaves. Use as a vegie, in salads or steam and freeze excess leaves for later use.

It's the time of year when we often get strong winds which can damage the taller growing vegies you have been carefully nurturing over winter, particularly Brassicas which can get top heavy after a few months of being harvested. Taller individual plants such as kale can be tied to individual stakes.

Where you have groups of plants, run some twine at different height intervals around a the outside and across the middle of a framework of 4-6 stakes to help vegies such as broad beans or Brussels sprouts stay upright.