Keep your gutters clean and help protect your place from bushfires. Compost any leaves from your gutters or add them to your worm farm.

Keep your lawn green and tidy.  A click on lawn fertiliser can be a simple tonic for you grass, and don’t be tempted to mow it too short as it is more resilient to weeds if it’s cut slightly higher.

Water your potted plants well over summer, but watch that saucers don’t fill with stagnant pools as these will be breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

Trim and tidy up flowering perennials by removing spent blooms. Lightly cut back your NSW Christmas bush once it has finished flowering.

Mulch any bare patches on your soil so that weeds to establish themselves.

Take your potted Christmas tree outside into a half sun position, and gradually acclimatise it to full sun.

If you’re going away, get your garden ready for your absence by moving pots to a sheltered position and putting your indoor plants into the bath tub with a wet towel underneath them.