Living mulches very beneficial

slightly different approach in my vacant vege beds. I’m thickly sowing (one packet of seed per 2m x 2m bed) things I can eat – in soups, side dishes or vegetarian meals – as well as dig back in.

I’m sowing living mulches of mesclun, perennial arugula or wild rocket (it’s frost-hardy, unlike annual large-leafed rocket), broad beans (you can steam or stir-fry their tops), kale and native spinach. New Zealand spinach is an underrated groundcover – it’s fleshy and fast to sprawl over bare soil. Plus, once lightly steamed, it turns vibrant green, so it must be good for us! you can protect them with frost cloth, or use the organic waxbased Liquid Frost Cloth (also sold as Vaporgard). Spray this over the foliage every 6-8 weeks. It’s worth getting on with this task now if you live in an area where early frosts can strike without warning.

The easiest citrus tree for Kiwi garden is the hybrid ‘Meyer’ lemon. It’s relatively hardy (compared to true lemons) and very prolific. My trees have fruit for 11

months of the year. Tahitian limes can be slow and shy to fruit but given how expensive limes are to buy, they’re still worth it. The fruit starts to ripen next month.

If you’d rather drink your vitamin C, plant tangelos, Navel oranges (for winter fruit) or ‘Harwood Late’ or ‘Valencia’ for spring and summer.

You could also start your own patch of native scurvy grass, actually a type of brassica. This is the little scrubby plant that Captain Cook ordered his men to chow down on when they landed here. Cook’s scurvy grass, Lepidium oleraceum, is endangered in the wild but seeds are available for home gardens (order online from www.topseeds.co.nz). In the wild, this plant was fertilised by coastal guano (bird poo); use chook manure to make it feel at home.

Sow miner’s lettuce now too. This fleshy, hardy salad green (Claytonia perfoliata, www.kingsseeds.co.nz) got its name during the Californian gold rush, when miners ate it to prevent scurvy.