What to do in the garden this week
Weekend gardener Mint sauce, new potatoes and mojitos
All of the above need a healthy crop of mint and now is the time to revive your plants, so that there will be lush fresh leaves ready to pick when the new potatoes and spring lamb are on the menu.
Mint is best grown in pots as it is very invasive. It needs moisture too – put the container near the hose where the mint will get a drink every time you turn the tap on.
Mint can live for ages in a pot with only a trim now and then to remove rusty leaves. When the pot gets overcrowded or weedy – or the leaves get smaller and smaller – it’s time to replant.
Turf out the old plant, replace potting mix and replant sections of stem each attached to a clump of roots. Cuttings sprout easily in water too. If you keep a jar of mint cuttings on the kitchen windowsill you won’t need to trek to the herb patch on wet nights.
Never put surplus mint roots in the compost heap – every bit will grow!
Quick jobs to do between downpours
This month, putting on my gardening gloves and boots seems to be as effective as hanging up the washing for inducing a rain shower! But it’s amazing how much can be done between downpours. Check the rain radar and tackle these quick
jobs when you can.
■ Keep brassica seedlings, spring onions and garlic weed free. The weeds compete for sunlight and nutrients and provide shelter for slugs and snails.
■ Thin beetroot. If you’re really gentle you can replant the thinnings, but it’s easier to eat them in a salad or stir-fry.
■ Mound up the soil around leeks to blanch the bases but don’t overdo it or gritty soil gets embedded between the layers.
■ Sweep the paths clear of slippery fallen leaves.
■ Pop in a punnet of spinach seedlings, a six-pack of mixed brassicas or a short row of radishes.
■ Give seedlings a liquid feed of seaweed fertiliser or worm wee.
■ Turn plant saucers upside down and raise containers on pot feet so your plants don’t sit in permanent puddles.
Good riddance to rats
The long hot summer provided ideal conditions for rats to multiply.
Now the weather’s chilly they’re moving indoors or sheltering in firewood stacks and compost bins.
Avoid close encounters with whiskery invaders by banging loudly on the compost bin before you open the lid. Turning the compost regularly discourages rats from setting up home there and so does adding plenty of brown matter (dry leaves, cardboard, wood shavings and egg cartons) on top of the green matter (weeds, vege peelings, etc). The combination will rot down more quickly without getting smelly. Rat proof your compost bin by lining the sides and bottom with chicken wire or galvanised steel mesh. Stop rats climbing fruit and nut trees by placing a broad strip of smooth, unclimbable metal sheeting around the trunk. Check a couple of times a year to ensure the metal sheeting does not strangle the trunk as it grows. Make sure your stored potatoes, kū mara, pumpkins, onions, garlic, fruit, bulbs and seeds are in rat-proof containers. Tidy up rubbish that could contain rat nests. Set traps baited with peanut butter, fat, chocolate and
bacon or lay poison baits. A refillable bait station keeps poison bait secure, free of moisture and out of reach of children and pets.
Rainy day gardening
If it’s just too dreary to contemplate going outdoors, so here are some indoor gardening activities.
Sort your seed stash Cruise online catalogues (Kings Seeds, Egmont Seeds, Owairaka Seeds, Setha’s Seeds, Garden Post and Wildflower World) for your spring wish list. Make a seed box to keep them all safe and sound.
Rescue the glut
Remember that heap of tomatoes that you hid in the bottom of the freezer because you couldn’t face bottling them on the hottest day of summer?
Now’s the time to turn them into sauce, soup, or pasta toppings. Ditto the chillies, apples, and plums.
Fire up the slow cooker. Make a batch of curried kū mara soup or turn your dried beans into baked beans.
Window planning
Take a long critical look out each window. What could be improved? A boring border, gaps in the hedge, looming trees blocking the sun, an unwelcome view of the neighbours?
With a bit of luck, whatever you need can be purchased online, so window planning can become online shopping.