SUSTAIN Wait for the right temperature

Spring fever is upon us. Just a few days of balmy sunshine has many of us excitedly rushing around wanting to get our seeds sown, and seedlings planted. Garden magazines are full of pictures showing bountiful gardens and succulent tomatoes, and garden centres tempt us with rows of beautiful seedlings. But wait, how many of you (myself included) have been disappointed because those seeds have not germinated, seedlings have sat for weeks and sulked like a teenager, only to be finally decimated by some bug. Or that expensive large tomato plant you bought failed to produce anything edible till well after Christmas anyway.

Seeds and plants are rather like children, given the right conditions they will grow quickly into strong, productive, and disease resistant plants. Often if you plant now you will find them easily outgrown by the same plants planted a month later . . . Patience is often the hardest skill to learn as a gardener. The temperature guides on the back of a seed packet are useful, but soil temperature will fluctuate widely over 24 hours. Frosts are still a regular event in CHB, and most of us will get at least one in November.

The good news is there is still plenty that can be done now to get your vegetable garden thriving. Peas, radishes, carrots and onions can be sown directly now in free draining soils which warm up more quickly. Sow some every 4-6 weeks for a continuous supply throughout summer. All brassicas (cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, etc) and salad vegetables can be sown indoors to get good healthy growth before planting out.

The following are heat lovers — tomatoes, basil, beans, cucumbers, courgettes, corn, capsicum, eggplants, pumpkins and chillies. A light frost, cold wind, or rain may cause them to sulk or die. A heatpad or hot water cupboard is useful for early germination, then pot up into larger pots and keep indoors until at least November. Even if they are planted in November, keep frost cloth or plastic handy for those late frosts. ■ DID YOU KNOW: Agricultural containers, silage wrap, bale net, pit covers etc can be recycled? Contact AGRECOVERY 0800 247 326

■ For planting guides head to www.sustainewe.org.nz.