Digging into tasks
For many gardeners, autumn is the busiest planting season
It can take years of practice, learning and experience before a gardener can ensure a productive garden throughout the year. For many gardeners, autumn is the busiest planting season. It’s the time to plan staggered planting, turnover the soil, clean up the leaves, weed, trim, mulch, prepare the garden for spring and; this year, some of us in New Zealand are still harvesting the last of the summer crops!
Garden Maintenance
Rake leaves up (leaves can be used for compost or mulch)
Enrich your soil
Trim your hedges
Fertilise your citrus plants
Mulch vegetable and fruit gardens Move or cover frost-tender plants Harvest feijoa and last of passionfruit
Turn over soil and replenish gardens
Plant winter flowering annuals Deadhead flowers to encourage growth during spring
Get your bird feeders out
Look after your lawn
Plan for spring
Edible Garden
Replenish your soil with a fresh load of compost and natural fertilisers like sheep pellets. A good range of inputs will improve the diversity of microorganisms in your soil.
It's a good time to plant celery, broccoli, onions, peas, kale and cabbage.
Use the staggered planting approach to ensure a continuous supply.
If you have some free space, you may consider covering crops like mustard or the native blue lupin (a nitrogen-fixer).
A pro-tip for seedlings is seaweed solution.
If you have an abundance of chillies, you may want to dry them for future use.
Flower Garden
Plant your winter flowering annuals and divide your perennials. It’s a great time to plant polyanthus, pansy, cornflower, poppy, statice, and lobelia! Purple and blue flowers are known to attract bees the most.
Lobelias look beautiful when paired with pansies in hanging baskets. Whilst potted pansy and polyanthus simply look wonderful lined up on patios. Awapuni
Nurseries has about 20 pansy varieties — blue, yellow, red, pink, pastel in many different sized blooms.
Calendula, also known as winter marigold, is a favourite amongst many gardeners because it repels many pests, attracts pollinators and blooms profusely in winter.
Natives
There's still some time for planting the hedges! Pittosporum varieties are fast-growing trees. You may also want to consider flowering natives like akeake green, kowhai, hebes, manuka and kanuka to attract pollinators to your garden as well as serve as habitat for native birds.
Herb Garden
Consider planting cold-hardy herbs like parsley varieties Italian flat leaf and curled.
■ For more information and inspiration visit awapuni.co.nz