What to do in the garden this week
Ihad a call from my partner’s friend, Faafetai, in Mangere, asking if it was too late to get potatoes in the ground for Christmas. Short answer is yes, because depending on the variety they can take 9-21 weeks to mature for harvest. And, as everyone knows, Christmas is only four weeks away. He can still plant potatoes now and eat after Christmas and during the summer holidays.
His call to me came via my partner. They’re both Samoan. Her friend has gardened all his life in Samoa and is finding the different soil and temperatures of Auckland difficult to gauge for ‘‘the palagi vegetables’’. That said, he is successfully growing taro leaves and bananas and assures us that one day he will work out how to grow the taro tuber.
Isn’t that the best thing about gardening, being able to share your knowledge and produce with others.
So what else are we planting?
I live in a region that is reliably frost free at this time of year – if you do too, you can sow basil, dwarf and climbing beans, beetroot, bok choy, cabbages, carrots, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuces, pumpkins, radishes, rockmelons, scallopini, spinach, spring onions, sweetcorn, watermelons and zucchini.
You can also plant out punnet seedlings such as beetroot, eggplants, kumara, onions, peppers and of course tomatoes.
Recently I spoke to Christchurch grower and regular contributor to NZ Gardener magazine Mary Lovell-Smith about her vegetable patch.
‘‘Right now in Christchurch we are still planting tomatoes, peppers, celeriac, sweetcorn, courgettes and most of the cucurbits. Except in the case of cucumbers, I’d suggest small fast varieties as our summers are shorter and cooler than Auckland and smaller melons are a better choice than bigger ones.
‘‘When it comes to varieties in the Garden City, I’d say the plants for sale in garden centres and nurseries should be fine for guiding what to plant in your local area.
‘‘But small batches of lettuces, radishes, spring onions, carrots and beets can be sown through the next few months. And we’re planting beans now, as it’s getting too late for snap peas.
‘‘You can plant coriander and lettuce but it needs to be out of the heat of midday sun as it tends to bolt.
‘‘My big tip is to keep up watering – long and deep. Christchurch and the east coast is way drier than Auckland, so if you’re in these areas give your veges a good long soak.’’
Lovell-Smith says some people are thinning apples now, taking off a percentage of the fruitlets for larger but fewer fruits.
What else are gardeners eating now? I got an email from keen gardener Chris Archbold, who lives in West Melton, southwest of Christchurch. He was positively feasting on homegrown goodness eating rhubarb and the first strawberries.
‘‘My garden is looking great at the moment – some of the rhubarb was picked yesterday – what a delicious breakfast this morning,’’ Archbold says.
The corn is up and looking fabulous. And the tomatoes and potatoes are flowering and will likely be ready for Christmas. But Archbold and husband are waiting patiently for signs that the runner beans are growing.
‘‘My Lebanese cucumber plant is looking a bit fragile, but it will be fine.’’
The first lot of carrots were pathetic, but a second attempt is looking better, and the currants are fruiting, as are the gooseberry bushes, Archbold says.
‘‘The apples – well if I manage to beat the powdery mildew – will be delicious. But the plums were thinned by strong winds, so I’m gutted. And the cherry tree is struggling with aphids, but hopefully we’ll win that battle.
‘‘Lastly we’ve, just last week, emptied half a trailer load of horse manure into the compost heaps. They’re certainly busy, but exciting times.’’
Keep tidying
Our indeterminate tomatoes are maturing, but the lowest leaves are turning yellow and need to be removed to improve air flow and help control disease. We’re also removing dead and yellowing leaves from other varieties, being careful not to completely defoliate them. And the deadwood on our fruit trees need a bit of a prune. I’m a little wary of pruning in spring and summer as warming temperatures, humid weather and fresh wood cuts are a perfect recipe for encouraging pests and disease. But we’ve had some strong winds through our patch and a lot of branches have broken and remain dead hanging in the tree.
The pear tree especially is laden with fruit, making the branches heavy. It’s a good reminder to start thinning the fruit. Experience has taught us that too many close bunches of fruit encourages disease and keeps produce small.
Keeping on top of the weeds is an ongoing task. I find a little and often is better than spending two to three hours of my weekend time on this job. My first gardening boss always recommended pulling out weeds as soon as you noticed them and/or as you walked past.
Keep watering
As temperatures climb and drying winds blow, it’s essential your tomatoes are watered regularly.
Too little water means nutrient deficiencies and stunted growth; too much dilutes flavour. Irregular watering can also result in blossom end rot and split skins.
We’ve worked out a watering roster in our house, written and pinned to the wall.
We both like watering, but this sometimes results in double watering and sometimes no watering as we assume one has or hasn’t done the job at least once during the day.
Dad has also reminded me to go get some more hose fittings and fixings to repair any leaks as we want to keep the water bill as low as possible.
We don’t want any leakage or wasted water.