Daily gardening will help in the long run Weekend gardener
Get busy in the greenhouse
Plant the summer-heat loving crops now – tomatoes, eggplants, chillies, capsicums and cucumbers undercover. If you can get them, large grafted plants are well worth the money as they start producing earlier. Sow basil seed or transplant seedlings indoors, it’s still a bit soon to plant outdoors except in the warmest areas.
Remember that all plants grown undercover are dependent on the gardener for all irrigation. New seedlings and newly sown seeds are especially vulnerable to drying out. Water with a fine spray from a misting bottle or the fine rose of a watering can – and warm the water first.
Be generous with fertilisers but don’t overdo it. Regular dilute liquid feeds are better than a highly concentrated dose all at once. Remember the pollinators. Attract them into the greenhouse by planting the nectar-laden plants they love in or near your undercover growing area. Be prepared to get busy with a paintbrush if your area lacks bees. For tomatoes, brush past or stroke the plants to dislodge and spread the pollen.
Shade the most delicate seedlings in your glasshouse.
Now’s a great time for sowing undercover. Don’t fret if you don’t have a glass or tunnelhouse. Lean a spare window frame against the side of the house. Or pull a plastic bag over four sticks to make an effective plastic house for the time it takes to sprout and raise your seedlings to the point where they can go it alone. Or an upturned jar or clear plastic packaging can provide the conditions needed for successful seedling production.
In my garden, the clear plastic cover over the raised bed I wrote about a few weeks ago became too hot, so I’ve replaced it with insect mesh. It allows the rain through and provides protection from the wind. The temperature is slightly warmer under the cover than outside, but there’s enough air movement to keep the plants from cooking.
In with the new
The best celery I’ve ever grown was a great standby all winter. There were still edible stalks left, but the plants were thickening in the centre indicating that they are about to throw up a flower stem. White butterflies were showing too much interest in the kale and the poor spinach plants were past their prime.
I decided it was time to clear the decks to make room for summer crops. The soil has been refreshed with compost and sheep pellets.
I’ve planted a few radishes, spring onions and lettuces but left plenty of room for successive plantings of salad greens so I’ll have a steady supply over a long period rather than everything ready at once.
Keep on top of regular jobs
Try to do a couple of small tasks every day so that you aren’t faced with a daunting to-do list on the weekend. Breaking up big jobs into several small tasks makes the work feel more manageable.
There’s no need to weed the entire garden in one go – spend 10 minutes weeding around the garlic and shallots today (they’ll grow much better without competition) and tackle another bed tomorrow.
Spending time in the garden daily helps you spot problems before they get out of control.
Aphids on new rose leaves or broad beans? Squish with your fingers or wash off with soapy water. Caterpillars on the brassicas? Squash caterpillars and flick off the eggs with a paint brush. Cover plants with insect mesh to prevent more eggs being laid. Rusty mint? Cut back to ground level. Healthy fresh leaves will grow back in time to flavour your new potatoes. But don’t concentrate on the problems. Take time to spot what’s coming into bloom, enjoy the scents, bird song and fresh air on your daily tour of the garden.
It takes determination to snip off the last brave bloom still flowering when all its neighbours are dead or dying but a ruthless short back and sides when deadheading perennials does look better in the long run.
The plant will have a balanced shape and the next flush of flowers will synchronise with each other.
Alternatively you can stagger flowering over a longer period but cutting back different parts of a plant (or individual plants within a mass planting) to different heights.
This looks more natural for plants in a border rather than a stand-alone feature plant in a pot.
Gardening by the maramataka
Whiringa-a¯ -rangi is the fifth month of the maramataka and the traditional time for final land preparation for crops. We should now be fully immersed in the emergence of ko¯ anga (spring) following the flowering cues of trees and bushes such as the tı¯ ko¯ uka (cabbage tree).
For summer crops, this is the time to open the ground, turn the soil to expose it to the warmth of the sun and to allow nature to assist in pest control.
Soil temperatures matter and reading the soil through the return of new grass growth or emergence of spring weeds such as po¯ hue (convolvulus, native and introduced) or amaranthus (morewhero) gives a sure sign of the soil’s readiness to support spring cropping. – Dr Nick Roskruge