A Great Day - we have bees!

I am very happy that we finally have bees on our land.  My clever father in law has been making boxes for a beekeeper as he himself has been interested for a long time and is learning all about them.  So we are the lucky recipients.  Had the day in the garden yesterday and as I walked back I was delighted to see bees sitting on the dandelion flowers and enjoying the borage I have planted under the fruit trees.

Crop Rotation Poster

Here is an image of the Crop Rotation Poster. Sorry I haven't posted this sooner but still finding my way round the new technology.  Which reminds me - I will have some easy pay options coming soon. In the meantime if you want me to post you one of these gorgeous and useful wall charts email me at pcw@countryhousenz.co.nz with your address, number you want and I give you my bank account details for payment.   Happy Gardening!

Crop Rotation Poster: Notes for October for your Family Vegetable Garden.

The Crop Rotation poster is a great reminder for what to grow where and when in your family vege garden.  As it is in note form because that’s all I can fit on the poster, here is this months extended version of what to do in your garden.

October is a great time of year in the garden where the sap is not only rising in the plants around us but also in our inner gardener. Resist the urge to plant before the soil is warm enough though. The weather can still be changeable with frosts likely.  Sow seed under cover in a warm spot if in doubt. Towards the end of this month is better for some plants but plenty to get on with in the first few weeks.  If your family has made a list of what they want to eat, get them started on sowing and growing now for the summer harvest.

Bed 1/ Group 1.

 This bed has been set aside for legumes such as beans and peas. In my plan I have also added sweetcorn for a couple of reasons. One is that I couldn’t fit them in with the other heat loving plants in group 3 and because they like nitrogen I put them in with the legumes. The other reason is that they have been traditionally grown by some Native American Indian tribes with climbing beans for centuries.  The corn provides the support for the beans to climb up and the beans add the nitrogen to the soil for the corn to take up. They also add pumpkins which cover any bare ground in between. It is called the Three Sisters method and I love the idea of the garden working together like this.

 All of these plants like it warm with rich soil so if you haven’t already done so dig over the bed again adding plenty of compost or manure, blood and bone, lime and potash.  Leave till later in the month in the south for planting but start off your seeds in trays under cover. I am planting out my sweetcorn plants then pushing a climbing bean seed in beside it. This should give the corn time to get going before the beans want to use it as a support network. 

Most other types of beans (French, bush, dwarf etc) prefer soils to reach a temperature of 15 degrees  before they will germinate which is why it’s a good idea to sow in pots indoors while waiting for it to warm up.  Remember that runner beans should go in a dedicated spot as they are perennial –which means they will come back year after year. A climbing frame of some sort at the back of each border bed is a good idea.  If this is your first year of the crop cycle then use the back of the border bed 1, Sow your Scarlet Runner seed and leave in place for the next few years.  The good thing about this is that when those new runner beans start to emerge from the soil then you will know that the soil is warm enough to plant your other beans. In the main bed I suggest you plant dwarf French beans as you won’t need climbing frames.

In the rest of the bed you can keep liquid feeding broad beans.  All beans and peas will need plenty of moisture to them and will appreciate a good liquid feed at least every fortnight.  In some warmer areas you should be starting to harvest these. Watch for black fly pests. A good companion plant for broad beans is what is variously known as “poached egg plant”,  Meadowfoam or

Limnanthes douglasii.  Hover flies love this plant and will eat any neighbouring blackfly while they are visiting. I have ordered my seeds from Kings Seeds (NZ) Ltd. 

http://kingsseeds.co.nz/shop/Flowers.html

Peas sown earlier on should be growing well.  Make sure they have some good support structures to climb up or plant some rows of dwarf peas. Keep sowing every couple of weeks to ensure a good succession. It is traditional in NZ to have at least enough peas planted to get enough for a meal on Christmas Day. Grandparents and little ones then have the fun of shelling peas together in time for the big feast.   Peas and children go together well though so if you are doing this with the family, peas are a must.  Include snow peas for their delicious nutty crunch in summer salads.

Bed 2/Group 4.

Group 4 will be your root crops, tubers and alliums.  Which means potatoes potatoes potatoes.  I know they do take up a bit of room but it is still worthwhile to have a row or two of new potatoes as well as some delicious main crop for later. Potatoes are sub tropical and don’t like frost so protect any new growth from frost.  Plant seed potatoes 15 cm deep, spaced at about 40cm apart.  I follow Kay Baxter from the Koanga Institute who advises digging a trench and lining the bottom with comfrey leaves. It also means that I have to wait for the comfrey to grow!  (which it is now under my fruit trees).

Garlic – bulbs are forming at this time of the year so keep up the liquid fertilizer at least every 2 weeks. You can side dress with blood & bone. Keep the water up and mulch.

On the other side of the garden bed to where you have potatoes give the soil a final dig over to prepare for parsnips, beetroot and carrots, turnips, Swedes or kumara if up north.  This is because these crops like a little lime but potatoes don’t.  The soil will need to be friable so the roots can go straight down and don’t add any fresh manure which can lead to club root.

Celery and leek seed can be sown now for planting in December.

Bed3/Group3. Heat Loving fruiting plants.

This is the bed for your heat loving plants so you will be busy later in the month with Labour Weekend being the traditional time for planting out tomatoes, courgettes, cucumber, pumpkins, capsicums, eggplants etc. You can still sow seed indoors in a warm spot ready for planting out when the soil is warm enough.  In the south it might be worth buying in 2-3 grafted plants as they seem to get a headstart on the others for the shorter growing season. However if you are lucky enough to have a hothouse then get your home-sown seedlings in by all means. I am putting my tomatoes in the border bed so can only fit 3-4 which should be enough. If it is warm enough to grow them, try putting the cucumbers behind to grow up the netting fence. Pumpkins can go in the corners of the border bed and spread along in front of the tomatoes. 

Marigolds are good companion plants for this bed. Any gaps plant heat loving herbs such as basil. The rest of the bed will soon be taken up with courgettes, capsicums etc.

Bed 4/ Group 2.  Leafy Greens and Brassicas.

Plant and sow lettuces every few weeks to ensure a good supply over the summer. Plant out silverbeet, spinach, cauliflower and cabbages. Asian greens such as Pak Choy will grow quickly now. Sow other brassicas to get ready for later planting.  Keep up the liquid feeding of growing plants.

Happy gardening!

October in the Family Vegetable Garden.

Looking ahead to a “Labour” Weekend in the garden

October is probably one of the busiest months of the year for the garden especially towards the end of the month with Labour weekend being the great traditional NZ planting weekend. You can start sowing seeds well before then to be ready for the big weekend. As you sow your first lot of seeds, kick off your succession planting cycle by purchasing some punnets of well grown plants from your local garden centre or store and get them into the ground.   

Succession planting is the practice of staggering your sowing or planting over the growing season. We do this for a number of reasons, but mainly so that you don’t have your crops all ripening at once. You want to avoid that in the family vegetable garden especially with crops you can’t store or preserve.  A good rule of thumb is to sow or plant every 4-5 weeks or so.  If you have raised plants in trays, sow the next lot of seed the same day you plant out your seedlings.

Some of the more tender crops you can start under glass or indoors in a warm space in early spring.  This is important here in the south to make the most of our growing season. Tomatoes for example are easy to grow from seed but you need to get in early or they will not ripen before the autumn days start to cool on us.

Jobs for this Month

Sow: Peas, beetroot, swedes, turnips,  lettuce, carrots, parsnips, parsley, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauli, leeks, silverbeet.

Sow under cover in a warm space: tomatoes, capsicum, pumpkin, courgettes, cucumber, celery, sweet corn, beans

Plant: Punnets of brassicas, celery, peas, leeks, silverbeet, lettuce, potatoes, asparagus.

Cultivate: Keep any weeds at bay with regular hoeing and mulching. Liquid feed growing plants at least fortnightly especially your garlic crop.

Harvest: Broad beans, silverbeet, asparagus, lettuce etc