In the Garden
with the Professional Countrywoman.
Spring is around the corner.
Even
though it is still winter there are signs that the miracle of spring is just
around the corner. One of the miracles is that despite the ongoing cold
weather, the occasional warm day will get the sap rising in the gardener as
much as the plants! However you will
need to resist the urge a little as it is a bit early to sow much outside
except for peas and broad beans. Instead
you can transfer that energy to getting your potting shed in order and prepared
for sowing indoors.
Potatoes.
Seed
potatoes are appearing in the shops. Potatoes can be chitted from now on or
planted in a warm spot and protected from the frosts that will be expected for
the next few months. Use old egg cartons,
sit each potato on end and put on in a warm light space.
Garlic.
You
may find you will need to water the garlic you planted in June and July to get
them swelling and moving. It has been
very dry here in Otago and we all need rain. Once the young shoots are up, liquid fertilise
every couple of weeks. They will respond
to plenty of feeding while growing and you will be rewarded with lovely big
bulbs in summer.
Garden
Beds.
Beds
rested over the worst of the winter can be dug over, digging in any mulch,
compost or green crops. Never dig if the
ground is too wet as you can damage the structure of the soil.
If you
practice crop rotation then prepare each bed for the family of crops you will
plant. Legume beds (peas and beans) will
appreciate lots of compost, wood-ash, blood and bone, lime and carbon from
spring mulches dug in. Same for the next
bed of green leafy veges. Beds destined
for root crops such as beetroot and carrots will not like too much bulk or
fresh manure so are happy to rely on the leftovers of the previous season. They appreciate deep well dug soil. The beds
set aside for heat loving plants such as capsicums and tomatoes prefer more
acidic soil so I don’t add lime to those beds but plenty of compost.
Early
Sowing.
It’s
still too early for outdoor sowing but you can start off in seed trays in a
warm spot. Lettuce, cauli, cabbage, silverbeet, brussel sprouts, peas, broad
beans, Later in the month: onions, beetroot, leeks, parsnips turnips, parsley. Sow early peas and broad beans direct.
Plant; Cabbage, Cauli, Rhubarb, Asparagus,
Shallots, Garlic, Artichokes, Strawberries,
So after starting out saying it was too early to do much in the garden, turns out there is a lot to do after all!
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