Down to Earth: Main spring plantings
As the days are getting longer and the weather warms I'm sure you're all getting ready for the main planting time. Typically Labour Weekend is the time to plant those frost-sensitive crops like tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and beans, as the risk of Jack Frost should be over. Here are a few tips:
Tomatoes, peppers and eggplants: Like warm spots. Add lots of compost, a handful of rock phosphate, wood ash, blood and bone or fishmeal. Space peppers and eggplants about 40cm apart, tomatoes 50cm-70cm apart. Plant tomatoes deep to increase rooting. Don't overwater.
Zucchinis, cucumbers, melons, squash and pumpkins: Like sun, especially melons, although squash and pumpkins prefer some shade when fruiting. Add lots of compost, rotted manure, blood and bone. Space plants about 1m apart into a small mound with central depression. Cucumbers like a frame to climb up, eg builders 665 mesh. Mulch with black plastic or weed mat, especially melons.
Beans, peas: Sow direct into limed loamy soil. Sow dwarf and climbing beans 5cm deep, 20-30cm apart; main crop peas 5cm deep in rows. Provide chicken netting fence for them to climb. Dwarf beans benefit from cloching (try plastic bottles). Grow climbing beans up netting fence, tipi or tent frame with string lines.
Carrots, beetroot, parsnips: Sow direct into loamy loose soil. Beetroot likes some compost and can be transplanted. Cover seed with its own depth in soil. Firm down with rake. Keep moist.
Sweetcorn: Likes lots of sun and very rich soil. Sow two seeds direct 5cm deep, 20-30cm spacings in a block for better pollination. Transplant at same spacing. Mound up to support plants as they grow.
Potatoes, yams (oca), kumara: Sunny position, rich, well-composted bed with added rock phosphate. Dig trench/holes 20-30cm deep for potatoes, 10cm deep for yams and rows 60cm apart. Plant kumara shoots 30cm apart into ridges 1m apart. Bend root when planting to help get tubers close to surface.
Fruit care:
Prune citrus as you harvest.
Mulch strawberries, other berryfruits and fruit trees.
Preventative sprays of seaweed on fruits (as general tonic) and copper spray on stonefruit - leaf curl, and pipfruit - black spot.
Hang pheromone traps to prevent codlin and leafroller moth reproduction, which limits later caterpillar damage.
Divide and transplant comfrey around drip line of fruit trees to improve nutrient cycling and attract bees.
Herb Care:
Weed, divide, transplant and mulch.
Sow annual herbs.
Vegetable Care:
Stake broad beans and tie up. Erect stakes for climbing crops.
Dig in green manure crops at flowering stage two weeks prior to planting.
Apply lime/dolomite to beds (except potatoes/tomatoes).
Prepare ground for main planting in Oct-Nov.
Cloche sensitive crops for frost protection and soil warming.
Hothouse: plant tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchinis. Sow seeds. Keep well ventilated. No mist watering. Hang yellow sticky cards - whitefly, and watch for aphids (spray garlic and pyrethrum).
Liquid fertilise: Use nitrogen-rich brews for initial growth (eg dilute liquid cow manure and urine 10:1). Follow with seaweed and comfrey brews.
Sprout seed potatoes.
Weed by surface tilling with a ‘niwashi' or hoe to aid soil warming, kill soil pests (wireworms, cutworms, grass grubs) and reduce crop competition.
Add flowers and herbs (eg French or African marigolds) to attract beneficial insects, deter pests, and for beauty.
Sow for transplanting: Leafy greens (mizuna, summer spinach, lettuce, endive, cabbages, silverbeet/rainbow chard, celery) (best 22nd, 31st Oct - 1st Nov). Florence fennel and leeks (best 27th-28th Oct). Tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, zucchini, melons, pumpkins (best 24th-25th Oct). Herbs: basil, parsley etc. Flowers (eg phacelia, zinnias).
Sow direct: Spring onions, Florence fennel, radish, turnip, kohlrabi, parsnip, carrots, beetroot (best 27th-28th Oct). Peas, French and climbing beans, sweet corn, squash, pumpkin, cucumber, melons and zucchini (best 24th-25th Oct).
Plant: Best midday 19th October. Salad greens, spinach, cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower, silverbeet/rainbow chard, onions, beetroot, Florence fennel, yams (oca), potatoes. Tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, zucchini, cucumbers, melons and squash require cover. Flowers for insects.
General Garden Care:
Great time to make and turn composts, shred prunings.
Mulch ornamental areas with shreddings or bark.
Mulch-mow lawns for good health.
Sol Morgan, GroWise Consultancy. Ph 525 9110.
