Down to Earth: Autumn planting
Although plant growth is slowing down, there are still crops that can be sown or planted to ensure an abundance of vegetables over the winter and into the spring. Here are some to try:
Direct sow:
Peas: Sow 2cm deep 5cm apart in a row 3-5 metres long for good cropping. Like beans they like light, limed soil. Protect from birds with bamboo sticks or netting. Provide some support, eg wire netting tied to stakes.
Broad beans: Sow into free-draining, recently limed soil 5-8cm deep, 15cm apart. Mulch with seaweed and provide support as they develop.
Spring onions: Sow into a well-prepared free-draining seedbed. Make a furrow with rake following a string line. Sow seed about 1cm deep and firm with the end of a rake.
Transplant:
Cabbages: Like fertile well-manured or composted, limed soil. Remove old leaves. Plant deep up to bottom leaves, about 45cm apart each way. Firm well. Mulch with seaweed and liquid fertiliser with seaweed or comfrey to keep them growing well.
Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa): Pak choi is one example. Plant into fertile soil 30-40cm apart each way.
Spinach: Best direct sown into rich bed 2.5cm deep, then thin out to 15-20cm apart. Can be started in pots but must be planted when small. Keep spinach well watered. Likes seaweed too.
Garlic: Like fertile free-draining limed soil. Plant pointed end up to a depth of between 2.5-5cm, 15cm apart in row and 25cm between rows. Can interplant with brassicas.
Salads: Corn salad, miner’s lettuce, lettuces, chicorys, endives and especially mustards can be planted into composted soil under cloches, or better still in the hot-house.
Fruit care:
· Plant fruit trees, eg citrus. Plant into a decent-sized hole with compost and ensure good drainage. Firm well and stake.
· Spray stonefruit and pipfruit with copper vs bacterial diseases once leaves fall.
· Protect young citrus and other subtropicals with frost cloth.
· Autumn prune trees. Remove diseased wood and fruit and burn , eg brown rot.
· Prune out old canes off berryfruits. Select and tie up strongest new canes.
· Treat silverleaf in fruit trees with trichodowels or remove.
· Re/plant strawberry patch.
Herb Care:
· Weed and mulch.
· Transplant perennial herbs.
· Take cuttings of rosemary, sage and other semi-woody herbs into coarse sand under cover.
Vegetable Care:
· Protect sensitive crops from frost. Try Mikroclima cloth available from garden centres. Or make a simple cloche, with number eight wire crossed over in an X pattern, over the bed and cover with plastic during the night and cold days.
· Prepare ground for garlic and onions. Add lots of compost, lime, rock phosphate and wood ash.
· Prepare ground for peas and broad beans.
· Plant winter crops now, eg broccoli and cauliflower. Try winter/spring salads.
· Liquid fertilise in the morning once a week.
· In vacant areas either: sow green crops (last chance in warmer areas); cover with compost and straw or black plastic for spring planting.
· Weed and mulch. Good time to fork out couch and dreaded oxalis.
· Stay observant of pests and diseases, eg slugs and snails.
· Spray Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) for caterpillar pests on brassicas (cabbages, etc).
· Tend asparagus beds with lots of compost and straw.
· Hothouse: Keep ventilated. Manage pests. Keep crops tidy - remove dead/diseased leaves. Plant salads for winter.
· Harvest kumara and late potatoes. Store in cool, dry, shady place.
· Keep harvesting late beans, zucchinis and tomatoes.
· Harvest pumpkins and melons. Store pumpkins in dry, rodentproof area.
· Save seed.
Sow for transplanting: Sow all seeds 7 May. Leafy greens (winter spinach, lettuce, endive, cabbages, silverbeet/rainbow chard, Chinese cabbage and red onions) (also 1 May). Flowers , eg wallflowers.
Sow direct: Sow all seeds 7 May. Radish, beetroot, turnip and swede (5-7 May). Spring onions, salads, silverbeet/chard (1 May). Peas and broad beans (3-4 May). Flowers, eg daisies.
Plant: Salad greens, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbages and silverbeet/rainbow chard. Flowers, eg golden rod.
General Garden Care:
· Great time to make compost.
· Collect leaves into compost ring.
· Collect seed from annual flowers.
· Prune back flowering plants and hedges.
· Shred prunings.
· Weed and mulch ornamental areas.
· Sow or resow patches of lawn.
· Mow lawns. Put clippings in compost or mulch.
Sol Morgan, GroWise Consultancy. Ph 525 9110.
