The winter garden can be filled with life and colour. Flowering annuals such as pansies, violas, dianthus, sweet peas, primula and polyanthus all love the cooler weather. Plant garden beds, hanging baskets and pots for great winter colour.
The Veggie Garden
New seasons seed potato can be planted once the risk of frost has passed. Be sure when you purchase seed potato that you have selected certified seed! Certified seed has been regulated to ensure you are purchasing quality disease free potato. Our fully certified varieties have now arrived for planting in frost free areas.
Kale is especially good when grown through winter with flavour improving when harvested after a frost. Kale is packed with nutritional benefits and is a great cabbage or spinach substitute. One of winters super foods!
Locally grown NZ yams or Oca have now arrived in store and these can be planted in a frost free location with organically enriched, well drained soil. Oca is a versatile tuber that can be boiled, baked, or steamed. Some varieties are delicious eaten raw, while others are sun-dried and eaten like dried figs or stewed like fruit. They can even be popped into the microwave for a quick treat. The clover-like leaves of oca and the trumpet-shaped yellow blooms are edible as well and are delicious tossed into salads.
As soon as the shortest day has passed it is the perfect time to sow onion seed or plant seedlings. Choose a sunny well drained position which has been generously limed. If sowing onions from seed I find it beneficial to ensure good viable, fresh seed is used and not old seed from the previous year. Add a little washed river sand or propagation sand, allowing the seed to be more evenly distributed and gently dribble the seed into the drill. Germination is quick and will only take 3-4 weeks.
New season strawberry runners will be arriving soon offering a sweet addition to your garden. They can be grown in a sunny location with organically enriched, well drained soil but do prefer a slightly acidic soil with a pH of 5.5 to 6.5. Strawberries grow well in raised garden beds, pots and hanging baskets.
New season fruit trees can be planted in winter, shop online now for arrival in early July.
Winter Jobs
- Prepare for fruit tree planting with our first delivery due in the coming weeks
- Spray roses and fruit trees with lime sulphur to control over-wintering fungal diseases.
- Plant raspberries and strawberry runners in mid June
- Prune deciduous fruit trees, berry fruit bushes and vines in winter. I would however suggest that you avoid pruning cherries, apricot and kiwi fruit vines until the warmer weather. All three of these popular edibles tend to bleed.
- Reduce the water to indoor plants, a great time to remove any old leaves or debris from the surface of the potting mix
- Treat for the attack of lawn grubs.
- Pick up and destroy old leaves from fruit trees and roses.
- Apply powerfeed or gypsum to increase drainage in clay soil and improve overall plant growth.
- Gladioli corms can be treated with natrasoap to deter thrips.
- Prune Hydrangeas just above the double buds and apply potash in late winter. They will explode into life in spring. If you get frost, hold off pruning until late winter as the new growth may get burnt.
- If resting an area in your veggie garden, it's a great time to add green manure crop, this will help your soil in many ways.
- Prior to planting newly purchased fruit trees and roses, soak in a diluted solution of seasol to maximise root development and reduce transplant shock.