Gardening 4: spring has (essentially) sprung!
With the approach of September, planting is in full swing here in the lovely Bay. I spent the months since Matariki preparing my soil, and it is with much anticipation that I have now started turning towards a new season.
I find the waiting the hardest. Soil’s turned (three times no less), but it’s still cold and miserable, and I wonder how long July and August are going to last. Next thing, I’m into this flurry of activity.
Yesterday I planted 80 potato plants, which should be enough for about 100 meals for a family of 4. I also put in a few dozen garlic plants and shallots. The only reason I am able to plant on such a scale in an urban setting is that our neighbour has agreed to us gardening their property. It’s really worth asking if there is a fallow piece of land nearby – people wax lyrically about the garden that used to be there, but can’t or won’t do it themselves.
Potatoes are in three varieties – early, mid- or second early, and mainstay (I’ve seen a few different classifications, but this gives you the idea). I tend to go for uncommon varieties, out of interest really. Also, I’m quite committed to sustaining our riwai Maori.
I’m much inclined to trenching at this early stage, as it means there is plenty of soil to mound with as time goes on. And a good layer of wood ash on top of the soil now means more potatoes later!
My leeks, red onions and swedes are all nearing harvest size, indeed, we have eaten a few of our leeks already. The swedes might be a bit of a disappointment given the lack of cold here, but we’ll see, we’ll see. Cabbages and broccoli, spinach and silverbeet are, as always, faithful crops that we eat a lot of.
The strawberries are starting to come away again. I find these the hardest to get from the plant to the bench – if I haven’t eaten them, my daughter has!
Also, I’ve finally removed the cloches from the pepper and chilli plants. The chillis fruited right through winter. I half seriously wonder if that is a blessing, or a disturbing sign of global warming. Actually, I saw a pohutukawa in blossom two weeks ago. Everyone else commented how beautiful it was – I’m troubled by it, to be honest.
About the only thing I don’t like about spring is crab grass – if you have any organic ways of getting rid of the stuff (other than pulling it out bit by bit), I’d love to know.
Till next time, happy gardening!
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