Spring and a new garden year is here after a wet, mild winter that dampened the spirits as well as the ground and kept the weeds growing with enthusiasm.
Never mind that sore back and stiff knees: now is the time to start enjoying the garden.
The first job doesn’t cause aches, except maybe to the wallet. It’s the fun task of going through leftover seeds and deciding what new ones to buy. There can be twinges of conscience, too. In my case, I didn’t get around to sowing some fritillaria seed, so hope it will germinate a year on, as it was rather expensive.
Colourful catalogues, like those from Egmont Seeds and Kings Seeds, are great for inspiration.
Whether ordering online or from a paper catalogue, there is a tendency to be over-enthusiastic. For instance, I’m still working through carrot seed I bought a couple of years ago when I couldn’t decide which I wanted to grow and bought three varieties, including reliable old Ladies’ Finger. With 1000 seeds in a packet, it’s a good thing seed remains viable for years.
I’d certainly advocate Novella for a small garden, as this heavy cropper needs no staking because the plants hold up one another. The peas are sweet and tender, cropping over a longer period than most and I’ll definitely be growing it again.
Two other experiments were not as successful. Although crystal ice plant (Mesembryanthemum crystallinum) grew happily, I wasn’t completely sold on the slightly salty, succulent-like leaves, although a friend with whom I shared my crop was enraptured with it as a salad green. Related to Livingstone daisy, it has creamy flowers and leaves that produce "beads" of salt. Grown as an annual, it is actually a perennial and because it makes the soil salty, it’s usually treated as a container plant. At the end of the season, the pot mix can be used to top up an asparagus bed.
Of my peanuts, which I grew from plants sourced from a North Island nursery, the less said the better. They started quite well but our rather cool, wet summer resulted in them rotting in their pot. As I don’t like peanuts, I can’t now imagine why I bothered to try them.
Seeds are not always the best option, even for a larger garden. A packet of capsicum seeds yields 20-30 seedlings, tomatoes can produce 40 plants, cabbages up to 200, while a packet of celery can have 1000 seeds. If you don’t plan to run a market stall when the seedlings are ready, a few of each plant from a garden centre may make better sense.
Taller annual flowers, including cosmos, poppies, clarkia and cornflowers, grow easily from seed and are useful fillers scattered among bulbs such as narcissus, tulips and smaller alliums. As they grow, they hide the scraggy, dying foliage and — if they are vigorous enough — these annuals will cover precious daffodils and hinder narcissus flies attacking the bulbs.
Don’t neglect spring-flowering shrubs, including rhododendrons. Prune them when they have finished blooming, then give them a dash of fertiliser and they’ll reward you with a good display next year.
