Vegetables
Raising plants from seed is cost-effective and gives greater choices than buying plants from garden centres. Planting is usually done at twice the depth of the seed but during dry weather it should be a little deeper. Watering the rows thoroughly before sowing will help germination and then, when the seedlings appear, gentle watering will get plants growing steadily.
Intercropping — using an area for more than one crop — is a good way of making the maximum use of a small space. Lettuces may be grown along a line intended for outdoor tomatoes, which usually are planted between Labour Day and the middle of November. Lettuces are cut before the tomato foliage is big enough to bother them.
Parsley can provide a successional crop if sown in small amounts. Choose an open situation in soil that does not dry out in hot weather. Add organic manures if these are lacking.
Potato plants can be banked up with soil before the leaves develop too much. Once that happens, building banks is difficult without damaging the plants.
Early peas or potatoes may be intercropped with any of the brassicas used for winter greens. Between the rows of late dwarf peas or beans, sow spinach, turnips and radish.
Radish is a quick-maturing plant that can tolerate some shade in the summer. Keep all plants clear of close-growing weeds.
Peas making good growth can be helped with staked netting placed by the rows for the plants to climb up. Cauliflower, cabbage and lettuce plants in the garden will benefit from regular waterings of liquid manure. If the soil is a clay type, a side dressing of sulphate of ammonia or urea (50g for 10 plants) will be helpful. Do not let the fertiliser touch the leaves or stems, but fork lightly into the soil.
Parsnips, which have a longer growing season than other root crops, need to be sown now. Shorter-rooted varieties should be chosen for shallow or clay soils.
Flowers
Marigolds, zinnias, asters and cosmos sown under cover in August will be ready for planting out in the open. Hopwever, if the garden is exposed to southwest winds and late frosts, leave the plants in boxes and harden off by exposing them to daytime weather, but shelter at night.
Fruit
Berry fruits — red, white and black currants, raspberries and related fruits — will benefit from mulching with garden compost or rotted stable manure to feed the growing crop and help retain spring moisture in the soil.
YATES WINNERS
Winners of the Yates Heirloom seed packs up for grabs in last Friday’s Inside Out as part of National Gardening Week are:
Lenorah Oliver of St Kilda, Hollie Johnson of Clinton, Isla Barron of Timaru, Alaia Mattingly of St Kilda and (jointly) Portia and Bronson Stoop, of Balclutha.
