Cold snaps all over New Zealand make it a bit of a challenge to work in the garden! However, there’s still much to do even in winter. We have compiled some winter gardening tips that hopefully will help ensure a continuous supply of vegetables.
General Maintenance
Keep weeding.
Add a layer of compost into the vegetable garden and around trees.
Prune fruit trees and roses (mid-winter) to stimulate growth.
Make sure gardens are well-draining.
Start planning for spring.
July is a good time to plant your garlic, lettuce, spinach and onion seedlings. For relatively warmer areas, you may already start planting some seed potatoes. We have agria, cliffs kidney, ilam hardy, rocket and desiree seed potatoes now on www.awapuni.co.nz
Wintry weather inhibits growth so many gardeners usually choose to plant fast-growing beet, silverbeet, rainbow beet and pak choy to ensure continuous supply. Pak Choy are fast-growing and very giving. They also love the cold. Like silverbeet, pak choy seedlings and brassicas can be planted all year round. Spinach and lettuce are good space fillers to maximise your gardening space.
If you are thinking of planting garlic this season, make sure you use rich, well-draining soil. Plant garlic seedlings in a sunny spot. For colder areas in NZ, prepare to mulch around your garlic seedlings for insulation. Dig in some compost and Nitrophoska Blue Fertiliser to make the garlic seedlings grow stronger.
Flower Garden
Start preparing for spring! Brighten up your garden with cornflower, wallflower, antirrhinum and dianthus. Sweet peas, pansies and polyanthus can thrive in cold weather. All these varieties can grow beautifully in pots as well.
Natives
Natives love the crispy, cool weather so you may still want to consider planting your hedges at this time. Awapuni Nurseries currently has a new dense and golden hedge option - Golden Totara. Native trees may be planted any time of the year. Take advantage of this season to mass plant native flaxes like Cookianum Mountain Flax and Blueberry turutu - Dianella Nigra. You may also like to consider planting native flowering hebes at this time as feature plants in your garden.
