Ashburton Courier: September 12, 2019

Page 22, Ashburton’s The Courier, Thursday 12 September 2019
Local news at www.starnews.co.nz
HOME &GARDEN
Spring brings sowing opportunities
Vegetables
Take advantage of fine
spring days tosow vegetables.
Frequent hoeing and
loosening of surface soil
helps all crops, letting air
and warmth into the
upper layers ofthe soil.
Use spring cabbages
soon, or they will run to
seed. Cut the largest
heads first. Once ahead
has been cut, the plant
should be removed and
composted, oritwill continue
to draw nutrients
from the soil.
Sow lettuce regularly
from now on, afew at a
time, to keep a regular
supply. The best lettuce
plants are those sown
where they are to mature.
Thin the seedlings so
those left tomature will
produce a highly developed
root system. Liquid
manure helps give good
leaves.
Rhubarb will bestarting
to sprout, but leave
the early stalks tomature
and water the bed well in
dry weather.
Watch any early
potatoes pushing through
thesurfaceinareaswhere
frosts might still occur.
Cover with pea straw or
hoe up soil over them
and, when they become
strong, mound them up.
Maincrop potatoes can
be sown in districts that
usually experience dry
summers.
Thin autumn­sown
onions and weed the bed
when soil conditions
allow.
Flowers
Plant pansies and
violas. Regularly remove
Unless you have aheated glasshouse, or asunny
conservatory, don’t hurry to plant tomatoes outdoors.
Regularly remove faded flowers and seed pods to prolong
the flowering of annuals and perennials, such as sweet peas.
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faded flowers and seed
pods to prolong the
flowering displays, a
practice also invaluable
with other annuals and
perennials, such as dahlias,
sweet peas, asters,
roses and calendulas.
Dahlias left inthe soil
during winter can be
lifted and divided for
replanting. Lift clumps
of tuberswith afork and,
with a sharp knife,
remove individual
tubers, ensuring each
has alargepiece of stem
withasturdy growthbud
attached. Before
replanting, addplenty of
compost or well­rotted
stable manure. Add lime,
at the rate of 100g per sq
m, and replant tubers
with the bud about 5cm
below the surface.
Plants suitable for
damp spots in the garden
include astilbe, globe
flower (Trollius), Himalayan
blue poppy
(Meconopsis), perennial
phlox, primulas, japonica,
leopard’s bane (Doronicum),
Anemone japonica,
lily of the valley,
Solomon’s seal, hellebores
and penstemons.
Roses should have
been pruned by now. If
not, this should bedone
as soon as possible or
flowering will belate and
blooms disappointing.
When bulbs grown in
pots for indoor or patio
displays have finished
their flowering, plant
them in acorner of the
garden torecuperate. It
will probably take ayear
or two before they will
flower properly again.
Fruit
Theseason for planting
tomatoes under glass is
almost here. Unless you
have aheated glasshouse
or a sunny conservatory
that stays warm overnight,donot
be in ahurry
to put in tomatoes. They
are a subtropical plant
from lowland South
America, cultivated forat
least 1500 years.
Modern tomatoes
come intwo types: bush
(determinate) and indeterminate.
Determinate
varieties are bred togrow
to acompact height, usually
about 1.5m. They
stop growing when fruit
sets on the terminal or
top bud, ripen all their
crop atornear the same
time, then die.
Indeterminate tomatoes
are vines that continue
growing throughout
the season and include
many of the small­fruited
varieties.
If buying plants, look
for sturdy specimens
about as tall asthey are
broad and with mid­ to
dark­green leaves.
If tomatoes are grown
in the ground, fresh soil
or tomato mix isneeded
every year, so growing
them in pots or heavy
black plastic bags ismore
economical.
Set plants about one
metre apart and water
sparingly until they are
well­established.
Work of local builders recognised
The workmanship of Mid
Canterbury’s Dave McCrea
Builders and Quaid Construction
Company was acknowledged in the
recent Mid and South Canterbury
Registered Master Builders 2019
House ofthe Year competition.
Both Ashburton­based companies
placed silver in the Place­
Makers New Home $450,000 to
$600,000 category; Dave McCrea
Building for their ‘‘hidden treasure’’
built in Southbridge and
Quaid Construction Company for
the ‘‘perfect landing’’ on abuild
near the aerodrome at West Melton.
The top supreme award was won
by a home built in Twizel by
Timaru based Dimension Building.
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