Selwyn_Times: February 21, 2024

IT HASN’T been an easy summer
in the garden.
Exceptionally unsettled weather
has occurred in all parts of New
Zealand with extremes of heat,
wind and rain. Regardless of
this, February is still a significant
month for harvesting crops and
reaping the benefits of your hard
work both in the home orchard
and vegetable garden.
Summer salad vegetables
should be at their peak this
month. Ensure plants are regularly
watered to maintain healthy
growth, especially cucumbers,
tomatoes, lettuce and radishes.
Other typical summer veges include
beans (climber and dwarf),
aubergines, courgettes, beetroot,
corn, onions, peppers and pumpkin,
and should all be ready to
harvest.
Remove any plants that have
cropped and finished for the
season to provide room for winter
vegetables (broccoli, brussels
sprouts, cabbages and cauliflower)
which can now be planted to mature
in the early winter. Consider
saving seed from your favourite
summer vegetables, particularly
beans and tomatoes.
Late season’s peaches and plums
are now maturing, and apples
and pears are beginning to ripen,
particularly early varieties such
as gala. Fruit are now forming on
citrus trees (ripening in midwinter).
Ensure all fruit trees are
well mulched to help maintain
soil moisture and reduce weed
growth.
Most strawberry fruiting has
now finished, so allow growth to
provide runners for next seasons
plantings or remove old plants. It’s
possible to obtain a second crop
on raspberry plants in February,
especially if old wood has
been removed after the first crop.
Continue tying up new season’s
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Dealing with extreme weather
BUMPER CROP: Summer greens should now be ready for harvesting.
growth for next season’s crop.
Almost all herbs thrive in the
hot sunny summer months.
However, a number do flower and
go to seed in late-February so remove
and replace with fresh new
plants. You can also gather leaves
for drying which is easy to do.
Simply place the leaves in a shallow
tray in a dry, sunny, sheltered
position. Leave them for about
two to three weeks, which should
be sufficient time for drying.
February provides the peak of
display for summer annuals that
thrive in the hot summer months,
like cosmos, marigolds, petunias,
salvias, portulacas and zinnias.
Plant ‘potted colour’ to brighten
up containers or special parts
of the garden. Continue deadheading
plants to help maintain
continuous flowering.
Keep roses well-watered and
apply mulch to keep moisture and
nutrients in.
Wednesday February 21 2024 Selwyn Times
GARDENING 29
Get your
garlic in
the ground
WE ALL know garlic wards off
vampires, but did you know it also
keeps away aphids, apple scab,
leaf-curl and mosquitoes?
Crush a few cloves, soak in a
litre of water for a couple of days
and use as a spray to keep at bay
ants, spiders, caterpillars and cabbage
and tomato worms too.
And, did you also know, it’s said
to provide many health benefits
I’m not qualified to list?
To put it simply, garlic’s right up
there with marigolds as the companion
plant every garden should
have and it is soon time to plant it.
Look for a well-drained spot –
pots, hanging baskets or any available
space in your raised garden
will suit.
If you’re growing it for its
guardian capabilities, plant it next
to your roses to ward off aphids,
beneath apple and peach trees to
prevent apple scab and leaf-curl,
and next to your tomatoes to protect
against red spider.
Dig in some compost, and
nitrophoska blue fertiliser or use
a potting mix if you’re planting in
baskets or pots.
Plant single cloves twice the
depth of the actual clove, compost
over the top and don’t fill in with
soil. Then harvest later in the year.
It’s as easy as that.
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