Selwyn_Times: March 06, 2024

Wednesday March 6 2024 Selwyn Times
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
GARDENING 27
Potatoes are ready to be harvested
Vegetables
Your hard work has paid
off – potato crops can now be
harvested, before the tops have
died right away from the plants.
In small gardens, digging early
enables the area to be used for
winter greens, such as silverbeet
or spring cabbage, or for a green
manure crop (oats, peas, lupins)
to be sown.
Once the lower leaves of potatoes
have turned yellow, lift the
tubers and store them in a cool,
dry place away from daylight.
Old drawers or shallow boxes
lined with newspaper are ideal
for potato storage.
The success of winter and
spring crops depends on work
done now. Mulch around the
crops with compost to retain
moisture, feed with liquid manure
to encourage leafy growth
and hoe regularly to control
weeds. Hoeing also exposes to
the air the upper layers of the
soil, where oxygen-loving bacteria
live.
Broccoli can be still planted,
but it is really getting too late
for savoy cabbages or brussels
sprouts.
Fast-maturing hardy asian
vegetables, such as tatsoi, can
still be sown and will stand over
winter.
Pea and bean plants should be
cleared away once their crops
IT’S TIME: Potato crops can now be harvested, before the
tops have died right away.
PHOTO: NZ HERALD
have finished and the plants
added to the compost bin. Turn
the ground over to cover weeds
and rubbish, then sow a green
manure crop or plant with
spring cabbages.
Flowers
Garden centres are now advertising
new stocks of spring bulbs,
so buy early while the greatest
variety is available. Anemones
and ranunculus, both of which
are available in single colours
as well as mixed collections, do
best in deeply dug soil enriched
with decayed manure. This will
hold moisture, but to prevent the
corms rotting, improve drainage
with a layer of river gravel about
50cm below the surface. Plant
anemone corms point down.
Newer strains of ranunculus
include a dwarf form, useful
for growing in pots, although
they need to be kept cool and
well-watered to prevent flower
buds shrivelling and coming to
nothing. The same is true of potted
tulips.
As perennials die down, they
can be divided using a knife or
sharp spade. Perennial phlox and
michaelmas daisies are easily
increased in this way.
Hardy annuals sown now
will fill a gap in the garden
once the spring show of bulbs
is over. Plants that look good in
the garden and as cut flowers
include calendula, cornflower,
annual chrysanthemum, godetia,
larkspur, nigella (persian jewels
is one of the best mixes) and
scabious.
California poppies (Eschscholtzia),
although unsuitable for
picking, thrive in dry, sunny
conditions. As well as the common
orange one, seen growing
wild on river gravels and on
roadsides in parts of the South
Island, there are pink, rose and
cream single and double forms.
Border plants to sow now
where they are to flower next
season include viscaria, alyssum,
perennial german statice (Limonium
tataricum), white smoke,
annual pink pokers statice (L
suwarowii) and candytuft (Iberis
umbellata). Sow seed on a fine
day, after raking the soil surface
to a fine crumb and watering it.
Cover seed lightly. As seedlings
appear, thin them out so each
plant can develop and harden up
before cold days and harsh winds
settle in.
Fruit
Strawberries can still be planted,
although the crop produced
next summer will be smaller
than that from young plants set
out earlier in the month.
June or July is the best time to
transplant fruit trees and garden
shrubs, but it pays to get them
ready for the shift now. This
is done by wrenching, slicing
through the soil with a sharp
spade to cut a portion of the
roots.
To decide where to cut, go out
from the main stem or trunk to
about a third of the distance the
branches spread, then cut about
halfway around the plant and
under the cut as far as the spade
will reach.
The uninjured roots maintain
the plant’s food supply, while the
severed roots begin to form new
rootlets.
When the plant is lifted in a
couple of months’ time, enough
fibrous roots will have formed
after wrenching to take in water
as soon as the plant is in its new
position.
Lagoon
Pools
03 349 2160
0800 92 72 82
PATIos - ouTDoor AreAs - CAr PorTs
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