New tasks for Spring
Morena everyone! I hope you had a great week and are cracking into the weekend (I think this is scheduled for 7am so that’s a bit hopeful- I will be in bed at that time).
We are ramping up here, along with the weeds, although I do feel like the afternoons haven’t been as warm as they often are at this time of year. I have successfully killed my initially-hopeful watermelon seedlings- I accidentally left them outside overnight and then over corrected by putting them on a heat mat.
Spring weather
Seeds love to grow in Spring! Spring has everything that they need- it is cold overnight, and first thing in the morning, it tends to rain in the morning and then clear to a hot afternoon (supposedly).
This kickstarts the seeds-
Plants grow slower when it is cold, because their entire circulatory system is a bit like a cold blooded lizard. When it is warm, cells work a lot faster, as does the plant circulatory system. This is fine when the sun is out and photosynthesis can occur, giving the plant heaps of energy, but at night if it is warm the plant continues to grow in the absence of photosynthesis, and therefore the absence of that sweet sweet sun energy. What you are after is cooler times at night, and warmer times during the day, so the plant is working at its best when the sun is out and not expending lots of energy when the sun is down. Spring is that time, woo!
Seeds often need a trigger to germinate. Sometimes it is a flash of sun (lettuce), sometimes it is a bit of water (most seeds), and sometimes it is a temperature change (many seeds). The frequent rains and sunny afternoons trigger growth, as do the cold nights.
The reason we can’t plant many of our plants, however, is that we are always trying to extend the growing season, or grow plants outside of the climates they are used to. Most of those plants can’t cope with the cooler nights and will die in the cold. Even if you put them under a cloche or cover so that they don’t get the worst of it, their roots are in the cold cold ground.
Follow the bare bum rule- if you would put your bare bum on the soil, it is warm enough for your summer plants.
I can only assume everyone naturally wants to put their bare bum on the soil and is waiting for this day.
Some garden tasks
We are still aggressively hacking back ivy, it is a fantastic time of year to really kneecap ivy as it has just started growing, and has put all of its energy into its shoots.
We have been dealing a lot with slug/snail damage, something we will cover in the paid blog this week
We are watering a lot of gardens already! Sigh. I am a bit worried about this Summer- some gardens are so dry already. Remember when planting that you need to make sure to keep checking the soil and deep watering (10-20 seconds of the hose) once a week until the plant can take care of itself.
We have had to stop trimming a bunch of things, jasmine is flowering at this time of year so let it stay fluffy for a while yet! Nicer to have the flowers.
If you have a lot of hedgetrimming to do, remember that this is not a great time to do it. Knocking off some fluffy bits is fine, but many hedge plants like buxus, especially if they are not trimmed often, will struggle all season if you prune them too early. I wait until mid November to touch buxus. Pittosporum balls and hedges, on the other hand, are being trimmed fortnightly already! Corokia/native hedging plants are fine to trim, and anything that is used to a really regular trim will also be fine (but still, not buxus!).
Had to trim this guy (Euonymous) back though- it was coming out way too far. In this case I bit the bullet and did a hard prune.
This is a nice time of year to empty the compost and worm bins and spread whatever you’ve found in there around established plants, or spread thickly on top of the vege garden. Sometimes your compost isn’t quiiiite ready, if I have found this out a bit too late I just dig a hole and bury it.
And lastly, weeding, weeding, weeding. Please, anywhere that you are annoyed about weeding, consider planting more densely with similar plants to what you already have, or mulching. If you can’t mulch it, plant it! And you will end up doing a heckload less weeding because the ground will be better covered.
Aiming for healthier soil
Lately, after hearing a story about someone who regularly empties out unused tea, spices and pantry staples into the garden, I have been thinking a lot about what we can keep adding to the garden, that is easy and available.
Right now I am adding coffee grinds, chicken bedding (sparingly), straw, shredded paper, arborist mulch, leaves and hedge trimmings. I am leaving weeds on top of the soil if they won’t grow back. Aaaand obviously, when I do this, most of the time I am tucking these things behind/under plants so the place still looks nice!
I also listened to the Regenerative Agriculture podcast this week where they discussed Boron deficiency as a cause of pest problems, so I would really like to explore other safe ways to top dress soil with all of the weird and wonderful cast-offs that I acquire as a result of living in the capital city.
Ali, a lovely friend who helps out on the blog, called and asked if I wanted some expired baby formula. She had googled and apparently it is good for the garden, so I emptied it over the vege bed and assumed that the rain would wash it in (rookie mistake! The rain NEVER washes things in).
You will enjoy hearing that every morning I turn on the jug to make a cuppa, and look outside to see a blackbird eating the formula off the top of the soil. I really don’t know how I feel about that, but it is a bit of a sight. Tomorrow my job is to wash it all off because I can’t cope with such a disconcerting view every 6am.
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Anyway! If you have any questions you want me to cover at this crucial point in the growing season, comment or send me an email and I’d be happy to discuss them in a bit of depth over the coming weeks. I never run out of things I feel like you desperately need to know, but maybe I should consider the things you desperately want to know!
I hope that you have a fantastic weekend :)