It has been a great delight planting out our first batch of brassicas (as well as a few more lettuces and rocket) due to preparing our garden beds last month. Taking off the covers, giving the soil a little fluff up with a fork, and in went the little seedlings very easily. I applied our multi-mineral fertiliser round each plant, did a good water, and on with the nets so the birds don’t upset it all.
April is a good time to plant celery and broad beans. I don’t usually plant these two crops because we end up with too much of both. This year, however, I’m involved with our local community garden, so I thought a-ha, that’s where I’ll grow them and then I can take only what we need when they mature. I have to admit to cheating with the celery and buying the seedlings. Here’s Rob planting out celery. I’ll sow some watercress seed, however, to grow round them.
I have sown the broad bean seed though, all of which has come up, and these plants can go out in the next week or so when they’re a bit bigger.
We’ve had great success with the germination of carrot seed at the community garden
and while mine here is a bit patchy,
it just shows how important sowing in the right season is. Carrots definitely like it a bit cooler.
Some of you may have managed to plant out leek seedlings last month, but ours were looking a bit underdone. So I’ve done what I did a couple of years ago, on Rob’s recommendation, and that is to put them in the garden as if they were in the punnet still, clumped together to grow on.
The onion seedlings are doing better (albeit a little battle hardened!),
so this year I’ll be planting onions and leeks out at the same time. I’m aiming for later this month in the Full Moon. I am definitely not attempting garlic this year!!
If you have spare space in your garden now, you can get a green manure crop in. Examples are blue lupins, mustard, oats or a special green manure mix that many seed companies make up. I sow a green manure seed in a different bed each year, so this year it’s the turn of the bed that’s got our kumara in.
I’m thinking the kumara will be ready for harvest in the Last Quarter at the end of this month, so more on sowing green manure crops next month.
In the meantime, lookee here at our Granny Smith tree.
That’s why this month’s recipe is Apple Tarte Tatin! It’s said that green apples are a better source of vitamins A, B, C, E and K than red apples, and that green apples contain more iron, potassium and protein than red apples. As well, green apples may contain slightly more fibre and less carbohydrates than red apples. But there are all sorts of wonderful heritage apples out there which probably debunk these comments.
Happy autumn gardening!
From Jan and Rob
7 Responses
Thank u so much for ur blog. I am starting a comunity garden and run gardening lessons for kids at school and a blog gets published in newsletter that reaches wider comunity.
Wonderful to hear Chloe 😊 All the best with your community garden 👍
Yep, I’m not attempting garlic this year either! Sometimes I see ‘NZ grown organic garlic’ in the shops and really wonder how they get such big bulbs and beat the dreaded rust.
I think the people who grow those great bulbs live in the South Island where it can be nice and cold during the growing period 😊
I am concerned that the caI ender has the full moon on the 21st of April . Look out the window tonight April 12th and you will see a full moon.
Oh dear I do apologize I was reading the calendar incorrectly.
Hi Annie Just seen your message, apologies. Yes, the moon phase is at the bottom of the dates. You’re not the first person to do this 😊