Time to get root crops in and most importantly, parsnips. They grow all over summer and are ready just in time for the beginning of next winter.
It’s also a good time to sow carrots, beetroot, Florence fennel, spring onions, little turnips, radish and daikon.
I only have room for carrots and parsnips at my place at the moment, but the method is the same for all. Firstly and importantly, use a fork to lift the soil to make sure it’s friable to the depth of a carrot or parsnip. If they have to work too hard to penetrate the soil, they’ll fork and grow in odd shapes.
Then I rake it over to make sure the soil is nice and fine for the seeds. Using the end of the rake, make furrows, then sprinkle in your seeds reasonably generously.
Knock back the sides of the furrows with the rake head, and tamp it all down firmly.
I apply some Morganics fertiliser over the bed at this stage, but you could have worked in during the forking as an alternative. Water and net.
Carrot and parsnips are a little bit tricky to germinate – the keys are to sow fresh seed (not last year’s) and keep the patch moist at all times.
Next, I’m putting kumara on to grow slips (for those of you in warmer climates). I’m giving my last big kumara to the community garden to grow slips from and keeping another big one for one last meal, so there are just little ones left for our slips. This little one is already on the job with sprouts emerging.
Mix sand or pumice sand in equal measure with potting mix. Put two-thirds of the mixture in the bottom of a container (with holes in the bottom), lay in the kumara and fill with the remaining third. Make sure the kumara are completely covered.
Now’s the time we recommend feeding our fruit trees.
We only feed our deciduous trees once a year in spring, but the evergreens get another feed in autumn. The ingredients we use for feeding are chicken manure (sheep pellets are just as good), our Morganics fertiliser (equal amounts of N, P and K), and grass clippings to keep it all under control.
Ideally you fertilise trees around their dripline as that’s where the end of the roots are and where they’ll benefit from the fertiliser most. We’ve put the chicken manure closer to the tree trunk because it’s messy when you have grass round your trees as it can get caught up in the mower and end up anywhere. We cover the chicken manure with the grass clippings. But the Morganics can be applied around the dripline as it’s fine and easily absorbed in the surrounding grass. Do this for all your fruiting trees.
I’m following the regime we set up last year to keep guava moth off our feijoas (for those in warmer climates again sorry!). I’m emptying out the Neem granules in the little bags from last year onto the ground, although I expect it’s done its dash. Making new bagfuls and hanging them in the trees. This is to confuse the guava moths’ sense of smell which attracts them to the sweet smell of the fruit.
Scattering more Neem granules under the trees as Neem disrupts the development of the larvae that fall to the ground to pupate.
Chicken manure, Morganics, grass clippings – this is just feeding the trees.
Then a spray of Btk which I’ll repeat every 3-4 weeks. We had a great season last year, but I know part of that was due to the good rainfall over summer. Expect that not to the case this year.
And finally we have a BIG pile of biomass collected from a good crop of brassicas this winter. So it’s time to make a hot compost. Apart from the spent crops which form the biomass, we have freshly cut grass, egg cartons, used coffee grounds, chicken manure, Morganics and some well broken-down mulch (could be fresh mulch or soil or old compost).
My layering goes biomass, grass clippings, egg cartons, chicken manure, Morganics, coffee grounds, mulch. Then water it in.
I repeat this three times, then cover it with black plastic so the pile doesn’t fall over and the black plastic helps to heat it up. You can use a tarpaulin. Doesn’t have to be secured like how I’ve done it, but I do it to keep it tidy.
Unexpectedly got a cache of peas this morning – they are sugar snap peas, so you eat the casing and all, but some of these will need to be shelled as they’re a bit big and the casing will be tough.
Happy Spring gardening!
From Jan and Rob
6 Responses
Lovely, thank you 🙏🏻
Thank you too for the Organic gardener’s Calendars. I put one up every year on my kitchen cupboard. I cut the front cover off, and turn it over, so I can see what to do in the Moon Cycles, and I stick it underneath the Calendar. It is very helpful to know what we can do during the moon’s cycles. Now that I get it every year, I cut the cover off the year before’s calendar, and use that instead of cutting up the new calendar🌞
Great idea! Thanks for the tip Diane 💚
Thank you dear Jan and Rob,
Your advice is always so timely,
I’ve just ordered more morganics and some BTK …can I spay that on my existing brassica’s? …there seem to be a lot of white butterfly’s around all of a sudden.
I’ve ordered more of your wonderful calendars too. I am constantly referring back to mine and I write what I’ve been up too. They make a great gift also. I attribute much of my garden success to your wonderful advice.
Bless you guys and your crops this summer,
Thank you Sarah – appreciate your feedback. Yes Btk will work well on the white butterflies flying around your brassicas 😊
I see Diany Lowe writes about your gardening calendar which includes the moon cycles. Where can I get one of these. I am very keen to look at gardening by the moon but there is very little out there?
Dorothy Kennard
Hi Dorothy If you’re happy to buy online, here’s the link for our 2027 calendar… https://organicediblegarden.co.nz/product/the-2027-organic-gardeners-year-calendar/ Or if you prefer, you can always order directly from us by emailing info@organicediblegarden.co.nz 😊