Ohhh it's quiet on the planting front but LOTS to do

This is the time of month for cleaning up, clearing up, setting up and tarting up your grounds all in the name of not just looking good but getting the most into and out of your vegetable garden.  

In regard to Moon Gardening - there is not much happening at the moment in the planting department and it is far better to wait and get busy doing something else than force planting that will result in low show later. 

I love these mild winter days, they ease me into the reality that yes summer and autumn are over and are a nice reminder as the days tick by that spring is really not that far away.  Taking the time to set up new garden beds now, trim hedges and prepare multiple composting methods are so important so come September as the barometer rises you are not trying to cram too much into your already busy week and missing out on being ready for the greatest growing seasons ahead.  I prepare for this by composting and mulching now as much as possible.  The break down of your Compost slows down in winter but it doesn't stop; so with plenty of leaf litter, overgrown shrubs and hedges from a wet summer and now the odd raging storm throwing up sea weed, it is a great time to keep on top of stock piling all of this matter for use on your compost heap and as mulches around your plants in the vegetable garden.  

Many people ask me what the big deal is about mulch.  Mulch will keep your garden warm in winter and protect from drying out in spring and summer.  This action of drenching rain and then scorching days on an unmulched garden bed are what help ruin your crop and create frustration in the fight against disesase, insect invasion and weeds.  The most important thing when applying mulch to your garden is to ensure that you sprinkle a handful per square meter of blood and bone on top of your soil first before laying your mulch.   The blood and bone will activate a break down process for the garden soil to use the mulch as food for your plants and will also prevent the mulch from drawing nutrients out of the bare earth it is bedding upon.  It is important to lay the right amount of mulch so it can do its job.  If you have a nice deep mulch it not only will keep the temperature stable your garden will keep your garden pretty much weed free, yay!  I spread my mulch to a depth of 75mm (keeping a clear 10cm ring around each plant so as not to suffocate and cause rot).  I recommend following a model of varying the mulch you lay so as to build up the soil structure in your garden as it breaks down.  Add new mulch layers every 3 months to keep this process rolling along.  Try laying, Lucerne Hay month one, un-rinsed seaweed collected from the latest incoming tide month 3, dampened down Autumn leaves month 6, washed up fine sticks and small leaves from the high tide mark at the beach or river month 9, and so on – you can try this in any order that suits your foraging at the time you start.  

I make it a habit to stroll along the beach before walking home and collect the freshest of sea weed from the latest incoming tide.  This fresh juicy seaweed is the best to take as being lush will break down faster and is easier to chop up to use as mulch or in your compost.  It is important to chop up the seaweed finely.  If the thought of RSI is creeping in right now - rev up your lawn mower; dump the sea weed on your recently mowed lawn and brummm over it for the perfect chopped blend to toss into your compost heap or lay as above as mulch on your garden!  The one thing to add here is to cut the lawn first so as not to add too much fresh green lawn clippings into your seaweed blend.  I had the pleasure of advising a lovely couple last weekend at their Stillwater lifestyle property and I explained the idea of giving your garden a variety of mulch regularly is to provide ‘food’ for the food you are growing – this will result in a more disease resistant garden.  Your plants, like us function better when fed a varied and nutritious diet. 

My big boys have just started their first junk mail paper run to mark the move into suburbia and the desire to earn more pocket money after them achieving a decent profit on selling fire wood just prior to departing the paddocks.  I have been so excited as I walk the streets with them in the early evening; there are so many properties that are boasting vegetable gardens bursting with food and these are just the homes with them on the front lawn.  Another garden that bought a smile to my face was last Saturday at my eldest son’s rugby game in Glenfield.  This property backed on the Rugby grounds car park and it sported a huge vegetable garden complete with worm farms and compost heap.  The thing that struck me the most was the edging of the gardens that were created entirely from inverted empty beer bottles neatly arranged like soldiers retaining the soil to a perfect 15cm height! I thought that was one for the books of kiwi ingenuity!  It is so great to see so many edible gardens in our communities.  If you have a special garden set up please send photos to me through my web site at www.edenliving.co.nz that I can share with our readers and keep us all inspired to keep growing.

Activity dates coming up for Moon Gardening

June 10 – 14 Forget about planting and get busy cleaning, tidying and mulch, mulch, mulch, compost, compost, compost!

June 15 and June 16 are another two days great timing for planting root crops.