The Kitchen Gardener’s Year - Winter/August
Winter in the vegetable garden - August in NZ and February in the northern hemisphere
I do love this quote by Patience Strong where she is perfectly describing this month. Although it is still winter, the promise of spring is in the air. The winter narcissi are flowering and the classic harbinger of spring, the daffodil will be out soon if not already depending on your climate. There are lambs frolicking on the hills and you may find that with the occasional warm springlike days we will get this month your own sap will start rising and you want to get out there and garden! But hold your horses for a bit longer. Get excited of course but channel that into this list of “P” things to do this month.
Plan. Yes - planning what you are going to sow or plant and where is such a great thing to do It will save time and money in the long run. If you haven’t got your copy of the Crop Rotation Poster yet you can get one here. I designed this because I was always trying to figure out what to plant where and when and what plant went with what other plant. So it is a great time saver and will give you a good guide about what to do and when - especially if you are a beginner. Get the kids involved to decide what you want to grow this year, look through the seed catalogues and make your orders.
Prepare - the more you can tend your soil at this end of the season the more successful your vegetable beds will be. If you haven’t already done so, get in and dig over your beds, removing any perennial weeds such as dock and couch, add plenty of manure and compost, dig in green crops, turn over winter mulches, add blood and bone and depending on what you plan to grow, some lime. Leave the beds to settle and for the earth worms and all the microcosms in a healthy soil to do their work. Check the Crop Rotation plan for specific treatment of each bed for the season. If you don’t already have a vegetable garden, then now is the time to make one.
Potting Shed. Get yourself organised. If you are a seed sower, you will need to make sure your trays are ready, you have potting mix in, you have your labels, marking pen (you know how I feel about labelling) and anything else you might need. Clean and tidy your potting shed. Recycle your old seed trays by washing in a 1/10 bleach solution. Clean and sharpen tools, buy some seed raising mix and get your seeds ready for planting. You still have time to order online from Kings Seeds or just purchase from your local nursery.
Potatoes are on my mind this month and you can now set out seed for chatting. That’s an old-fashioned way of saying “sprouting”. It just means that you get a head start on the season by pre-sprouting the tuber to get a jump on the season. If you live in a cooler area like I do, you can warm up the ground from now on with a frost cloth, black polythene or whatever you have available while your wait for the weather to warm up a bit. Potatoes are actually sub-tropical plants so doin’t like the frost at all , which is why they are not usefully planted until the threat of frost has pass. I use old egg cartons and put the end with the ‘eye” looking up at the top, then pop in a warm light place to get them started.
Peas. The other stars of the month will be broad beans and peas. Broad beans, unlike the French or bush varieties, prefer cool soil and will germinate at low temperatures so you can put them in now. Peas also prefer cool temperatures and you can start sowing this month, and then a couple more succession sowings each 3-4 weeks between now and spring.
Finally- pruning. If you havne’t done so already, finish pruning your fruit trees and roses and hydrangeas. Don’t make it too complicated - if you do nothing else, prune for shape and keeping the plant open to allow air flow. Check last months notes on currants and berries to remind yourself of what fruits on what age branches.
So there are a few “P” words to give you Plenty to do this month. Some indoor jobs and some outdoor. If its a nice warm day, do something outside. Otherwise, sit by the fire and go through the catalogues and dream!
Jobs for this Month
Sow. Globe artichoke, beetroot, broccoli, cabbage, cauli, silverbeet, spinach, turnip – all can be sown in trays in a warm sheltered position. Sow broad beans, peas, coriander direct into ground. Sow indoors; artichoke, celery, lettuce, leeks. Sow herbs like coriander, parsley and thyme.
Plant: Garlic can still go in.
Cultivate: Weed and fertilise around growing plants.
Harvest: Silverbeet, spinach, broccoli, cabbage, leeks, parsnips, winter lettuce and mizuna.
Prepare: Beds for asparagus plants, rhubarb and your potting bench for spring sowing.
Flowers; I like to mix up flowers with veges particularly the cheerful ones that attract beneficial insects. That way you get a gorgeous looking garden and make the lives of the little creatures so necessary to good natural gardening so important. This time of the year you can sow Zinnia, marigolds, calendula, pansies, poppies, cosmos.
Herbs; Parsley, coriander, tansey,
Pruning: time to prune roses and hydrangeas.