Colder climate garden tasks:

Dig and divide rhubarb now. Discard tough, old woody growth and save and replant young, vigorous crowns.

Propagate strawberry runners and replant in well-composted soil or elevated beds or containers. You can buy new plants at this time of year from garden centres, but propagating your own off existing plants is fine, providing the runners are taken from healthy plants.

Put autumn pruning and fallen leaves into the compost heap, adding a good balance of green leaves and material, such as lawn clippings (for nitrogen) to brown leaves and dried shoots (for carbon). Add extra readily available nitrogen, such as blood and bone or sheep pellets, to boost decomposition. Worm farms make a good addition to garden recycling but will not break down all the autumn garden refuse the same way a compost heap can.

Prune berryfruit canes such as raspberries, boysenberries and blackberries. These oldfashioned favourites are worth growing in frosty areas. All the brambles, as they are known, can be pruned after harvest but often it’s best to wait until last summer’s canes have hardened off. This avoids accidentally breaking them as you prune old woody canes out from the base of the plant. The remaining canes will produce next summer’s fruit.

Plant more fast-growing winter greens: Such as spinach, silver beet, rocket and mizuna. They need a good supply of nitrogen, which, because it is slow to move in plants in colder temperatures, needs to be readily available. Add sheep pellets or nitrogen-rich compost. As the plants grow boost with a homemade tea of grass clippings steeped in water. If you live near the sea, add a bit of seaweed for an extra boost. Seaweeds contain gibberellins, the naturally occurring plant substances that promote internodal, or stem, growth.


Plant shallot bulbs to harvest the green shoots during winter as a substitute for chives. Try growing them in a pot near the kitchen so you can nip out and snip some shoots for winter soups and sandwiches.

Copyright © Weekend Gardener: www.weekendgardener.co.nz
For subscriptions and further infomation please go to the Weekend Gardener website.

print