#1 - Nov 2016 - Garden Stuff - © Sandy Lang - slang@xtra.co.nz
SOME BASICS November/December: Late spring/early summer. Frosts are behind us, summer heat is still to come. Your chance to plant some summer vegetables and flowers.
What to plant? Gardening books and the web often assume Auckland’s subtropical climate. Wellington’s not subtropical. A good general guide is look in a local garden centre – they stock plants best suited to our region. Another good guide for Eastbourne (mostly sandy soils, very windy, often shady) is look over the fence at what’s doing well next door - same soil, same microclimate, should produce the same results for you.
What to do? This is a good time to add sheep pellets to feed your plants. Keep competing weeds at bay. Start adding tree-chip mulch once plants are settled in – but not around seedlings or blackbirds will pull them out…
Roots: Roughly half of every plant lives underground – the roots. They anchor it and take up water and minerals. Plants can do without most things for short periods but not without soil water and soil air. Too little water and they dry out, growth slows and maybe they die. Too much water and the soil air spaces fill with water, roots suffocate and the plant may die. A plant regularly suffering sub-lethal drought or sub-lethal waterlogging is more susceptible to disease. So, the aim is to keep the soil not too wet, not too dry.
Soil improvement: A sandy Eastbourne soil holds not much water or minerals. Adding organic matter (dig in compost, spread tree-chip mulch on the surface) will increase both its water and mineral holding capacity. It will also improve drainage.
Watering: You often read to water well, but not too often. That’s fine on a good soil. But not on sand. Heavy watering wastes water which soon runs through to below the rootzone to where the plants can’t get at it. It also carries the soil nutrients down with it (leaching). So, here in Eastbourne, frequent light watering is better…
If you want a summer holiday don’t rely on your neighbour to water your garden. Install an irrigation system. Set it to water every two days. This timing allows any over-wetted soil to drain/reaerate. Best in the early morning. Evening watering means wet leaves overnight, encouraging disease. Daytime watering wastes water. If there’s a watering ban you will have to hand water.___________________________________