Tag: vegetables

Sow below-ground crops after 19th April

Sow below-ground crops after 19th April

Recommended best days for sowing seeds to grow great root crops are

Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st April, then again from Wednesday 24th to Friday 26th April 2019.

Often planting charts talk generally of sowing these seeds during the week after the full moon – which will be on Friday 19th April 2019.

Here in south Auckland the ground is moist and still warmish. According to NIWA seasonal forecast April-June 2019, it’s supposed to be warmer than average, with maybe less rainfall and soil moisture[?]. I wonder if we may still get further growth before the coldest part of the year.

So we are putting in some carrots – I prefer Egmont Gold as it is less affected by carrot fly.

Also beetroot, daikons, radish, parsnip, etc.

Garlic

Garlic can be planted from now with good results. We’ll prepare some areas and start putting the crop in from now onward until the shortest day.

Some years we’ve had great success with this crop – to read how we grew great garlic, go here.

20161207_171407

We’ll choose the biggest bulbs, with the biggest cloves to replant first. The bigger the seed clove, the bigger the food store for the new seedling so it has the best start to grow big and strong.

Then we’ll save the large cloves from smaller bulbs to also plant. [And eat the smaller cloves]

May you and your garden flourish
Heather

 

PS

For more ideas about what to sow and when in NZ, have a look at Tui Planting calendar or at http://gardenate.com    [although I disagree with some of the recommendations as Auckland really is more temperate than sub-tropical we have found]

 

PPS

For more about planting by the  moon phases,

If you like experiments about when to plant for best results, a great one is to plant the same seeds in rows right beside each other [so all other conditions are identical], and label the rows with the date of planting. Then sow seeds from 1 packet at weekly intervals, each week in a new row.

This way you can see how the recommendations for best/worst seed sowing outcomes from moon-planting guides work for you. Maybe they do, and maybe they don’t.

I enjoy experimenting with such ideas – and if only I can rescue the rows from the snails and black-birds, I might even get some results to share!

Here’s a post I wrote about planting by the moon phases if you like more information and reflections on it.

Moon planting guides remind me to plant SOMETHING, plan a little, and help me have a continuous supply!

—

Sow seeds for fruits and flowers before 19th April

Sow seeds for fruits and flowers before 19th April

Autumn here in New Zealand can be such a lovely time.

It’s time we can sow seeds for optimum growth of fruits, flowers and seed production this week after Sunday 13th,

especially Thursday 18th April 2019.

Before the full moon on Friday 19th April 2019.

 

Down-under, here in New Zealand,

The ground is still warm and seeds can germinate quickly. If you haven’t already planted these and have them growing strongly, another sowing can be worth a try. NIWA forecast a late, warm autumn so it’s worth a try still

We can still sow seeds throughout the week of

  • beans – if you can keep them warm. A plastic tunnel was great last year for us to get a good crop into winter. I sow direct and put out snail bait or surround them with plastic cut-off bottles to protect from snails and slugs which love baby seedling legumes. ‘Prince’ dwarf variety is good to grow now.
  • Peas! Maybe it’s time to plant peas again now – they like it cooler so will crop when the cooler weather arrives.  Plant the seeds 3x diameter of the seed to keep them down where the soil will be moister than near the surface where they could still dry out.
  • Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussel-sprouts, kale, etc – seedlings rather than seeds probably would be better now.
  • Flowers – check requirements. Now we can plant flowers which will over-winter – different types to spring planting. Sweet peas! Love them.

20171031_092328

 

This week the moon is growing towards full and the days listed are when many aspects line up to give optimum good germination for strong seedlings. Worth a try I think.

 

May you and your garden flourish
Heather

PS

For more ideas about what to sow and when in NZ, have a look at  http://gardenate.com

 

PPS

For more about planting by the  moon phases,

If you like experiments about when to plant for best results, a great one is to plant the same seeds in rows right beside each other [so all other conditions are identical], and label the rows with the date of planting. Then sow seeds from 1 packet at weekly intervals, each week in a new row.

This way you can see how the recommendations for best/worst seed sowing outcomes from moon-planting guides work for you. Maybe they do, and maybe they don’t.

I enjoy experimenting with such ideas – and if only I can rescue the rows from the snails and black-birds, I might even get some results to share!

Here’s a post I wrote about planting by the moon phases if you like more information and reflections on it.

Moon planting guides remind me to plant SOMETHING, plan a little, and help me have a continuous supply!

—

 

 

 

 

Plant leafy greens after 5th April

Plant leafy greens after 5th April

Lettuces love cooler weather.

And other leafy greens – endive, miners lettuce [not really a lettuce], gotu kola, parsley, rocket, chervil, coriander, etc.

There are so many ways to have the benefit of raw, leafy greens, even in winter.

This is a good time to plant a new lot of lettuce and other greens to provide lovely leaves for many months now the weather is cooler as the days are shorter. And it’s too cold for the caterpillars soon.

Caterpillars in autumn seem to love leafy green lettuces here. Green looper caterpillars created havoc last year. This year I have planted them under an insect mesh net. Let’s see if that is better!

They don’t seem to like the endive or other greens nearly as much as succulent, juicy lettuce.

 

Moisture

It’s such a balancing act – too much moisture [either from over-head rain or watering] makes for constantly wet leaves which touch each other, hold moisture and become slimy or mush – not nice!

Keep them just moist so they can germinate and grow strong roots. Sometimes a tunnel-house or cover can grow  greens well when there is too much rain about. Isn’t Auckland amazing with the amount of rain and warmth we get.

 

Soil temperature

Too cold  and seeds take ages to start to grow.

Try an experiment some time and go out at mid-afternoon and put your hand flat onto soil in full sun and notice how cold/hot it is. Now feel soil in a shaded place. Then choose where best to sow/plant for your crops.

Best times for planting seeds of greens?

After the new moon on Friday 5th April 2019 is the best week to plant for lush leafy greens.

The best days are Sunday 7th – Monday 8th, and again on Thursday arvo 11th – Friday 12 April 2019. 

 

May you and your garden flourish
Heather

PS

For more ideas about what to sow and when in NZ, have a look at  http://gardenate.com

 

PPS

For more about planting by the  moon phases,

If you like experiments about when to plant for best results, a great one is to plant the same seeds in rows right beside each other [so all other conditions are identical], and label the rows with the date of planting. Then sow seeds from 1 packet at weekly intervals, each week in a new row.

This way you can see how the recommendations for best/worst seed sowing outcomes from moon-planting guides work for you. Maybe they do, and maybe they don’t.

I enjoy experimenting with such ideas – and if only I can rescue the rows from the snails and black-birds, I might even get some results to share!

Here’s a post I wrote about planting by the moon phases if you like more information and reflections on it.

Moon planting guides remind me to plant SOMETHING, plan a little, and help me have a continuous supply!

—

Take time out from sowing seeds until after 5th April

Take time out from sowing seeds until after 5th April

Take time out from sowing seeds from Tuesday 26th March 2019 until after the dark of the moon on Friday 5th April 2019. As the moon nears its smallest visible ‘dark of the moon’ phase, this time is associated with spindly, weak growth – wait a week or so.

Do other things instead.

Such as enjoy autumn flowers and seeds in the garden. Or check out what seeds you can save from plants that did well this year.

 If your weather is cold, maybe its a time to:

  • Build a new compost bin – this is a time when lots of annual plants die and are ready to be composted. Big ‘clean-up’ time in our garden.
  • renovate garden beds ready for their next plantings.
  • read up on this next season and seed types to plant for success – they all have their favorite times. Autumn can give great results for sowings.
  • learn more about the optimum conditions to grow GREAT crops of your favorite veg or fruit
  • Plan your next seed sowing, your garden layout, or crop rotation to minimize pest and diseases.

May you and your garden flourish
Heather

 

PS

For more ideas about what to sow and when in NZ, have a look at http://gardenate.com

PPS:

For more about planting by the  moon phases,

If you like experiments about when to plant for best results, a great one is to plant the same seeds in rows right beside each other [so all other conditions are identical], and label the rows with the date of planting. Then sow seeds from 1 packet at weekly intervals, each week in a new row.

This way you can see how the recommendations for best/worst seed sowing outcomes from moon-planting guides work for you. Maybe they do, and maybe they don’t.

I enjoy experimenting with such ideas – and if only I can rescue the rows from the snails and black-birds, I might even get some results to share!

Here’s a post I wrote about planting by the moon phases if you like more information and reflections on it.

Moon planting guides remind me to plant SOMETHING, plan a little, and help me have a continuous supply!

 

 —

Sow below-ground crops after 21st March

Sow below-ground crops after 21st March

Recommended best days for sowing seeds to grow great root crops are

Friday 22nd March through to Monday 25th March 2019 

Often planting charts talk generally of sowing these seeds during the week after the full moon – which will be on Thursday 21st March 2019.

Down-under, if you have cooler weather, and moist soil then you have a good possibility to grow good root crops now. Here in south Auckland we’ve not yet had good rain so the ground needs to soak up water before I’m confident to sow small seeds.

There’s time to put in some carrots – I prefer Egmont Gold as it is less affected by carrot fly.

Also beetroot, daikons, radish, parsnip, etc.

Garlic

Garlic can be planted from now with good results. We’ll prepare some areas and start putting the crop in from now onward until the shortest day.

Some years we’ve had great success with this crop – to read how we grew great garlic, go here.

20161207_171407

We’ll choose the biggest bulbs, with the biggest cloves to replant first. The bigger the seed clove, the bigger the food store for the new seedling so it has the best start to grow big and strong.

Then we’ll save the large cloves from smaller bulbs to also plant. [And eat the smaller cloves]

May you and your garden flourish
Heather

 

PS

For more ideas about what to sow and when in NZ, have a look at http://gardenate.com

PPS

For more about planting by the  moon phases,

If you like experiments about when to plant for best results, a great one is to plant the same seeds in rows right beside each other [so all other conditions are identical], and label the rows with the date of planting. Then sow seeds from 1 packet at weekly intervals, each week in a new row.

This way you can see how the recommendations for best/worst seed sowing outcomes from moon-planting guides work for you. Maybe they do, and maybe they don’t.

I enjoy experimenting with such ideas – and if only I can rescue the rows from the snails and black-birds, I might even get some results to share!

Here’s a post I wrote about planting by the moon phases if you like more information and reflections on it.

Moon planting guides remind me to plant SOMETHING, plan a little, and help me have a continuous supply!

—

Sow seeds for fruits, flowers and seeds before 21st March

Sow seeds for fruits, flowers and seeds before 21st March

Autumn in New Zealand – go for it – sow lots now!

It’s time we can sow seeds for optimum growth of fruits, flowers and seeds this week,

especially Friday 15th March through to morning of Sunday 17th 2019 

Before the full moon on Thursday 21st March 2019.

Down-under, here in New Zealand, the ground is warm and seeds germinate quickly. We finally had good rain, 20+ mm here in Auckland, so the ground is quite moist again – hooray!

If you haven’t already planted these and have them growing strongly, another sowing can be good still.

We can still sow seeds throughout the week of

  • beans – if we are lucky [I sow direct and put out snail bait or surround them with plastic cut-off bottles to protect from snails and slugs which love baby seedling legumes]. ‘Prince’ dwarf variety is good to grow now at the end of the season.  Also worth trying other dwarf beans you like. These are purple tee pee and a butter bean.Beans 20170111
  •  Peas! Maybe it’s time to plant peas again now – they like it cooler so will crop when the cooler weather arrives.  Plant the seeds 3x diameter of the seed to keep them down where the soil will be moister than near the surface where they could still dry out. All sorts of peas – snow peas, sugar snap peas, shelling peas. Our favorites are sugar snap peas.
  • Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, brussel-sprouts, etc
  • Flowers – check requirements as they will be in their seedling stage as weather is still  variable – some like it hot, some don’t. Keep them moist. Now we can plant flowers which will over-winter – different types to spring planting. Such as sweet peas! 2013-11-24 08.30.01-1

This week the moon is growing towards full and the days listed are when many aspects line up to give optimum good germination for strong seedlings. Worth a try I think.

May the weather support growing great plants! 
Cheers
Heather

—

PS:

For more about planting by the  moon phases,

If you like experiments about when to plant for best results, a great one is to plant the same seeds in rows right beside each other [so all other conditions are identical], and label the rows with the date of planting. Then sow seeds from 1 packet at weekly intervals, each week in a new row.

This way you can see how the recommendations for best/worst seed sowing outcomes from moon-planting guides work for you. Maybe they do, and maybe they don’t.

I enjoy experimenting with such ideas – and if only I can rescue the rows from the snails and black-birds, I might even get some results to share!

Here’s a post I wrote about planting by the moon phases if you like more information and reflections on it.

Moon planting guides remind me to plant SOMETHING, plan a little, and help me have a continuous supply!

—

It’s time to sow seeds of leafy greens after 7th March

It’s time to sow seeds of leafy greens after 7th March

Sow seeds for luscious, tender leafy greens this next week – and best days are Monday 11th March and Tuesday  12th 2019 [here in New Zealand]

Orange tree with endive crop

Welcome to autumn!

Time to grow lovely tender greens again – much more easily than through summer.

Let’s hope for good germination!  I will sow seeds of

  • Lettuce – I left many varieties to seed so hopefully some will do well no matter what the weather does this year – hot/dry/cold/wet.
  • Silver-beet [including rainbow chard/ bright light beets – the ones with vibrant colored stems – so stunning to see in a garden] we left to seed in the garden and they are sprouting up now
  • Rocket [Arugula] is tasty rather than bitter at this time. We plant 2 types – the large leaf annual and the stronger, smaller-leaf perennial rocket [some are even coming up self-sown now – wonderful]
  • Mustard greens, or the giant red mustard is pretty nice early in the season before the heat of summer adds too much pepper bite. [also appearing on their own now]
  • Asian greens [assorted] – here they grow well in the cooler months – they grow so fast! We have Mizuna self-seeding. We grow 2 types – an ordinary green one as well as the deep red one – stunning in the garden [for a short time]
  • Endive  We grow 2 types – a broader leaf variety and a lovely fine, frilly variety. They are lovely and tender in cooler months so we enjoy them now. Both grow more slowly than lettuce. [and are appearing themselves now – we left a lot to seed last year]
  • cilantro [leaf coriander] -maybe it will grow lovely leaves rather than bolting to seed now!

This is a great time to have leafy greens grow well – they love cooler, wetter times.

Enjoy delightful salads with a range of leaf types in these cooler months.

May the weather support growing great plants! 
Cheers
Heather

—

PS:

For more about planting by the  moon phases,

If you like experiments about when to plant for best results, a great one is to plant the same seeds in rows right beside each other [so all other conditions are identical], and label the rows with the date of planting. Then sow seeds from 1 packet at weekly intervals, each week in a new row.

This way you can see how the recommendations for best/worst seed sowing outcomes from moon-planting guides work for you. Maybe they do, and maybe they don’t.

I enjoy experimenting with such ideas – and if only I can rescue the rows from the snails and black-birds, I might even get some results to share!

Here’s a post I wrote about planting by the moon phases if you like more information and reflections on it.

Moon planting guides remind me to plant SOMETHING, plan a little, and help me have a continuous supply!

—