Don't Hang Up Those Gardening Gloves Just Yet

Don't Hang Up Those Gardening Gloves Just Yet

Winter is well and truly upon us and for those of you who love the taste of your own home grown veges you need not despair as your garden can be in full production all the way through to spring. There really is no need to visit your local fruit and vege shop if you dont mind getting out in the cold and setting up your garden for winter. For the die hard gardener it's never really too cold to garden. Winter gardening is never as full on as the warmer seasons and there are plenty of vegetables that grow just fine in the colder months just as long as the frosts are not too severe and frequent where you live.

The likes of silver beet, cabbages, broccoli, lettuce and spinach will all flourish when planted correctly in your winter garden. Just be sure to always select a variety of seed for each vegetable that indicates it can be planted in winter months. For old school gardeners out there, planting rhubarb is another great way to keep your family smiling during those cold winter nights with a selection of rhubarb dessert recipes including the staple kiwi tradition, the mighty rhubarb pie.

If you have a garden that is affected by occasional heavy winter frosts you can make use of the left over 2.25ltr plastic bottles sitting around in your recycler. Simply remove the lids and cut the bottom out of them, they make fantastic free glass houses. Simply push them into your soil over the top of your young plants to protect from the elements. They even stop the slugs and snails eating them before you do as they cannot traverse the edges of these types of vessels.

There are many other free items you can use to fashion a mini glass house for your young plants. There are old window frames, old fish tanks or you can even construct your own using some wooden stakes and some clear polythene. If you can keep your young plants frost free you will soon be enjoying the fruits of your efforts.

Winter gardens generally have a lot of green waste left lying around from your summer harvests and fallen leaves so now is an excellent time to start making that rich compost in time for spring. For those readers who do not have a purpose built compost setup a plastic drum with both the top and bottom cut off makes truly fantastic compost. Simply scrape some surface soil away to allow the worms to enter and fill with a mixture of grass clippings, vege scraps, old leaves and dead foliage with a few layers of newspaper in between.

Drill a few holes around the base and once a week slide the drum up to expose the composting material and then shovel it back into the drum. After about 4-6 weeks you should have some beautiful rich compost all ready for your spring growing. To store it simply place it into some black rubbish sacks and keep in a warm dry place.

Gardening Services Auckland are your local growing specialists. With over 30 years of Auckland growing experience they are the experts on what to grow and when.

ENDS

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