Winter has come - protect fragile young citrus, tamarillo and passionfruit by making frost shelters.
Brighten up your winter outdoors by planting rainbow stemmed chards, daphne, azaleas and hellebores and stake up broad beans.
Brighten up your winter outdoors by planting rainbow stemmed chards, daphne, azaleas and hellebores and stake up broad beans.
In the Veggie Patch
- In go the strawberry plants, asparagus crowns, shallots and garlic. Snip and plant runners off existing strawberries. Plant asparagus crowns around 50cm apart. Place garlic cloves 10cms apart and 5cm deep, in their upright position (the wide root side facing down and pointed end facing up).
- Stake or build supports around broad beans as they grow
- If frost is an issue, build frost shelters for young citrus, tamarillo plants and passionfruit vines. Frost cloth or newspaper is also a cheap and easy option on the nights where the temperature dips
- For eye-catching colour in the vegetable garden plant rainbow stemmed chard
Lawns
- A little mowing and control of porina caterpillar is sufficient during this time
The rest of the Garden
Focus on fragrance and colour:- For delicious scent wafting over the garden for the next month or two, plant daphne bushes, boronias, wintersweet and the very special Daphne Bholua
- Winter Colour: azaleas and early flowering camellias and rhododendrons brighten up the winter garden.
- Witch-hazel, winter jasmine and mahonia are all interesting shrubs that offer yellow tones on dull days
- Plant winter roses (hellebores) in raised beds or on banks to view the remarkable and varied interiors of their beautiful flowers