With the temperatures slipping a notch and the autumn colour becoming a glorious carpet beneath deciduous trees, the garden is settling into early winter.
Now is the traditional time for planting some food favourites, winter flowers and native plants. Some selective pruning can begin now.
Protecting the compost from rats becomes a priority and it’s time to watch out for Jack Frost.
Winter white is a thing! Laying a driveway, path or a bed of white lime chip does brighten the area and increase visibility in low light areas.
Growing food in winter
Mid-winter is a great time to plant strawberries, shallots and garlic. Our Premium Garden Mix is used time after time for great growing results, because it contains fertilisers, and has excellent drainage so the garlic and shallots won’t rot in a wet winter.
When planting strawberries, which are ‘greedy’ for food, I prefer to add some organic fertiliser, so I mix a handful of Dave’s Magic Mix Pellets that contains chicken manure and adds extra nitrogen.
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How to Attract Bees and Care for Herbs in Winter
Keeping the bees around the vegetable patch. Quite soon flowers will start developing on broad beans and citrus plants ready for the bees to do their pollinating work.
Right now, two winter flowering plants are useful for attracting the bees – rosemary with its bright blue flowers, and late flowering pineapple sage which has big red spires.
Mint is a great herb for flavouring Asian dishes, tea, coleslaw – the list is endless. However, this is a plant that creates an extensive network of roots, gradually limiting the leaf growth and encroaching on other plant roots.
Dig out the mint, take the secateurs to the roots leaving just a small amount before replanting. Even when the mint has been grown in its own pot; this should be done every two or three years. Replant with Premium Garden Mix.
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Winter Compost Care and Olive Tree Maintenance
In winter the compost bin becomes an attractive home for rats. Because it’s cooler, refrain from placing food in the bin as it will take much longer to break down thus providing a food source for the rodent family.
Peppermint is not a smell that rats like, so planting peppermint geranium around the bin can help deter them. You’ll find it in the herb section of the garden centre, or better still, grow from cuttings.
Adding lime around olive trees: Not all trees prosper in the naturally acidic soil we have in New Zealand. A handful of garden lime around the olive trees now the fruit has gone, will work its way into the soil. Fertilise with blood and bone in late July.
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Winter Gardening: Compost, Flowers and Spring Bulbs
Not into DIY compost? Premium Compost is a great brew! I am loving the results I had with every tree and shrub that I spread it around last year, so I am currently doing it again, around all the plants that have finished flowering or cropping, everything in pots, then I’ll get onto the deciduous and fruit trees and shrubs before they take off again in spring.
Get some winter flowers going to cheer things up through the darker days. Cold hardy potted colour includes polyanthus, primulas, pansies and cyclamen. Plant in Premium Garden Mix or Potting Mix and liquid feed to encourage growth. Cut price tulip and daffodil bulbs can be thrown in amongst the flowers for some spring surprises!
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Winter Pruning Tips for Trees and Shrubs
Winter pruning - get the loppers and secateurs fired up! Some of us love to get stuck in on the pruning and shaping. For deciduous trees you do need to wait until the leaves have dropped so you can see the full ‘skeleton’.
Take off inward facing branches to stop congestion and allow light through the trunk. If you want a clean straight trunk remove lower branches up to the desired height, but I only do this as the tree develops a strong network of upper branches.
If the tree is on a lean at the wrong angle, train it back into place by staking. I like to finish with a layer of mulch around the tree.
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Hellebores: Growing Winter Roses in New Zealand
One of the most popular winter flowering perennials is the hellebore (winter rose). Generally, these begin to bloom later this month.
The most grown variety is known as Helleborus x hybridus, with showy drooping flowers in a wide palette of white to soft and dark pinks, plum shades and almost black.
Like emerging bulbs, the crown needs to see sunlight to encourage their spectacular flowers to develop. Trim away older leaves to encourage this.
I like to spread sheep pellets or liquid feed them to give them extra boost, then a layer of fine mulch around the crowns.
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Preventing Root Rot in Winter
Three popular garden plants that are prone to root rot (known as phytophthora), may be suffering from the wet season that we’ve had. In cooler weather this pathogen strikes at the roots of griselinias, daphnes and michelias, with often deadly results.
I mix up Aquaticus Organic Liquid Garden Booster and drench these plants every few weeks over winter. This is because Garden Booster contains an ingredient called trichoderma which is known to fight root rot.
My griselinia hedges are drenched regularly, and they are six years old, so while their roots are in that dreaded Auckland clay, they remain healthy.
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Best New Zealand Native Plants to Plant This Winter
One of the best growing periods for most New Zealand grasses, trees and shrubs is in autumn. This means that there’s quality stock of these plants available now for planting.
New Zealand plants are well suited to our soil, but adding a bit of Garden Mix, especially if your soil is clay, will help them establish.
It’s a lovely time to add a kowhai to the garden to attract kereru and tuis or plant some corokia to offer winter berries to smaller birds. And there’s a huge range of NZ grasses – one to suit every garden soil!
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Using White Lime Chip for Driveways and Garden Paths
Winter White – brightening the garden after dark. Low light, shorter hours of daylight can make certain areas of the garden gloomy. Laying white lime chip as a driveway or a pathway offers a great contrast garden foliage, plus it will help show the way if there is no garden lighting.
Compact the area with a base of GAP 20 and lay 20-30mm of white lime chip on top.
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Frost Protection Tips for New Zealand Gardens
It’s frost season so vulnerable plants in open parts of the garden should be protected on clear, cold evenings. If these plants that are not sheltered by trees, or the house they may become burnt on their uppermost exposed foliage.
Frost cloth, or even sheets of newsprint hold the ice on the cloth, rather than directly on the plant.
Covers should not be removed until the ice has thawed. Edibles such as avocado, tamarillo and citrus trees are vulnerable.
The native rengarenga lily, ferns, pukas and some coprosmas can burn, as do Australian grevilleas.
In all cases do not remove blackened foliage until new growth is evident in September, because this is protecting the undamaged foliage beneath.
