Gardening – Springing into action

A sure sign that spring is here is the strong flush of asparagus spears that are shooting up with great vigour. We get lots of spears off the older bed that was planted back in 2012, more than enough for the two of us. About five or six years ago, we planted some more, but these were transplanted into our new garden last autumn, so we won’t take many spears off these this year and any that emerge will be left to form ferns while they recover.

The asparagus get royal treatment in my garden, as they are one of my favourite vegetables. Until you’ve tasted asparagus picked the same day from the garden, you’ll never know how truly delicious, juicy and sweet they can be. Every day of storage, even in the fridge reduces the flavour and toughens them.

Before the spears started coming up, about half a barrow-load of good compost per plant was spread over the bed as a layer over the top. Then a liberal sprinkling of sheep pellets (a couple of cups per plant) was added. Over this was laid a mulch about 5-10cm thick of seagrass – this crop loves the extra salt that this mulch provides.

This time of year is the most important time for sowing seed. Seedlings germinated now set the foundation for a good growing season throughout summer and into autumn. I started sowing the cooler climate crops back in August, and this week I’ve still been busy sowing seed of carrots, peas, snow peas, lettuce, spring onions, Bok choy, beetroot, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, radishes, spinach plus various herbs and flowers for my food forest. They’ve all gone into my cool greenhouse in trays on the floor to get a bit of extra warmth and protection from blustery spring conditions. Later sowings will just stay on the outdoor table in the sun, as the greenhouse fills up with tomatoes and chillies.

I’ve sown several varieties each of beans, zucchini, corn, tomatoes, chillies, eggplant, capsicums and subtropical herbs and flowers such as basil. These have gone into the warm greenhouse on a heat pad to get the best germination and get them away early. I’ll hold them in the greenhouse till the soil warms more outside (or I run out of room!).

The key to getting good early crops is to keep potting them up as they grow in the greenhouse, then planting them out around Labour Weekend. By that stage they will be decent-sized plants, and the soil should have warmed enough to not shock them too much. Melons, squash, eggplants and pumpkins are the last to be sown, as these are the most cold sensitive. Planting out in November is the best time for these.

Tuber crops such as yacon and potatoes can be planted now. Indeed, early potato crops tend to be the best producers in our area, as they can be harvested before Christmas and before the dreaded tomato/potato psyllid gets active. Any old kumara tubers that are lying around are ideal to place in a warm area with damp conditions to get the slips (new shoots) started. These can be removed off the tuber and are planted out ideally in November.