Ruud Kleinpaste: This weekend in your garden

Seeing we’re getting well into autumn, it might pay to have a look at some of the urgent things we need to do in the garden. 

Warmer areas that are usually covered with passionvine hoppers, might want to go on the hunt for their egg-laying sites on tendrils of climbing plants and thin old growing tips of salvias and such perennial plants. Cut the egg-scars off the plants and burn them in the Ultra-Low emissions burner.

Now is also a good and safe time to prune citrus; the lemon tree border beetle is not around anymore, so they won’t be able to lay eggs on the pruning scars. Do it ASAP so the scars can heal before late spring, when the beetles are looking for oviposition sites again.

Crops to plant for winter and spring:

Peas: I am hoping to get another harvest in my tunnel house before the Canterbury winter really sets in. But even if they don’t flower and set seeds (peas) they’ll pick up the job again in spring.

Cabbages: Any of the 'brassicaceae' usually do a great job over winter: broccoli, cabbage, kale, cauliflower – whatever spins your wheels.

Perpetual spinach: This is my preferred version of silverbeet or chard, simply because it is a softer foliage and stem that works well in my favourite oven dish with rice, onions, some mince, tomatoes and heaps of parmesan cheese. Of course you could also use the original spinach.

Carrots: Good to sow now too and will readily germinate if the soil is still relatively warm; of course leave them in the ground when they are ready to harvest in winter. It’s the best place to “store” them; nice and cool with plenty of relative humidity.

Broadbeans: Sown in autumn, they will “hang in there” during winter, so that you jump the gun a bit on early harvest in spring.

And talking about peas and beans: sweet peas, sown in April will do a great job next spring or summer (depending on whether they are spring or summer-flowering varieties). In areas with mild winters you can get away with sowing them in mid-winter.

The range of colours available is fabulous, look out for Keith Hammett’s varieties.

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