SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2009

My apologies to all keen gardeners for missing last month’s letter to you all. I do have a very good excuse. A lovely lady called Mary interviewed me last September about Weathersfield herbs and seedlings and how the business developed and this was published in the August issue of Lifestyle Block Magazine. This generated mind blowing interest in our franchised business and we received over 80 email enquiries, to which I sent a personal reply. This has resulted in a further 7 franchisees coming on board  with both the  greens growing systems and the herb and vegetable franchises, some deciding to take the two combined. The good news from this is by summer’s end our seedlings will be available almost nationwide with only 3 areas in each of the North and south Islands not taken at the time of going to the web.
Let’s get on with the good things happening in the great outdoors. We are having a lovely warmish spring over most of the country and this unusual weather is resulting in plants being ready to go out in the garden about a month earlier than usual, this includes tomatoes, basil and the cucurbits.
We would usually recommend delaying the planting of these till October, but our test plantings at the original nursery in Kaukapakapa has these growing well in a sheltered spot. The main thing to be alert for are the hungry waking up slugs and snails. These will be out in force on any dewy or rainy night and boy are they hungry, having been hibernating all winter.
The easiest way to control these pests is to go out armed with a torch and a bucket with some salt in it and collect the beggars up, around about 9 pm is a good time.  If you can reduce the population early in the season, you will be ahead of the game and give your precious little seedlings a good start.
If you are plagued with pesky cats, use your rose or other prickly prunings as protection for new plantings until they are big enough. No prickles then use short lengths of twig poked in the ground amongst them – makes toileting very tricky and uncomfortable so they will go elsewhere
Back to the garden. If you had the foresight to plant asparagus a couple of years ago, you will be harvesting the first plump spears which will be unsurpassed for flavour and sweetness, like sweetcorn, the sugars in asparagus start converting to starch on picking so the faster it gets from the garden to the table the sweeter it will be and is a real taste treat chopped either uncooked or quickly blanched and cooled, straight into a fresh green Spring salad. Once you taste home grown fresh, you will be reluctant to use store bought. It is an easy plant to grow and very rewarding – I was in an organic shop today and was stunned to find that this easy to grow veg was selling for about $1 a spear, so, so far this season, we have had over $100 worth of asparagus spears from our small patch – only 10 plants of harvesting age at this stage but more planted ready to pick next year.
If you wish to start your own patch, pick a nice sunny spot, allowing for rows about 50cm apart with 35/40cm between plants. We grow certified organic plants in pots which will be available for planting out after Christmas. Your asparagus patch has an expected life of 15-20 years, so be sure you are happy with where you site it, they don’t like to be moved about like chess pieces.
If using a piece of lawn, cover with a thick layer of newspaper or old corrugated cardboard then stack lots of animal manure and compost to a depth of about 150mm. This will smother the weeds (baring kikuyu which will survive all most anything. This is best dug out and then left to dry in the sun. Once you are sure it is dead, it can be added back to the heap) the patch will be ready for planting after a couple of months.  If you have a good supply of worms, they will quickly convert the heap into a lovely potential asparagus patch.
This plant is very easy to care for. I have looked after my patch for the last 8 years as follows - leave the patch un-weeded or watered ( unless dry for more than 6 weeks, then I put the sprinkler on for  about an hour), from the end of harvest (approximately the end of October) till about July. I then cut down the fronds that have had the job of providing food for the plant and helping to build up its strength for the next harvest, weed, cover with a layer of rotted animal manure and good quality compost (about 10cm) If you are lucky to have some seaweed, chop this and add over the top, no need to wash the salt off, asparagus likes a little salt. After harvest, repeat the compost layer. I do a little weeding from July to the end of the harvest, but that is all. So get organised for next year.
The method used to make an asparagus patch can be used to make a new vegetable garden very quickly. If you want to be very neat and tidy, an edging can be put in place – old untreated timber, bricks, or specially bought ground durable untreated timber such as gum or Macrocarpa. My asparagus patch has just been upgraded with a nice Macrocarpa edging.
If you mix some good soil (weed free for preference) into the compost mix, you can now start planting some spring greens out. Boost fertility with the addition of some blood and bone or a little well rotted chicken manure and some straw to increase the carbon balance. If you are lucky enough to have a productive worm farm, vermicast is one of the best things you can mix in or use as a side dressing for your transplants.
A great way to get your zucchinis, pumpkins, cucumbers off to a good start is to make a heap of animal manure (about a 10 litre bucket full) and cover this with about 7-10 cm of soil. Make a depression in the top and plant into this, the heat from the decomposing manure will give added warmth to the seedlings and get them off to a flying start (this method was used in England during Victorian times to grow pineapples – stable cleaning were collected and these heated up and provided the plants with enough heat for the to actually fruit!!)
Happy growing!