I notice the days are drawing out a little as it is a while now since the shortest day, yes, true not wishful thinking.
What fantastically warm days we have been experiencing this week with temperatures some times higher than the North Island. The warm days really get those spring bulbs pushing through.
This week I have spent another good percentage of my time raking out old leaves, will autumn ever be a distant memory? It is important to get leaves out of every nook and cranny during winter because bugs are looking for places like this to winter over. Once leaves have been removed from the base of roses, hydrangea's and other deciduous plants I am applying manure enriched compost, (not covering the base trunks) to be there in readiness for spring feeding.
I continue to re-sawdust rough pathways which is freshening these areas up and allowing me to find a lot of self sown plants in the old saw dust topping. Every seedling has a future in my garden.

At this time of the year I like to write about the benefits of raised gardens as there is not a lot happening except pruning and cleaning up.

Time to spend gardening is limited for young families today but I am sure most would love to grow their own fresh produce.
Raised gardens are the saviors of gardeners with limited time or poor soil. The basic idea of a raised garden is instead of battling against poor soil conditions, why not build up new soil above ground where you have complete control.

Advantages of a Raised Bed Garden

Raised gardens warm quickly in spring, allowing you to work the soil and plant earlier.
Being raised they drain better.
No compaction of soil, because they are not walked upon.
It's easy to tailor the soil to suit the plants in a raised bed.
Contained raised beds are not difficult to construct using wood or (here in North Otago) Oamaru stone seconds as a surround. If you need time to think about a permanent position for a raised beds you could make some using straw bales as surrounds for a year. Once in place to the size required fill them with soil and compost and plant out.
A sunny location is a must for growing vegetables and herbs.
Access around all sides with a wheel barrow is recommended for ease of maintenance, keep the garden around four feet wide, this way you can access the middle.
Access to water is essential,with drainage being greater raised gardens need good soakings.

A raised bed of six inches above the soil is enough to grow leaf vegetables and herbs and at least ten inches for root veg but I don't see the sense in not raising it to a height that will reduce the amount of digging and bending you do.

keep an eye on what is on offer for planting now, this is the very best time for choice when buying deciduous tree's and shrubs and I see an abundance of fresh new bedding and vegetable plants on offer now.

Gardening by the moon
LAST QUARTER
Saturday, 21 July 2012
Garden:
Check out new and inspirational books! Time to do lots of dreaming about your garden goals for the year to come and get your creative juices flowing.
Sharpen garden stakes, trim pea stakes, prepare labels, check all cloche and cover materials as well as all netting hoops and bird covers. Make sure you have enough seedling trays to get you through Spring.
Make up hot beds if you will be needing them for peppers, eggplants, tomatoes and other early crops next month.. 20cm of horse manure (insulated underneath with hay) and some sand on top will decompose slowly and get your seedlings off to a good start. Some insulating hay around the
seedling trays will also help.

Orchard:
Plant fruit tress
Prune fruit trees
Manure and prune fruit trees, remember all of our fruit trees could probably do with available calcium and phoshate . There are good all round fertilisers on offer for fruit trees. If you have had issues in the past with lots of flowers and not much fruit and you know you have the bees and the pollinator trees the correct mineral balance will ensure fruit set.
Prune tie and de-sucker, manure and mulch,, berry fruits, blueberry, cranberry, blackberry, loganberry, raspberry, currants, etc( if not already done)
Prune tamarillos that have finished cropping.

The week before last there was a mention in the moon section regarding HIGH BRIX potatoes,
this would have been a ponder for most!! I normally leave that scientific information out of my notes...stick to the basics is my policy!
I take the planting by the moon notes from those who know more about it than I and leave out what is not relevant to the home gardener but failed to exclude this ....High Brix is reference to a measure of the carbohydrate level in plant juices and plant density, a High Brix measure claims to produce heaver crops.


Cheers, Linda.