Gardening in North Otago July 22nd 2014

I see the days are drawing out a little since the shortest day, yes, true not wishful thinking, I notice the daily pattern because I am out there freezing at one with nature most day's, but
must admit my starts are not as early as in the other seasons!

This week I have spent another good percentage of my time raking up 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 to be there in readiness for spring feeding.

I continue to re-sawdust rough pathways, freshening these areas up is allowing me to find a lot of self sown plants in the old saw dust topping which I delight in potting up.

My hellebore's are up and looking lovely on their own after having all last years leaves removed, blue bells and tulips are pushing through, and the leucodendrons and erica's are standing out beautifully amongst the majestic winter starkness of deciduous trees and shrubs.

As there is not a lot happening right now with lawns and in gardens, I thought I would write about the benefits of raised gardens.
With life being so busy today for most young families I can see how gardening time becomes limited but I am sure most would love to grow their own fresh produce.
Raised gardens may be the answer rather than a great patch of ground level veg garden, why not build a couple of easily constructed raised gardens.

Advantages of a Raised Bed Garden
Raised beds warm more quickly in spring, allowing you to work the soil and plant earlier.
Raised beds drain better than ground level gardens.
The soil in raised beds doesn't get compacted, because they are constructed with accessibility in mind and it's easy to tailor the soil for your raised bed to the plants you plan to plant.
Contained raised beds are not difficult to construct using wood or Oamaru stone seconds as a surround.
If you need time to think about a permanent position for raised beds you could make some using straw bales as surrounds for a year.
A sunny location is a must for growing vegetables and herbs, and access around all sides with a wheel barrow is recommended for ease of maintenance.
Restrict the width to four feet, this way you can access the middle.
Access to water is essential,with drainage being greater in raised gardens, they need good soakings.
Even 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 benefit the amount of digging and bending you do.
Once in place to the size required fill them with compost enriched soil and plant out.

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.
Cheers, Linda.