Hello gardeners. Last month we talked about getting the garden ready for summer by adding as much manure as you could find.
If you have done this then congratulations to you, because with the recent rain you have really done yourself a favour.
With having recently manured your garden, the effects have been three fold; firstly you have added nutrients and organic matter, secondly you have encouraged earth worms and microbial activity and thirdly you have protected the soil from leaching and the physical effects of rain and run off.
If added to your ornamental garden and you would like to add more colour for summer throw in some seeds.
Lupins, cosmos, marigold, zinnia and sun flowers will all come up easily from just throwing seeds on to the surface and watering in and if you are selective with the colour scheme, you can create many rewarding and spectacular Summer long displays.
If you have added manure to an old vegetable patch you can throw in bok choy , lettuce and cherry tomatoes as these will all grow easily in soil that is still breaking down.
You can also plant seeds of zucchini, watermelon, rock melons, cucumber and pumpkin just for starters
If you would like to start a new garden, the process can be just as simple.
When we start a new garden bed at the community garden we begin by laying news paper over the top of the grass.
We use a thickness of about 150 sheets laid in a criss-cross pattern, then we cover this with horse manure, we will also add layers of green waste, stable straw, and other manures.
We try to keep this as moist as we can and this will be ready to plant into after about a month.
After the recent rain we will be keeping an eye out for opportunistic pests. aphids and other sap suckers that are attracted to the fresh growth after rain and can quickly get out of control if you don’t have predators, but you can easily control them organically with white oil or by squashing them with your fingers.
This is an exciting time for getting a variety of plants into the ground, the growing conditions are perfect and it will be well established before the hotter months are upon us.
If you would like to see how the new garden beds are developing, come down to the community garden on the first or third Sunday of the month for our regular working bees and check out what is popping up.
See you in the garden.
