DOWN TO EARTH: Compost time

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As far as nature is concerned, autumn – or perhaps more aptly named fall – is the best time for composting. Nature deposits a lot of debris at this time of year to rejuvenate the soil and the life there. This is more obvious with deciduous trees and shrubs that lose all their leaves after a colourful show.

Collecting up a good load of fallen leaves and depositing them into a container of sorts (at Fertile Ground we have chicken mesh strung around four standards) will, after a year, produce leaf mould compost. This is ideal for making homemade potting mix.

Other compost options include making a pile on existing vegetable beds, inside the hothouse, or rebuilding old, dilapidated bins. Recycling of crop residues into compost makes sense, and in combination with other inputs like old hay/straw, manures, wood ash, food scraps, grass clippings and other weeds from around the garden, it creates a valuable fertiliser of sorts to replace what has been yielded from the garden soil. Making compost piles, whether they are in a bin or a free-standing pile on a garden bed, also returns nutrients back into the garden. A thinner version of this is called sheet composting and many unused beds can be prepped this way now ready for spring.

Compost made inside a hot house also aids in warming it up, which will help the growth and production for the remaining crops there.

Making new bins out of old pallets is cheap and very easy. Using stainless steel screws to join the back and sides of seven pallets will give you three bays, forming the classic Kiwi threebin system.

If possible, set up compost bins or piles above your vegetable garden, so any nutrients coming out can benefit the crops. Having good access, so resources like hay can be transported closely in by vehicle or wheelbarrow, is helpful.

If a compost pile has too many greens (nitrogen rich) compared to browns (carbon) then it will end up sludgy. Add extra carbon as you turn it. Cover it to avoid too much rain. Poking a rake handle into the pile will aid aeration, help dry it out and support better decomposition. If a heap is too dry, water it more till you see dark liquid running out the base.

SOL’S GARDEN JOBS FOR MAY

Vegetable Care:

Cloche sensitive crops to extend the season. Process collected seed. Freeze a week.

Harvest and cure kūmara in warm humid spot for a week. Store with paper/straw in a warm dry place. Dig potatoes, sort out damaged tubers, and store in a cool dark place.

Prepare beds for future plantings of winter crops like garlic and Brassicas. Feed well. Mulch garlic beds. Soak garlic in seaweed brew for few hours before planting at 20cm spacings.

Sow broad beans and peas into well-tilled, limed beds. Liquid feed weekly.

Cut back asparagus ferns when brown, add manure/compost and mulch well.

Hothouse: Clean plastic or glass for better winter light. Tidy up. Liquid feed ongoing tomatoes, etc. Sow salads, green crop, or sheet mulch.

For transplanting: All seeds 4 and 27 May. Spring onions and leafy greens (spinach, spinach beet, silver beet, lettuce, endive, pak choi, Chinese cabbage, cabbages) (also 7-8, 2425 May). Red onions (best 2-4, 30-31 May). Herbs and flowers (also 6 and 23 May).

Sow direct: All seeds 4 and 27 May. Salads, spring onions (best 7-8, 24-25 May). Carrots (HH), radish (also 2-4, 30-31 May). Flowers (also 6 and 23 April).

Plant: Best 10-22 May. Salad greens, spinach, cabbages, cauliflower, broccoli. Flowers.

Herb Care:

Take cuttings of semi-woody perennials as trimming back. Transplant rooted cuttings from last year.

Harvest herbs for seed or drying.

Plant herbs or transplant self-seeded perennials. Weed and mulch.

Fruit care:

Harvest chestnuts, feijoas, olives, late apples and pears, black passionfruit, tamarillos, pepinos, kiwifruit, and citrus (mandarin and lemons).

Support laden persimmon branches and net.

Plan an orchard, deciding on layout as mature trees. Check drainage by digging holes. Purchase resistant varieties and plant when available. Stake and protect.

Prune berries and train new canes.

Complete sowing understorey mixes.

Plant spring bulbs under trees.

Mineralise and manure the orchard.

Prepare new strawberry beds and replace old plants with runners.

Frost/wind protect young subtropicals, eg avocado. Spray all fruits with diluted seaweed. Spray copper on diseased fruit before leaf fall. Spray citrus with copper oxychloride vs dieback and scab.

General Garden Care:

Sow new lawns. Lime existing lawns.

Divide and transplant herbaceous perennials.

Plant trees and shrubs. Mulch ornamental areas. Prune trees for more sunlight. Chip branches. Spray roses with copper vs black spot.

Take semi-hardwood cutting.

Re-pot house plants. Add vermicast. Spray with seaweed as tonic and soap vs insect pests.

Take a soil test.