SOL'S AUGUST JOBS

Garlic, peas, and broad beans

Remove any weeds sprouting through. Keep well-mulched. Seagrass over hay/straw mulch works well.

Plant Brassicas and early greens

Harden off seedlings for several days to acclimatise out of the hothouse. Plant early cabbage (eg Conehead), broccoli (eg Belstar), cauliflower (eg All Year Round), kohlrabi (eg Green Duke), rainbow chard, and salads under cloches.

Vegetable care

Fork over soil if weedy but not if really wet. Cloche bare ground and early sown/planted crops to warm soil.

• Plant new asparagus for eating in 2026 and feed with lime, compost, and mulch.

• Stake broad beans for stability.

• Check for hibernating insects, eg green vegetable bugs. Feed to chooks or squash.

• Check stored produce for rot.

• Chit main crop potatoes in light.

Hothouse:

• Weed to disturb hibernating insect pests. Prepare beds for warm crops or carrots for Christmas harvest.

Clean plastic/glass for better sunlight.

Sow for transplanting:

Save energy and money this winter

Winter is a time when many households consume more energy to stay warm and cozy. However, there are some simple ways to reduce your power usage and save money during the colder months.

Now the days are getting longer, there’s more sun warming the soil. This heralds time to start sowing and planting our first spring crops. To get organised, look at my garden plan below, showing what I want to sow and plant this month.

Kumara sprouting

Select your best kumara and set them out into a deep box half-filled with compost, with coarse sand over the top. Halfsubmerge kumara tubers. Cover box with plastic or glass and put this in a warm spot inside or in hothouse.

Green manure

Chop down green crops on beds ready for planting at end of the month, like Brassicas (sown soon), potatoes (second early crop), or early onions in September (sown in June).

Liquid feeding

Every week, spray or apply fish and seaweed brews with a watering can onto garlic and onions (autumn planted). Spray seaweed on autumn-sown peas and broad beans.

Prepare root crop beds

Weed future beds for sowing carrots, beetroot, and turnip. Later, lightly hoe the surface several times to stimulate weed germination. Two weeks later, sow into a stale seed bed for best results. Cloche to encourage germination.

Sowing early season crops

Have seed-raising mix ready to go. Either bought stuff, like Daltons Organic Seed Mix, or mix mature compost with coarse sand. Sow spring greens like lettuce, endive, mizuna, Brassicas, celery, and parsley, etc into small trays. Cover all with moist newspaper and plastic or glass (except celery and parsley, which need light to germinate). Then sow tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants into small trays, and put on a heat mat and cover the same way. Don't water until the mix starts to dry out. Also sow some annual flowers to add diversity to your garden.

Potato planting

Next up is taking those sprouted early potato tubers and set them out either in shallow trenches or just on surface of beds that have had green manure decomposing, or with some mature compost added. Add well-balanced mineral fertiliser. Add loosened hay or straw mulch to those no-dig potatoes.

• All seeds 15 and 29 August. Spring onions and leafy greens (silver beet, spinach, lettuce, endive, spring cabbages) (also 2-3, 20 and 29 August). Onions (red and brown) (also 19-22 August). Early tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers (also 18 and 27 August). Flowers, eg candytuft (also 18 and 28 August).

Sow direct: All seeds 15 and 29 August. Mesclun salad and spring onions (also 25 August). Peas (cover) (also 18 and 27 August). Carrots, beetroot, and turnip (also 19-22 August). Flowers, eg alyssum (also 18 and 28 August).

Plant: Best 1-11 and 28-31 August. Onions, salad greens, spinach, cabbages, and early potatoes (best 17 August). Flowers, eg dahlias.

• Avoid gardening full moon (2 and 31 August) and dark moon (16 August).

Herb care

• Lift perennial herbs, divide, weed soil and replant. Mulch with woody compost.

• Sow hardy herbs like lovage.

• Plant herbs like oregano.

Fruit care

• Plant fruits into well-prepared holes. Check for drainage.

• Complete winter pruning. Harvest pepinos, citrus, and late tamarillos. Feed orchard with minerals, manure, and woody compost. Spray all fruits seaweed foliar mix.

Copper spray stonefruit and pipfruit against bacterial/ fungal diseases before and after bud burst.

• Plant perennial herbs/flowers to attract beneficial insects.

• Plant strawberries or replace two-year-old plants with runners. Mulch either with pine needles, chippings, sawdust, straw, black weed mat or black plastic.

• Protect young subtropicals from frost.

• Divide and transplant rhubarb.

General garden care z Use curtains and blinds to trap the heat inside your rooms. Open them during the day to let the sun in and close them before it gets dark to avoid heat loss. z Switch to LED bulbs. They use less electricity and last longer than incandescent or halogen bulbs. z Wash your clothes in cold water, and wash full loads rather than several smaller loads. z Dry your clothes outside when possible, but if you need to use a dryer, make sure it is vented to the outside so the moisture doesn’t make the house damp and harder to heat. z Choose energy-efficient appliances. Look for the Energy Rating Label and the Energy Star mark when buying new products. z Insulate your ceiling and underfloor to reduce heat loss and lower your heating bills. z Switch off your TV, computer, speakers and game consoles at the wall when you’re not using them. z Check your hot water system and fix any leaks or drips. Install a cylinder wrap, pipe lagging and a low-flow showerhead to save water and energy.

• Plant perennial shrubs, trees, and herbaceous perennials.

• Prune trees, hedges, and shrubs for better sunlight and shape. Chip.

Lime/dolomite lawns.

Continue to fix and clean garden tools.

For more useful tips and ways to keep your home warm, dry and healthier check out these websites: z genless.govt.nz/for-everyone/at-home z save500.org.nz

Results And Fixtures

GOLF

18th July: Irish Stableford - M Solly 81, R Reynish 78.

22nd July: Match Play Pairs: R Dyce & G Little bt R Young & N Gardiner 3&1, J

Garner & C Hadler bt J Solly & P Solly on the 20th, R Heuvel & R Miller bt G Bradley & W Collie 1 up.

BRIDGE

July 19 Patons Rock Individual Session 7. N/S: J Cooper/J Pemberton 65.33%; J

Kingston/B Burdett 59.08%; E Bradshaw/A Foreman 58.25%. E/W: S Sutherland/H

Curtis 63.83%; C Webster/E Donovan 60.08%; P Nelson/P Panzeri 56.33%. H/cap:

N/S: J Cooper/J Pemberton 63.33%; E Bradshaw/A Foreman 57.50%. J Kingston/B

Burdett 57.08%; E/W: C Webster/E Donovan 64.33%; S Sutherland/H Curtis 62.08%; P Nelson/P Panzeri 55.33% .

July 21 Relaxed Session 6. B Burdett 70%; J Cooper 67.97%; C Mead 58.33%.

Takaka Rugby Football Club

Saturday 29th July

U6s & U8s - 5 30pm Friday Night

U9s - 10am vs Huia at Sportpark Motueka

U11s - 11am vs Motueka United on Feild 1

U13s - 6pm Thursday 27th vs Huia on Field 1

U14s - 10 45am vs Marist at Tahunanui

U15s - 12.15pm vs Kahurangi on Field 1

U15s Girls - No Game

We hope to see you on the sideline Good luck to Collingwood as they take on Stoke in Semis