May gardening with Central Landscapes

26 May gardening with Central Landscapes Silverdale

Best May Tip – Replenish your soils with Living Earth Compost! Feed the soil that feeds you!

With the refreshing breezes and rains of autumn starting to clear away the dryness of summer, it is time to replenish your soil! Living Earth Organic Certified Compost: • A premium quality blend of nutrient-rich, 100% weed-free compost • Excellent for adding organic matter and a diversity of micro-organisms back into your soil to grow strong plants. • Helps soil structure – great for breaking up those typical Auckland clays • Sustainably made from Auckland’s organic garden waste and helping our city towards its zero waste goal in 2040. • Available from Central Landscapes – they have free courtesy trailers. Compost MUST be dug in with existing soil – it’ll be too strong otherwise! Apply a 50mm layer to the gardens and incorporate into the top layer of soil.

What to do in the veggie garden in May • Planting – great time to plant cooler temperature crops: spinach, broad beans, broccoli, kale, cress, cos lettuce, radishes, shallots, onions red and brown. Plant herbs such as coriander, chives, parsley, thyme and mint. • Plant something intriguing – experience Romanesco broccoli’s geometrical shapes. • Harvest pumpkins. Keep handle-like stems on the pumpkins so they keep over winter. Spread as a puree on your favorite whole-wheat bread. • Herbs – dry or freeze the last of the herbs for cooking with in winter.

General May Gardening • Add compost to your garden to improve soil and add valuable nutrients. • Many of the smaller shrubs such as azaleas, hebes, conifers and gardenias can be transplanted this month. • May is moving month – move vulnerable plants to a more protected position – to verandahs, indoors or to the greenhouse. • Plant hellebore flowers for beautiful winter colour.

May means Mothers day (10th May). If mum’s a gardener, make sure you give her a gift! • ‘Herbal Harvest’ by Tasmanian Greg Whitten – an extensive book on growing, drying and distilling organic herbs and their individual health properties. Available online. • A beautiful winter Daphne – best grown in a pot – buy a nice pot and Living Earth Potting mix available in bags at selected CLS yards • For the down-to-earth Mum; she’ll love a trailer of compost! She knows it’s brown gold! Offer to dig it into her garden. • Visit the Winter Gardens in The Domain, or the Auckland Botanic Gardens.

Wondering why Alan is looking so relaxed?

it’s because he’s gone to see the helpful team at Central landscape and Garden Supplies Silverdale and can now sit back and enjoy his prize winning garden.

AlAn Smith millwater Resident and Garden Guru