Grant Douglas's Garden Diary

Week 17: Fifth week of April

Spent smoko-time this afternoon where I was working, watching monarch butterflies gather on the giant redwood on the northern side of Memorial Park. They know Winter's just round the corner and amazingly, they were mostly gathering on the warmest part of the tree (the northeast corner) protected from the cold southerly winds, while getting the maximum winter sunshine.

Last Winter, Gaile and I discovered the lovely flavour of Lovage (sometimes called the Maggi plant) in vegetable soup. It is the equivalent of a perennial celery. Unfortunately we also discovered that by the middle of winter, it had died down, until the spring, so this year we are harvesting it, cutting it into small slices and free-flow freezing it so that we can add it to soups or other things - highly recommended. It is easy to grow and can be started from seed, or buy a plant. We only have one plant and it seems to be sufficient for us.

Have given some instructions on compost making over the last couple of weeks, but some people do not have the time, space or material, or inclination to make their own compost and so choose to buy it. Be very careful of what you purchase, that is marketed as Compost.

There are no standards specifiying how much of the material should have turned to humus and so very ofter what you are buying is simply aged bark. With some material I have seen, if you wash it under a strong jet of water, you will actually wash the black coating off the bark and you will still have 99 per cent of the material left (Bark). This can do harm to your garden by robbing nitrogen from the growing plants to break down the material, and if you try to use it as a potting mix, for growing such things as Tomatos, etc, there will be insufficient nutrients for them. So check what you are buying.

If you are able to, get it between your hands and rub it and you will very quickly find out what percentage of the material is still raw. This is one of the advantages of buying non-bagged material - going to a bulk supplier who sells such things as "Barnyard Compost". Remember that Mushroom Compost is fairly high in lime and so not good for acid-loving vegetables.

Sowing or Planting this week:
Brassicas - Cauli, Cabbage, Broccoli, Broccoflower, Brocoflower (remember to choose Spring varieties of these brassicas eg Wintercross or Flower of Spring Cabbage, Snowmarch Cauliflower)
Garlic
Lettuce (Loose-leaf Fancy and Triumph Hearting)
Perpetual Spinach (Plants only)
Silverbeet (Plants only)
Spinach (winter varieties eg. Hybrid No.7)
Spring Onions

Sow Direct:
Chinese Cabbage and other Chinese Greens
Corn Salad
Mescalin Mix
Radish
Rocket

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