APRIL - PREPARE, PLANT and HARVEST
TIME TO HARVEST...
Harvest pumpkins, onions and spuds and be sure to store in a cool dry place. check them regularly to make sure no infectsion have set in.
Kumara should be harvested when the tops start to yellow, or on the day of the first front. Leave them in the sun to dry.
In colder areas if you still have tomatoes on the vine, it is best to pick them and let them ripen on a sunny windowsill. This will stop early frosts splitting them!
Rhubarb crowns can be lifted, split, and re-planted into newly prepared soil. Rhubarb enjoys a food rich soil so add in lots of compost, sheep pellets, blood and bone, and top dress with general garden fertiliser.
Nothing beats the taste of home grown rhubarb with your muesli or weet-bix for breakfast. Rhubarb crowns are available this month. Rhubarb plants are heavy feeders so dig in plenty of top quality compost at planting time and follow up with general garden fertiliser at regular intervals through the year.
Prepare asparagus plants for Winter. Cut down the ferny shoots to soil level when they have turned yellow. Spread 5cm of mulch over the bed to protect the asparagus crowns over Winter.
Trim back herbs and give them a feed, Thyme, mint, sage and marjoram will reward you with fresh growth at this time of the year.
TIME TO PLANT...
Autumn is nature's time to plant.
Plant Winter varieties of lettuce seedlings - Winter Triumph is a good performer through Winter.
Continue planting seedlings of cabbage, cauliflower, leeks, spinach, winter lettuce, bok choy and silver beet - they can all be part of your winter garden.
Now is a good time to start planting deciduous fruit trees - peaches, plums, nectarines, apples. Look for double or triple grafted trees and dwarf growing varieties which are ideal for small gardens and growing in containers.
Plant shallots - sweeter than garlic, milder than onions. Great in stews and casseroles, or roasted whole. Shallots are easy to grow and take up little space in the garden.
TIME TO SOW...
This is the time to sow broad bean seeds for late winter harvest. Broad beans are best picked when young and sweet and make a tasty addition to late winter meals. They are easy to grow and are heavy croppers, do provide support for them.
Broad beans are a great winter garden crop - plant seeds now into prepared soil. High support will help as they do get reasonably tall (use twigs and small branches from your pruning in the garden). Broad beans are easy care and you will have delicious young beans in October / November.
If you are going to rest an area of your vege garden over Winter, so green crops like mustard or lupin. These crops will add nitrogen, improve soil structure and suppress weeds. Mustard seed also helps control wireworm, and nematodes which can affect root crops. It also reduces th chance of any soil borne diseases taking hold for 40 days after being dug in.
Edible crop seeds to sow in April include:
Cress, lettuces, onions, spring oinions, radishes, shallots (bulbs), and spinach.
TIME TO FEED...
Feed citrus trees to encourage strong healthy Autumn growth.
Citrus with yellow or sad leaves are in need of micronutrients. Feed them Yates Health Tonic Trace Element Chelates. This product delivers a range of micronutrients and is useful when the exact deficiency isn't obvious.
Yellowing of leaves due to iron deficiency occurs when temperatures drop below 12 degrees.
Feed fruit trees o enhance fruiting next season.
Feed herbs after trimming back.
TIME TO PROTECT...
Now's the time to start covering your Citrus and other frost tender edibles with frost cloth when frosts are predicted. If the new growth on your citrus is damaged by frost, don't be tempted to prune it off. Leave it until Spring when frosts are past, new healthy growth will replace it.
TIME TO CONTROL...
Spray fruit trees after leaf fall with Freeflo Copper to protect against diseases, in particular, brown rot and leaf curl.