Ruud Kleinpaste: It's time to start gardening again

It’s been a weird winter – cool and often wet. Indeed, I grew a few edibles in my tunnel house after most of the tomatoes had been removed.    With rubbish weather I tend to divert to bird hobbies, rather than vegie-garden maintenance. But in early August things become a bit more positive, and today that was highlighted when I visited my old mate Mike (a Scottish builder with heaps of Scottish humour).  He had already planted small strawberry plants under a cover of dense pea-straw – yes, next summer’s fruit extravaganza: STRAWBERRIES! New Zealand Gardener usually gives you the latest varieties available.  I had totally forgotten that I could have planted them a month or so ago, here on the port hills! Time to become a lot less lazy!  Friable, well-draining soil with heaps of organic material in the top layers. Some granular, general fertiliser (not too much – just a bit) so that the roots will lick their food on the warmer, early-Spring days. The pea-straw (and mulch) protects plants from heavy frosts (and later on as a medium on which the developing fruit will stay in dryer conditions – not on wet soil).  Go to your local garden centre and ask the local experts what kind of strawberry varieties work well in your neighbourhood –  I bet they’ll have Cama Rosa and Camino Real as their “short day” varieties (they can be planted in May-June).  Other varieties, such as Aromas, Seascape, and San Andreas are day-neutral and can be planted in spring.   While the strawberries are slowly getting in their winter development, it may be useful to take a look at your rhubarb. This plant tends to be reasonably tolerant of a bit of frost – if the frosts are heavy and mean, you might find that patience will be a good virtue. I saw it growing in Mongolia in the wild (permafrost), in the deserts (dry as a bone), with big weta-like critters hiding underneath!  It’s a great crop if you’re into crumbles and fruity bits for breakfast (with muesli and yoghurt and soaked sultanas) and stuff like rhubarb pies.  In good hot summers it might take a break in the hottest period of the year. In the North/hot areas, it may pay to allocate a cooler spot and some shade for the warmest period of the day to stop it “bolting” – the flower stalks can be broken off, the edges of the leaves can become beautifully red, but it’s a sign of the breakdown of chlorophyll and hence the beginning of summer die-back.   Rhubarb requires a nice, fertile free-draining soil, so if you’ve got heavy clay soil break it up and add heaps of compost to make it friable.  Alternatively: plant it above the soil level (in a raised bed). I reckon you can even grow it in a big container with good mix, but keep it watered, so it doesn’t dry out too much.  Fertiliser: rhubarb loves compost and manure (yes, some rotted cow poo/sheep/pig or horse –  preferably gone through a composting cycle).  Keep the plant base free of weeds. Pests and diseases are usually of no great concern – slugs and snails are your main problem and they will only go on the leaves. Copper sprays may prevent leaf-spots, but they’re not a big deal usually.  Harvest: cut the stems for consumption and use leaves in compost bins (all good – the oxalic acid is not going to harm anything in that bin!).  Alternatively, the large leaves are great on the ground as “weed mat”.  Look around for various cultivars – if you are lucky you might find some of the old-fashioned bright red varieties that look fantastic: Moulin Rouge, Crimson Crumble, Cherry Red, Ruby Red, Glaskin’s Perpetual…  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.