NEW MOON
Garden
- Clean out green house and propagation facilities
- Sow all garlic, shallots, potato and tree onions now if not planted in Autumn
- Sow onion and leek seed now
- Sow seed for early tomatoes to be grown in glass houses or passive solar cloches. If cloche-grown then they’ll need to be dwarf varieties, Henry’s Dwarf Bush Cherry , or Oregon Spring are our best tomatoes for small spaces, cloches or pot growing.
- Plant peas into trays for transplanting as soon as tops appear
- Sow broad beans into seed trays and transplant as soon as the tops emerge above soil
- Sow dwarf beans and courgettes into seed trays in warm greenhouse, for planting out into green houses or good cloches in warmer areas
- Make a late sowing of sweet peas
- Sow eggplant and pepper seed in a tray of its own, needs 20 degrees day and night for strong even germination (bottom heat trays with thermostats are excellent for making sure you don’t miss this critical germination time)
- Sow early potatoes in warm areas only
- Plant into seed trays petunia, larkspur, calendula, aquilegia, foxglove, hollyhock, honesty, love-in-a-mist, poppies, cornflower, stock, Sweet William.
- Prepare cloches to warm up the soil in preparation for planting out early beans and courgettes also possibly early cabbages, beetroot, lettuces, cucumbers, and for direct sowing rocket, mizuna, kale and mustard lettuce for spring salad greens; to be cut and harvested as mesclun crops
- Sow Essene flax seed directly onto beds, (broadcast ) lightly rake in, or chop in and cover with shade cloth to protect from birds until 2cm high.
- sow seed for hulless barley, and wheat into trays and transplant at 10cm diagonal spacings as soon as top search 5cm. ( cover beds with hoops and birdnetting for a week or two to ensure birds don’t pull them out.
- As vege beds become dry enough to work begin taking out compost crops, making compost and either digging over or U Barring beds
- Feed strawberries and rhubarb at this time
- Ensure all perennials are well mulched ready for Spring production
Perennials
- Plan your perennial gardens NOW and get your seeds and plants. Our best perennials are asparagus, globe artichokes, Jerusalem artichokes, Welsh bunching onions, strawberries, runner beans, Multiplying Spring onions, Medicinal herbs and Culinary herbs
Temperate Forest Garden
- Last chance to check all winter plantings to make sure all trees are staked well, that bark is not rubbing on tree stakes, and that all ties from last year are not strangling the trees.
- If you’re having problems with pollination of fruit trees and bees, and nutrition is not the problem then it may help to record all your flowering times on a chart for a season or two. Set this up now if needed
AUGUST First Quarter
Garden
- Loads of pricking out
- Fertilise garlic and onions fortnightly …. More compost if you have it or Fish Hydrolysate 20:1. Foliar feed with BioFert if you have it
- Now is the time to decide on a mineralisation program for your entire garden area from now on throughout the Spring, Summer and Autumn twice a month before and after full moon for maximum benefit. . eg Koanga Booklet How To Grow Nutrient Dense Food . We do not buy any fertilser , and instead choose to make it all ourselves. You can do this to from the Growing Nutrient Dense Food Booklet (major edit and update 2024), also all in the make your own Fertilser Online Workshop
- Spend a few nights this week checking out the slug and snail situation, maybe require night patrols with a torch and a container of hot water, before it warms up too much and the seedlings start going out. Quash is the slug bait I’m happiest to use. It is completely nontoxic apart from large quantities in waterways for fish!
- Bed preparation critical as soil allows. Pulling out compost crops then covering beds with black plastic can mean NO weeding, but you have to be organised to cover in time so that when seedlings are ready to go out soals, is the bed ready! Leaving beds covered for more than that time kills the microbes as they have no plant roots to feed them. We can’t grow nutrient dense food without microbes! Ideally pull compost crop sout 4 weeks before planting, cover beds for 3-4 weeks then pull covers off and prep beds for planting
Temperate Forest Garden
- Time to switch energy back to the vege garden!
August FULL MOON
Garden
- Great time to feed plants via their leaves . Biofert is our favourite. Recipe in Growing Nutrient Dense Food ( 2024 version) and or the online workshop Make Your Own Fertiliser but whatever you use test to see of the BRIX ( use a refractometer) goes up. If it doesn’t it is a waste of time. If it goes down worse. Establishing this early in the season could save your crops. and also feed soil
- Plant early potatoes now into trenches of compost, seaweed, well-rotted manure,
- Direct sow carrots under cloches into well prepared soil, and cover with an old sheet until seeds germinate
- Place kumara tubers into sand boxes and put in a warm place to grow kumara tupu, or order your heritage kumara tupu now
- Plant water chestnuts into seed trays with a plastic liner to keep very moist, and sprout in green house, or order your water chestnut plants now
- Plant Chinese root ginger into a 20-30cm deep box in green house
- Plant turmeric into wicking bed in greenhouse or large pot in greenhouse or house
- Begin sowing Jerusalem artichokes, or order your heritage starter plants now
Forest Garden
- Chop your prunings and spread down as mulch all around forest garden to feed fungi
- Compost and or feed citrus trees and mulch heavily
LAST QUARTER
August Garden
- Prepare seed raising mix 1/3 sieved compost, 1/3 sieved garden soil, 1/3 sand – possibly 10% vermicast if available
- Weed garden beds, make compost,prepare beds for planting as they become dry enough,aim to pull out compost crops 4 weeks before replanting then cover with black plastic for 3-4 weeks to kill all the weeds before replanting
Forest Garden
- Very last tree planting for deciduous fruit trees
- good time to plant your willows as cuttings around your fruit trees to support the immune systems of the fruit trees
- Good time to plant citrus
- Very last pruning
- Mulch all newly planted trees before the grass begins to take over
- chip and spread ramial wood chip everywhere, to avoid pests and diseases
- good time to plant forest garden support trees especially legumes