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Grow With the Flow with |
-Content suplied by Papamoa Pick Your Own Flowers
Autumn is officially here. As the days cool down and the sun sets earlier, it’s time to start the five Ps of autumn gardening: Pull, Prune, Propagate, Prep, and Plant.
Pull
The tomatoes are looking sad, the beans have turned to straw, and the flower beds have had their day. It’s time to start pulling out all your annuals. Avoid throwing anything diseased in the compost.
Prune (sidehead)
Pruning is highly dependent on the plant. Some plants like lavender can be pruned in autumn to encourage winter flowering. Others, like feijoa, should not be pruned this time of year because they are still fruiting. Remember that pruning usually encourages regrowth, so it’s important that if you are pruning, you are also simultaneously adding slow release fertiliser and organic compost to help the plant regrow and heal.
Propagate
There are two types of propagation: sexual (seeds) and asexual (cutting, grafting, dividing). How you propagate a plant depends on the type of cultivar. Tomatoes, capsicums, calendula, beans and other varieties all create seeds that can be easily gathered and sown later. Other varieties like dahlias and lilies multiply their tubers or corms underground, which can be dug up and divided.
Prep
How well you prep your beds now will determine how well your garden does in spring. Autumn is a great time to prep your beds with a generous amount of organic matter like compost, coffee grounds, chopped banana peels, shredded cardboard, grass clippings, shredded leaves and slow release fertiliser. Rain in winter will break it down, giving your plants in a healthy start ahead of spring.
Plant
Thanks to Bay of Plenty’s virtually frost-free growing zone, I find that most plants do better in the long run when they are planted in autumn and winter. This is because the winter rains help them get established faster, resulting in a stronger plant in spring. This doesn’t work for heat-loving varieties like tomatoes, but it does work for bushes, shrubs, trees, and succulents.