Spring gardening tips and spring insights from Secret Gardeners throughout Aotearoa New Zealand.
From the first signs of new growth to the anticipation of summer harvests, spring is one of the busiest and most rewarding times of year in the garden for the green-thumbed.
We catch up with five gardeners from across Aotearoa, all part of the Secret Gardens network, who share what’s happening in their gardens this season, the jobs they’re prioritising and a few words of advice for making the most of spring.
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Full swing in spring with Ali Soper
– Crosshill Garden, Hawea Otago
Spring is here, and at Crosshill Garden we couldn’t be happier.
We have a three-acre heritage garden, comprising of many exotic trees planted around 1910, and underplanted with a variety of plants bringing year-round interest.
In early spring we enjoy an abundance of hellebores whilst awaiting the spring bulbs. A big effort saw us planting hundreds more bluebells prior to winter, to beautifully line a woodland walk.
The vegetable garden planning has been in full swing. We relocated the beds to the sunniest spot in the hope of extending our growing season. Seed sowing has been in progress and we do our transplanting in earnest in the latter part of September. We plant with the moon calendar to optimise growth.
A walk around the garden after our annual winter holiday made me realise just how worthwhile it was to bed the garden down before we left – mulch and leaf mould suppressed the weeds, for the time being anyway.
Spring dreaming with Jenny Marshall
– Cornwall Pocket Farm, Onehunga Auckland
Spring is my favourite season. I love the dreaming, planning and sowing part, and seeing all the new growth and blossom in the garden.
In spring, the ‘pocket farm’ is all anticipation, strength and vigour… before reality settles, as it must, and nature takes unexpected twists and turns. Obviously, we’re all hoping for less rain in Auckland this summer, and definitely fewer cyclones!
I love the fresh flavours of the broad beans, spring peas and strawberries from the kitchen garden, and spotting the tiny new fruit growing amongst the foliage on the fruit trees.
The insects and the bees are working hard pollinating, and the birds are busy finding twigs to build their nests. I like to put some recycled wool in a flower pot and watch the tug of war as they win their prize! There’s so much to do at this time of year, but you really can’t beat a spring day playing in the garden!
Spring garden priorities with Kerry Todd
– Brightwater Farm, Nelson
As spring arrives the list is long, so it’s about priority (and I am very easily sidetracked).
The lawn needs an overhaul as – with all the wet weather we have been getting the moss is taking over. And then there’s the Onehunga weed! Which I hate…little sharp prickles that love to stick into your feet. So that will need spraying.
The fruit trees will need a spray of copper to help to prevent leaf curl. This needs to be done as soon as the trees start budding and again before bud burst, so you have to keep a daily eye on them so you can be one step ahead.
I am waiting for a delivery of ramial woodchip to mulch the gardenswith. Hopefully it arrives while there is still moisture in the soil – apparently El Niño is going to hit us this summer so I want to give the plants the best protection I can.
In my small nursery I’ve been busy seed sowing , which will continue until mid summer. I am trying some different perennials which can be a bit tricky and some need stratification…fingers crossed! I am so looking forward to these beauties showing themselves – Centaura nigra, Dianthus cruentus, Angelica gigas, to name but a few. I get quite excited when they start to emerge from the seed mix. All the plants in the nursery will get some TLC with a trim and feed of seaweed liquid fertiliser to get them looking their best.
As soon as the last frosts have gone I will be going around all my salvias to give then a good haircut as then they won’t get too leggy and make a nice shape plant with lots of flowers.
What I am really looking forward to is seeing how the ‘yellow, orange and blue bank’ (which I planted in autumn) is going to look. I had this vision in my head of how I wanted it to look but it is just getting the balance of colour and texture right, and I know I will need to make adjustments. But that is all part of the fun of gardening…creating pictures with plants.
Oh, and I have planted four new roses which I am very excited about! So I will be giving them all a good feed of compost and well rotted cow manure, so they can perform their best.
So, time is of the essence…I’m so glad the days are getting longer!
Being patient in the garden with Ruth Vercoe
– Grow Nuture Nourish, Christchurch
My biggest tip as we enter the spring season is especially for vegetable growers in the cooler climates, which is… be patient!
If you’re anything like me, when you hear the 1st of September, your mind instantly goes to spring, and when you hear ‘Labour Day’ you have it ingrained that it is when you plant your tomatoes.
However coming from my vegetable garden in Christchurch, I find we are a good 4-6 weeks behind our more northern growing buddies, so the best time to plant out tomato seedlings is mid-November.
Not only are we more likely to have finished frosts by then – but it has also given the ground some time to warm up, so the tomatoes don’t get as much of a shock when transplanted.
So while the garden centres may already be selling tomato plants, use all your willpower and be patient!
Get cracking in the garden with Jo Sanderson
– Greenhills Paradise, Coromandel
I love springtime in my garden. It is a time of excitement and wonder watching plants erupt into life. I wish the plants could make a wee noise to let you know they are ready to burst as it is a blink and miss situation often. One day just a dry dead looking branch, the next a leaf or flower has burst out.
Spring is a time to get cracking with sowing seeds, tubers and putting in new plants for harvesting over the summer and autumn months. With plenty of mulch around them to preserve precious moisture over summer, and to feed the soil from the top.
One of my favourite sights in spring is the blossom on my fruit trees. The pinks, reds and whites never cease to amaze me when looking out at a fairyland when they are all out in flower.
My spring bulbs have been early this year, but my fruit trees may be a tad later in bud growth compared to last year. We have to learn to go with the flow with our changing weather patterns, and work with what has survived and flourished with more winds and rains than normal. I am not replacing many plants that have died from the weather – I adjust what I have here doing well.
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