Kem Ormond’s vegetable garden: A late-summer guide for winter harvest

Kem Ormond's tomato soup is ready for winter. She's also harvested her basil and has a jar of pink pickles at the ready. Photo / Phil Thomsen

THE FACTS

• Kem Ormond is preparing for winter planting, emphasising the use of glasshouses and cold frames.
• She suggests recycling materials like milk bottles and egg cartons for seedling protection and trays.
• Ormond advises planting brassicas, root vegetables, leafy greens, and alliums, and planning for winter cover crops.

Kem Ormond is a features writer for The Country. She’s also a keen gardener. This week, she’s starting preparation for winter planting.

I was flicking through the calendar the other day and was quite shocked to see that Daylight Saving time finishes on Sunday, April 5.

I’m not entirely sure what happened to summer, but I do feel rather robbed – so robbed that I have just booked a week’s holiday in the middle of winter to enjoy some warmth!

This week’s attire is gumboots, a raincoat and a woollen jersey, plus I have even put the fire on a couple of times.

Last night, I bottled jars of tomato soup, ready for the cooler months.

Teamed with homemade, crunchy, fresh bread, this is one of the pleasant things I enjoy about the chilly weather.

While harvesting from my vegetable garden is well underway, it is almost time to start planting seeds for the coming winter ... how scary is that!

If you are lucky enough to have a glasshouse, it is a wonderful place to be on a miserable day, and you have the advantage of raising seeds quickly.

If you don’t, look at making some cold frames to put over young seedlings during the winter months.

While I have seen some absolutely gorgeous ones in friends’ gardens, I have also seen recycled ones, and they work perfectly fine for a fraction of the cost.

You could also look at recycling other objects that you may have to make a few cloches.

I have used everything from recycled milk bottles to old woven rubbish bins with the bottoms removed.

Also, start saving egg cartons to use as seedling trays, as these can eventually be planted straight into the garden.

The one good thing I find when winter starts to arrive is that it does give me the time to read a lot more ... without feeling I should be out in the vegetable garden.

As a gardener, we never stop learning, no matter how long we have been gardening.

Swap books with friends, visit the library, check out second-hand bookshops and maybe splash out on a good gardening reference book.

Autumn/winter is a wonderful time to use the twigs and branches that will soon start to become bare to make some growing frames, ready for next summer.

I always like to keep the vine trimmings from my grapes when they are finished and turn them into a wreath, in preparation for the next Christmas.

While we may have battled insects, bugs, and caterpillars (and if in the country, rabbits and the odd possum) over the New Zealand summer, my niece visiting from London told me her biggest pest is the squirrel.

She is new to vegetable gardening and she is finding it so soul-destroying when the squirrels come to visit.

With age comes wisdom, so I was happy to give her some of my gardening advice – free of charge!

Some of the winter seeds you may want to get underway are brassicas (broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, yes and even kale), root vegetables (carrots, parsnips, beetroot, swede), leafy greens (spinach, silverbeet, lettuce, including miners’ lettuce) and alliums (onions, spring onions and leeks).

It won’t be long before you will be starting to think about planting some winter cover crops as well.

Remember, as winter sets in and the days get shorter and colder, take time out, grab a notebook and start gathering ideas for your vegetable garden next summer.

Decide what crops have been worthwhile this past season and hunt out recipes that you can adapt with the produce you plan to grow.

Remember, while being in your vegetable garden is good for relaxation, so is curling up by the fire with a good pile of gardening books by your side.