December is the perfect time to plant tomatoes in Whanganui.
This time of year it is such a pleasure to be in the garden.
Early in the morning and later in the evening is a pleasant time to be out watering, harvesting, planting or simply enjoying the serenity that a garden offers.
If you have not already now is the time to get a summer vegetable garden planted.
There are so many great vegetables to plant now. Tomatoes, capsicums, cucumbers, corn, pumpkins are best planted prior to New Year otherwise they may not crop before the cooler autumn weather arrives next year.
Seed that can be sown direct into the soil now include; carrots, corn, butter beans, dwarf beans and radishes.
Continue with successive plantings of other vegetables including lettuce varieties, celery, spinach and silver beet, broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower.
Some summer vegetables to plant now are:
Cucumbers
Cucumbers are a warm season vegetable that love the hot weather. If you haven’t got any growing then plant one now, they will grow quickly in the warmer weather. The flavour of these when they are fresh picked from your garden surpasses those that can be bought in the stores.
Plant climbing types spaced 40cm apart and bush and trailing types on the ground about 75cm apart, firm in then water. Grow them in a sheltered site in fertile rich soil that is well drained, but moisture retentive. The roots must not be allowed to dry out.
Feeding with ‘Ican Tomato Food’ gives good results. Cucumbers grow very successfully in pots, I grow mine in 35Litre tubs and use ‘Ican Premium Potting Mix’ as the potting medium and supplement with liquid fertiliser ‘Ican Fast Food’ and Jobes tomato spikes.
In pots they are best staked and tied up regularly, growing up an obelisk or tee pee is ideal.
Pumpkins
Crown pumpkin is a popular and reliable variety that produces oval grey pumpkins with sweet dry, textured, bright orange flesh.
It stores well and is particularly good roasted, for use in stir fry and of course the traditional pumpkin soup.
The rambling nature of the plant growth can be excessive for growing in a smaller garden.
However, a good method of growing pumpkins for smaller gardens is to trim the stems at the fourth leaf.
The plant will still crop well but will not take up so much room.
Butternut is a pumpkin-like vegetable which produces 1-2kg of cream-coloured pear-shaped fruit and bright orange flesh.
Harvest when stems start to shrivel in autumn.
It can be used in a wide variety of hot dishes and may be blanched and frozen for later use.
Tomatoes
Cherry tomatoes in salads and eaten fresh, large tomatoes sliced into sandwiches with cucumber and ham, medium-sized tomatoes cut into quarters and served with dinner, tomatoes sliced on crackers with cracked pepper and cheese.
There are many varieties of tomatoes now readily available they come in all sorts of colours; yellow, purple, black, orange, green, striped and of course red.
There are plenty of options to choose to grow and plenty of ways that you can grow tomato plants at home.
Each person who has grown tomatoes a few times seems to develop their own style and method of growing that suits them and their property.
Tomatoes grow best in warm temperatures in a full sun position, sheltered from the wind.
The plants perform best if they are rotated with other vegetable crops to prevent a build-up of soil borne pests and diseases.
They should not be grown in the same patch of ground year after year.
This can be a problem in small gardens and greenhouses.
If pests and diseases are not a major problem and the soil is boosted with regular applications of compost and fertiliser then rotation may not be necessary.
Tomatoes are also grown very successfully in containers and this is another popular option.
Prepare the soil by working in ‘Tui Vegetable Mix’, Ican Premium Compost or other such products.
Mix in the soil at least 30cm deep since tomatoes develop a deep root system in this range and are gross feeders.
Work in tomato fertiliser before planting; tomatoes need high levels of phosphate, but low levels of nitrogen.
Dressings of feeds such as; ‘Tui Tomato Fertiliser’ during the growing season are most beneficial.
The use of slow releasing ‘Jobes Tomato Spikes’ I have found very effective for the ongoing feeding of tomatoes, capsicums & cucumbers in pots and containers.
Beans
Beans come in both dwarf bush form and as a climber.
Dwarf beans form a self-supporting bushy plant growing approximately 25cm tall and wide.
They are quick to reach harvest, ready for eating around 7-8 weeks from sowing.
A highly recommended top producing bean variety is the in the ‘Ican Chefs Best Seed Range’ called ‘Supreme’. It is high yielding, with strong disease resistance and has straight 14cm long beans set high on the plant for easy picking.
The pods are distinctively glossy, very fleshy and have excellent flavour.
The bean ‘Supreme’ comes ready over a 2-3 week period so making a number of sowings every 3 weeks will give a consecutive harvest through the summer months.
As a small growing plant they are an ideal vegetable to grow in containers if you are limited for space, as well as in the garden.
Climbing beans form a larger plant and need some support.
A structure of approximately 1.8-2m high is recommended with trellis, wires or string being ideal for the tendrils to climb around.
Climbing beans take approximately 10-12 weeks to start cropping from sowing but will keep flowering and producing beans for as long as the temperatures remain warm. Some climbing bean varieties will form a tuberous root system that if left in the soil will regrow in future years.
To leave your root systems to grow again the next year the vines should be cut off above ground level as the plants die off in the autumn rather than being pulled out roots and all.
Corn
Corn is an easy-to-grow and productive crop that grows well in Whanganui.
Seeds should be sown now directly into the soil or use seedlings from the garden centre; these will be ready for harvest between late-February and during March.
Corn are heavy-feeding plants. Before planting I recommend mixing Ican Organic Vegetable Food’ into the soil and then side dress again regularly as the plants are growing.
Corn is best planted in blocks rather than rows as this significantly improves the rate of pollination.
Lettuce & radish
The base of any salad is lettuce. It is so easy to grow, planting in pots or in the garden a few plants will grow fresh goodness for your kitchen.
To ensure a continuous summer harvest make regular plantings of lettuce every few weeks.
Adding a few radish seeds alongside each time you replant your lettuces is another fast-growing addition to the summer salad.
Radishes can be sown and harvested in six weeks.
Gareth Carter is general manager of Springvale Garden Centre