How to Grow Winter Vegetables in New Zealand
Vegetable gardens present a chance to get outside and enjoy the air and soil, and also turn in a valuable harvest when the time comes. Although summertime veggies such as tomatoes, peppers and beans are popular, winter gardens can also be productive with cold-season plants such as lettuce, garlic and rutabagas. Areas such as New Zealand, where even the coldest region drops to only 40 degrees Fahrenheit during the cool months, make winter gardening a straightforward process. Follow the right timing and plant the right vegetables for a winter vegetable garden in New Zealand. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Start your winter vegetable garden at the right time, based on the frost dates in your area. Plans should have time to mature before the first frost, so calculate your planting date based on the length of a plant's given growing season and your own fall frost. Frosts in New Zealand range from April in Alexandra to June in Auckland, while veggie maturity rates range from 40 to 80 days. Plant fall and winter vegetables starting in January to March, respectively.
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Plant vegetables that are hardy to cold to ensure their survival. Grow lettuce, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale, carrots, beets, turnips, scallions, parsley, cilantro, spinach, rutabagas, turnips and parsnips, and supplement them with your favorite root crops.
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Put the vegetables in a spot where they'll receive eight hours of full sun every day, as well as good drainage. The sun is especially important during the cold months, when air and soil temperatures are lower. Mix a combination of half quick-draining soil and half organic compost into the top 6 inches of your planting site, and then mix 10-10-10 or organic fertilizer into the top inch of soil. Plant each seedling at its required depth and spacing.
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Water the garden with 2 inches of water a week to maintain good soil moisture, but use hand watering only to supplement New Zealand's rainfall. Mulch the garden with 3 to 4 inches of organic mulch to help maintain soil warmth and moisture for the plants. Feed the garden with 10-10-10 fertilizer halfway through the growing season.
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Harvest your vegetables on their time line. Root crops grow and ripen for harvest at any point between planting and maturity, while bush and vine crops display their fruit for testing. Maintain the garden through the winter and replant it again in the spring.
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References
- Photo Credit Martin Poole/Digital Vision/Getty Images
