Ruud Kleinpaste: It's time to start gardening again - Saturday Morning with Jack Tame

It’s been a weird winter – cool and often wet. Indeed, I grew a few edibles in my tunnel house after most of the tomatoes had been removed.   

With rubbish weather I tend to divert to bird hobbies, rather than vegie-garden maintenance. But in early August things become a bit more positive, and today that was highlighted when I visited my old mate Mike (a Scottish builder with heaps of Scottish humour). 

He had already planted small strawberry plants under a cover of dense pea-straw – yes, next summer’s fruit extravaganza: STRAWBERRIES! New Zealand Gardener usually gives you the latest varieties available. 

I had totally forgotten that I could have planted them a month or so ago, here on the port hills! Time to become a lot less lazy! 

Friable, well-draining soil with heaps of organic material in the top layers. Some granular, general fertiliser (not too much – just a bit) so that the roots will lick their food on the warmer, early-Spring days. The pea-straw (and mulch) protects plants from heavy frosts (and later on as a medium on which the developing fruit will stay in dryer conditions – not on wet soil). 

Go to your local garden centre and ask the local experts what kind of strawberry varieties work well in your neighbourhood –  I bet they’ll have Cama Rosa and Camino Real as their “short day” varieties (they can be planted in May-June). 

Other varieties, such as Aromas, Seascape, and San Andreas are day-neutral and can be planted in spring.  

While the strawberries are slowly getting in their winter development, it may be useful to take a look at your rhubarb. This plant tends to be reasonably tolerant of a bit of frost – if the frosts are heavy and mean, you might find that patience will be a good virtue. I saw it growing in Mongolia in the wild (permafrost), in the deserts (dry as a bone), with big weta-like critters hiding underneath! 

It’s a great crop if you’re into crumbles and fruity bits for breakfast (with muesli and yoghurt and soaked sultanas) and stuff like rhubarb pies. 

In good hot summers it might take a break in the hottest period of the year. In the North/hot areas, it may pay to allocate a cooler spot and some shade for the warmest period of the day to stop it “bolting” – the flower stalks can be broken off, the edges of the leaves can become beautifully red, but it’s a sign of the breakdown of chlorophyll and hence the beginning of summer die-back.  

Rhubarb requires a nice, fertile free-draining soil, so if you’ve got heavy clay soil break it up and add heaps of compost to make it friable. 

Alternatively: plant it above the soil level (in a raised bed). I reckon you can even grow it in a big container with good mix, but keep it watered, so it doesn’t dry out too much. 

Fertiliser: rhubarb loves compost and manure (yes, some rotted cow poo/sheep/pig or horse –  preferably gone through a composting cycle). 

Keep the plant base free of weeds. Pests and diseases are usually of no great concern – slugs and snails are your main problem and they will only go on the leaves. Copper sprays may prevent leaf-spots, but they’re not a big deal usually. 

Harvest: cut the stems for consumption and use leaves in compost bins (all good – the oxalic acid is not going to harm anything in that bin!). 

Alternatively, the large leaves are great on the ground as “weed mat”. 

Look around for various cultivars – if you are lucky you might find some of the old-fashioned bright red varieties that look fantastic: Moulin Rouge, Crimson Crumble, Cherry Red, Ruby Red, Glaskin’s Perpetual… 

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