Ruud Kleinpaste: It's time to mulch and plant

Mulch and plant and plant and mulch… 
These are busy, busy, busy times in the garden. Even though we may still get some frosts here in the South Island, I am lucky to be able to chuck seed-trays and germinating plants in the tunnel house or, if I behave nicely, in Julie’s glasshouse.  But first, think ahead to summer. We often get seriously dry conditions here on the South Island’s East Coast. Grab yourself a heap of mulch, pea straw is often the go-to material down south. You can also use a load of good compost or a pile of last autumn’s dried leaves, compressed in an old wheely bin. Autumn leaves into leaf-mold.  
 You can also get a chipper that creates mulch from your pruning wood. I love my Hansa chipper, as it always allows me to keep the carbon “waste” and turn it into an investment for my soil. It won’t leave the property! Some mulch ends up in compost bin, coarse mulch is fabulous for the patches in the garden.  Mulch covers the soil, making it difficult for weeds to germinate and it keeps the moisture in the soil as it reduces evaporation. Think ahead to summer, remember! Reduce your water bill.
What to plant in your garden? Well that’s up to you, really. 
My Julie is keen on beautiful flowers and stately plant forms. Late winter we had gorgeous violets all over the place (grown in shaded parts of the “woodland” garden). That garden was covered in mulch and also yielded plenty of hellebores, narcissus and tulips; in a month or two there will be blue Himalayan poppies. Now we’re seeing Amelanchier blossom contrasting with Chaenomeles flowers. On the other side of the garden our native Clematis is absolutely covering the old, dead trunk of an impressive birch. Clematis needs its “head” (the flowers) in full sun but the roots need to be in total shade, covered with at least 20 cm mulch, to keep it moist and cool.  If you haven’t got a great deal of room, consider creating a raised bed with some quality topsoil, covered with a decent layer of mulch to keep it from desiccating. Then you can grow carefully pruned fruit trees, beans and colourful silver beet in amongst your favourite ornamentals: Planning, mass-planting and mulching! 

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