Guytons Garden - Warm winter weather odd

 

The South has been blessed with perfect weather over winter and I've no complaints about the above-average temperatures and settled conditions. I hope Mangawhai gardeners have enjoyed similar good weather, but would be surprised if it has been quite so remarkable as it has down here. We are accustomed to a squally, trying winter environment and this calm is odd.

I've been able to cultivate soil whenever I feel like it, not needing to wait till it dries out or warms up; it's in perfect condition every day. My garlic's planted and so are my shallots. The broad beans I sowed weeks ago have not stopped growing and the kale is rampant.

The only dark clouds on the horizon are the two insect pests that ought to have died of the cold by now, but haven't; wasps are still out and about, scavenging whatever they can find, and the newly-arrived giant black willow aphid is not succumbing to the bite of the frost either, and its colonies are growing by the day. We like it cold down here to sweeten our swedes and kill the pests that create trouble further north, only now, we seem ourselves to be further north.

The moon has shown clear as a bell in our cloudless skies and more people are noticing her face as they enjoy the outdoors after dark more often than they did in our colder, wetter, cloudier past. The month began at the start of the new moon phase and that silver sliver in the sky indicated a good few days for digging, and that's what I did.

July 7 marks the beginning of the most useful moon phase of the month, and for the nine days following seeds can be sown with confidence, providing other factors, like season and weather, are taken into account. July 16 and 17 are days when applying liquid manures does the most good, so take advantage of the influence of the by-then almost-full moon, to feed your established plants.

That full moon period over the two days on either side of July 18 suit spade and fork work, rather than seed, so tickle up your soils in preparation for later in the month when root-crop seeds can be sown. That brief period falls on the 21st and 22nd, and is repeated on the 29th and 30th of the month.

I'd be loathe to try to predict what the weather will be doing by the time the month draws to an end, but going by last months experience in June, I'm picking an enjoyable, productive if slightly odd, July, at least for your southern cousins. What Mangawhai serves up for you is up to the weather gods and predictions should come from locals, so I'll hold my council. I wish you the best of luck whatever eventuates.