November Garden Guide

Yikes it’s November!

What a growing season it has been so far, if a little on the cool side, especially at night. Gardens around the motu are pumping! Good news if you're not quite there yet: it’s not too late to plant or even to sow! The soil is warm and still damp, so great growing conditions, although the strong winds dry the soil out fast- mulching after any  rain to lock in the moisture from now on is vital.

• Lots of deliciousness can be planted now,  and if you need to plant extra for summer visitors, below is a quick guide on how long each veg needs to produce. So count back the given number of weeks from when the hungry hordes arrive to get your ideal planting times! 

Planting for the Summer Holidays

• Here is a quick guide on how long these veg will take from being sown/planted to being ready to harvest, listed in order of quickest to longest to crop.

• Remember the smaller the fruit variety the quicker it will be harvestable. So peppers that produce small fruit will be ready earlier than peppers producing large fruit.

• Note most of the seedlings being planted from now are heavy feeders and need generous amounts of compost to sustain them, any additional mineral based (rather than soluble) ferts very useful (eg rock dust), as are liquid ferts

Zucchini: 4 weeks from planting, and at 5-6 weeks will produce at least one zucchini per plant  per day and will produce for 3 months

Basil: 3-4 weeks, harvest tips to encourage branching (plant established seedlings)

Bush beans: 4 weeks from planting and will produce for weeks on end (plant established seedlings or try direct sowing -  but then guard them well against slugs and snails) 

Coriander:4-6 weeks: coriander does tend to bolt in the heat, but keep it mulched and well watered and you will still get a decent crop, you may just need to sow it more frequently to keep yourself in supply  (direct sow weekly after soaking seed for 24 hours)

Dill: 4-6 weeks from direct sowing; sprinkle seeds on bare soil and water well, mulch when big enough. 

Pak Choy, Lettuce, Silverbeet : 4-6 weeks from planting and keep planting right up to Christmas (plant established seedlings)

Cucumbers: 5-6 weeks from planting will produce for months but need rich soil and regular watering(plant established seedlings)

Cherry tomatoes: 4-6 weeks depending on variety (plant established seedlings)

Beefsteak Tomatoes: 8 weeks depending on variety (plant established seedlings)

Baby Hakurei Turnips: 6 weeks (direct sow)

Parsley: 6 weeks - avoid picking when plants are small, let them build up for a few weeks (plant established seedlings)

Broccoli/broccolini: 6-8 weeks (plant established seedlings, keep well watered) 

Runner beans: 6-8 weeks but then they go for ages.(plant established seedlings or try direct sowing -  but then guard them well against slugs and snails) 

Beetroot and carrots: 8-10 weeks  (direct sow)

Cabbage:  8-10 weeks ((plant established seedlings)

Peppers and aubergines: 8-10 weeks.If you want early crops of these, choose varieties with smaller size fruit which don’t need so much energy to form. Note: on Aotea, regular size peppers will not ripen to red/yellow until end of January (plant established seedlings) )

Corn,  Melons and watermelons: 10-12 weeks (plant established seedlings or try direct sowing -  but then guard them well against slugs and snails) 

Acorn squash, Pumpkins, Buttercup, Cupola Squash: 90 days plus. So important to harvest these when they are ripe- s usually indicated by the orange.yellow colour on the couche- the spot where thy fruit rests on the ground. 

Kūmara: these need the summer heat to form big tubers so usually take at least 4 month til harvest. Perfect month to plant your tipu. 

Weather:

Check Niwa's’ Seasonal Climate Outlook for updates (this article was written just before NIWA updated the seasonal outlook - to get the latest, click on the November to January outlook.)

In the vege garden

Watch Out For

• slugs and snails (use beer traps or iron phosphate bait)

• caterpillars (use nets or Bt)

• aphids (plant alyssum, let your parsley and coriander flower!)

• birds after your seedlings (use nets)

• Corn ear worm on Tomatoes and corn

• Psyllids on tomatoes (early for them but adults may be around) 

 In the Orchard 

• Plant bananas as long as soil warm and damp. Mulch well to retain moisture. .  

• Feed citrus with sheep pellets or chook manure (3x per year but not in winter) too late to prune as borer beetle out and about

• Mulch fruit trees after rain while the soil is damp

  Other Tasks

• Sort out your watering system for summer. If you have adequate water, set up drip tape. All fittings available at BBS and through Irrigation Express. 

• collect/make mulch and  spread thickly as you plant, to retain precious moisture in the soil over the coming hot months (and reduce weeds).