The Flower Garden

• Winter colour - plant out winter flowering annuals and potted colour now for great colour through the winter months. 
• Potted colour varieties to look for this month include Pansies, Primulas, Polyanthus, and Cineraria.
• Now is a good time to plant up winter hanging baskets and pots with these flowers. Apply a small amount of dried blood to the soil and water weekly with iCan Liquid Fast Food for a vibrant, winter-warming display.
• Plant seedlings of Alyssum, Kale, Stock, Calendulas, and Violas.
• Flowering Camellias - Sasanqua Camellias are coming into flower now. Buy online. This is the perfect time to buy and plant - see the flowers and colours before you buy!
• Hedges and Shelter - give hedges a final trim and tidy up before winter.
• Plant out new hedges and shelter now - Corokia, Griselinia, Pittosporum, Buxus & Photinia all make attractive, low maintenance hedges in the home garden. Buy online.
• Fragrant Daphne - who can resist the heady perfume of a Daphne bush in full flower? Buy online.
• Plant now and enjoy the fragrance by your front door or on your patio.
• Daphnes grow well in pots and containers. Look for Daphne 'Eternal Fragrance' & 'Spring Pink Eternal Fragrance' as top performers.

The Edible Garden

• Strawberries - Now's the time to be planting strawberries. Look out for our limited supplies of bulk 25 plant, bare root bundles arriving soon! If you want to buy a reasonable quantity of plants then you are best to place an order to ensure you don't miss out! Otherwise they will be available later in May in pots and punnets. More on strawberries.
• Strawberries like good, fertile soil so dig in lots of top quality compost before planting. A handful of Blood and Bone in the planting hole and a top dressing of iCan Berry Food will get them off to a flying start. 
• Remember to water in well after planting.
• Strawberries look great in strawberry pots on the deck - easy picking in the summer! Just don't allow them to dry out.
• Vege Garden - still lots to do in the vegetable garden this month.
  • Spinach, cabbage, winter lettuce, and bok choy should all be part of your winter garden. See the Whanganui vegetable planting plan.
  • Broad beans are a great winter garden crop - plant seeds now into prepared soil. Provide some support as they do get reasonably tall (use twigs and small branches from your pruning in the garden).
  • Broad beans are easy care and you will have delicious young beans in October / November.
  • Shallots - sweeter than garlic, milder than onions. Great in stews and casseroles, or roasted whole. Shallots are easy to grow and take up little space in the garden.
• Rhubarb - Nothing beats the taste of home grown rhubarb with your muesli or weet-bix for breakfast! Bake with your late-season apple harvests into a glorious crumble.
• Rhubarb is planted by 'Crowns' which are available this month.
• Rhubarb plants are heavy feeders so dig in plenty of top quality iCan Premium Compost at planting time and follow up with General Garden Fertiliser at regular intervals through the year.