Don’t let the chilly temperature prevent you from getting in the garden! Use this simple gardening guide on what to harvest, plant and sow this June.
Seasonal gardening chores
The first month of winter brings mixed feelings, balancing the unlikeable prospects of cold grey days, long nights with the palpable joys of a hard frost and bright berries. It’s a time to slow down and observe the little things in the garden more closely, like bark on a tree or moss on a rock. And time to ponder, research and plan for the coming seasons in the garden.
Slowing down
As long as the ground is not too wet, much can still be planted this month. Broccoli, cabbage, coriander, kale, cold-weather lettuce, mesclun, onion, parsley, peas, radish, rocket, silverbeet and spinach can all be planted, but growth will be slow.
Strawberries planted now crop better than those set out in spring. Garlic is best planted before the shortest day (June 21). Deciduous trees and shrubs, including roses and fruit trees, may be planted now while dormant.
New growth
Long nights mean more time to research the latest plants available here, such as the stunning Hydrangea macrophylla Tuxedo Red, whose richly coloured flower heads look stunning against the deep purply black foliage. With the very latest New Zealand-bred roses being sold out even before they reach the shop floor, check out some winners of recent years, such as Ink Spots, a compact, heavily floriferous bush rose with gorgeous burgundy-centred white flowers. The range in colour of echinacea, aka coneflowers, has exploded in recent years, there now being a colour for almost every taste. With no blues to date, the brilliant orange E. Sunseekers Mineola should satisfy any need for something different.
The case for lime
Most soils benefit from a light dressing of lime every few years. It helps balance pH, making nutrients more available, while the added calcium supports stronger growth. It can also open up heavy soils and encourage microbial activity. Apply about a handful per square metre – more on heavy soils. Avoid using around acid-lovers such as azaleas, rhododendrons, camellias, blueberries, raspberries and potatoes.
Landscape 101: Winter bloomers
There is little flashy about a garden in winter; its glories are small, unassuming and need to be sought out. Amidst the low light, long shadows, the bare branches and chilliness there can be spotted those seemingly obstinate acts of flowering, all the more precious for their rarity. One way to get the most out of these cold-weather bloomers is their placement.
Winter flowers are easily lost if they’re planted in the middle of a border. Most are small, subtle, or both so put them where you can easily see or smell them, along a path, beside steps, close to the house, Or, in a pot where they can be brought inside or closer when at their best. The same goes for hellebores. Plant them on a slight rise, or at the front of a bed, so you’re not always looking down on the backs of the flowers.
A daphne bush, Daphne odora, is a classic example. It belongs by a doorway or gate, somewhere you pass daily, because as pretty as the pink flowers are, the scent is its main point. Tucked away, it’s wasted.
Another shrub, Mahonia japonica, works best with some space so its long tassels of yellow flowers which hover above dark, slightly spiky foliage can be properly appreciated. It’s not one to cram in. Edgeworthia chrysantha is similar. Give this charming Himalayan native a clear spot where winter sun can catch the flowers, otherwise they can look rather dull.
At ground level, winter flowers are easily missed, so plant them where they’ll settle in and be seen, even if they take a year or two to get going. Dear little snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis), for example, are best planted in drifts beneath deciduous trees or along the edge of a path where they can naturalise. Iris unguicularis needs the opposite approach. Cut back the foliage in late autumn so the flowers aren’t hidden. It likes a sunny, sheltered spot – against a wall or at the base of the house.
Keep surrounding plantings simple. Winter flowers don’t compete well with clutter. A dark evergreen backdrop, a bit of open ground and good sightlines will do more for them than anything else.
How to: Grow well-shaped trees
Start early. Pruning when a tree is young lets you remove or shorten limbs before they become dominant, leaving smaller wounds and a cleaner, more resilient structure. It is also less noticeable, both visually and to the tree itself.
Before cutting, decide what you want the tree to do: cast shade over a deck, frame or block a view, stand alone as a specimen, or sit within a wider planting. Do you need space beneath for mowing or underplanting?
Lifting the canopy creates clearance and light, while selective thinning maintains balance without sacrificing character. Deciduous trees are the most straightforward. In winter, their bare framework is visible, making it easy to assess shape, spacing and any crossing or congested growth. You can clearly see what to remove and what to keep. Evergreens need a lighter touch, with pruning focused on gentle thinning and shaping rather than heavy cuts.
Steal this:
If only we could steal this fabulous English manor house. However, one of the best things about the wisteria climbing up its facade is the plant’s ability to improve almost everything it climbs up – from tired old garden sheds to the fanciest mansion. This most gorgeous of climbers is also tough as nuts. Once established, it is almost impossible to kill and impressively vigorous, so it needs firm handling to keep it under control. Start training early: select a main stem, tie it to a strong support and guide side shoots along wires or pergolas.
Prune twice yearly – hard in winter to shape and encourage flowering spurs and lightly in summer to keep growth in check. Plant in full sun with free-draining soil and avoid excess nitrogen, which promotes leaves over blooms. Water well while establishing, then sparingly. Feed in spring with a low-nitrogen fertiliser. Be patient, flowering can take a few years, especially from seed-grown plants.
Consider this:
We’re obsessed with battery-charged pruning secateurs. All those repetitive garden jobs – roses, slightly overgrown shrubs, the wayward vine – are now less arduous. A gentle squeeze of the trigger and the blades move cleanly through stems. No more bracing your wrist, forcing that thumb. At around 700g and designed to cut stems up to 25mm thick, they’re not noticeably heavier than a well-made pair of manual secateurs, but they take the strain out of longer pruning sessions.
Read more:
- Harakeke: a story of New Zealand flax and its cultural meaning
- The best vegetables to plant in your garden this May
- Where play meets plants: Nell Palmer’s family-friendly garden
