Gardening

October in the garden

We’re into mid-spring already and there’s plenty to do in the garden this month. The crops and flowers planted earlier in the season will be starting to appear, now it’s time to harvest and to plant more to ensure you’ve got a continuous supply through the summer.

In the vegetable patch:

All those quick-growing greens should be producing well now. Keep picking lettuce and spinach to ensure new growth. Plant spring vegetable seedlings. Popular options are peas, beans, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, courgettes, broccoli, cauliflower, beetroot, eggplants, leeks, and salad greens including rocket, spinach, mizuna, mesclun and lettuce. Keep vigilant on slugs and snails. They particularly enjoy spring seedlings. Now that the weather is more consistent, basil and coriander can be planted outside. Other herbs to plant in the garden now are parsley (Italian and curly), sage, rosemary, thyme, rocket, marjoram, dill and chives. Plant them in and around the garden to increase the diversity, this aids as a natural insect repellant. Labour weekend is traditional planting time for tomatoes, get yours in the ground by then to ensure a bumper crop in the summer. Fertilise with a tomatospecific fertiliser.

In the fruit garden:

Stake fruit trees to protect against spring winds. Plant blueberry plants. They are relatively easy to grow, make great hedges and the fruit is high in antioxidants. Keep regularly feeding your strawberries every couple of weeks with liquid fertiliser. Plant new citrus trees. They prefer a position in full sun with good draining soil. In the flower garden:

Your spring bulbs will be out now. Enjoy the beauty and take photos, this will help you remember where everything is for next year and you can decide what needs moving. Plant annuals for instant garden colour. Seedlings available now are ageratum, alyssum, aster, begonia, Californian poppy, carnation, cosmos, dahlia, impatiens, marigold, and petunia. Lightly prune roses to remove dead heads and to encourage new buds. With the warmer weather and the high pollen levels, bees are active. Plant food sources for them such as pineapple sage, bergamot, lemon balm, blue salvia, coreopsis, echinops, eryngium, gaillardia, alyssum, and rosemary. As the soil warms, apply mulch to conserve moisture and suppress weeds. As it breaks down it will supply food for your soil.

Churchill Hospital – cultivating better health outcomes

Churchill Hospital is Marlborough’s own private surgical hospital and specialist centre. Owned by the Churchill Private Hospital Charitable Trust since 1984, Churchill shares a mutually beneficial relationship with Te Whatu Ora Nelson Marlborough. General manager, Nicki Stretch says having a private hospital in Marlborough helps to attract medical specialists to the region and increases health resources that benefit our community. “Whether patients are covered by ACC, health insurance, or are self-funded, many no longer need to travel out-of-town for consultations or surgery, and it relieves some pressure off the public waiting list too.” The team at Churchill Hospital are committed to delivering excellent, patient-centered care, providing the facilities and staff to enable specialists to undertake private surgery for their patients in Marlborough. They offer a broad range of surgical services including general and laparoscopic surgery, endoscopy, gynaecology, ophthalmology, orthopaedic surgery and urology. Churchill Hospital have fifteen surgeons that consult and operate at Churchill Hospital. Seven of those are visiting surgeons, which enables them to cover a wide range of needs. They have increased their gynaecology services with three specialists available to see patients and also have visiting urologists, an ophthalmologist, an ear, nose and throat specialist and a plastic and reconstructive surgeon working as part of the team. “We are always looking to increase the medical services available and identifying what people need locally.” Nicki says expansion plans are underway for the specialist centre. “We are definitely seeing a greater need for this. Upon completion, the extra facilities will enable us to further help our wider community.” As a charitable trust, it is important to the team to give back. Churchill Hospital not only focus on providing the highest standard of health care to their patients, but also support the wellbeing of the Marlborough community. Their community donations programme has provided financial support to many not-for-profit organisations including Marlborough Riding for the Disabled, Hospice Marlborough, The Graeme Dingle Foundation Marlborough, The Creative Kids Trust and various sporting organisations like women’s cricket and tennis.

Churchill Hospital are also passionate about gardening for your health, which is why they have aligned themselves with one of New Zealand's premier gardening events, Rapaura Springs Garden Marlborough. “This ties in nicely with a lot of the things we do here. It is an iconic event that brings many visitors to the region, but also gardening is good! It helps people to keep active and motivated and is generally great for overall mental health and wellbeing.”

Churchillhospital.co.nz