Autumn in the garden

Temperatures are starting to cool, leaves are turning orange, and things are slowing down in the garden. April and May are key months for preparing your winter garden and a chance to have a good organise and tidy up.

In the fruit garden:

• In early autumn, pick the remainder of the summer harvest from the fruit trees, such as apples and pears. Preserve excess fruit to enjoy with warm desserts through the winter.

Clean up strawberry plants. Strawberry plants have a lifespan of about three productive years, then they will need to be replaced. To keep them healthy, remove any rotting fruit and trim yellow leaves.

Prune citrus trees and fertilise in early autumn with a citrus food.

April is the best month for planting fruit trees and shrubs, while the soil is still warm. Their roots will establish in the wetter ground over the winter.

How to grow your favourite vegetables from seed:

• Select a seed-raising soil mix from your garden centre. This has all the key nutrients to help you be successful in growing seeds.

• Choose your seeds. Check the packet for ideal sowing months for your region and whether they are best grown in seed trays, or straight into the garden bed. Make shallow trenches in the soil, about a finger-length deep.

Add 2cm of seed-raising soil to the bottom and water lightly.

• Sow the seeds, follow packet directions for distance, depth etc.

• Lightly cover with soil.

• Water lightly and regularly. Keep a close eye as seedlings begin to pop through the soil, check for signs of pests, and don’t let the weeds overrun them!

In the vegetable garden:

• Harvest pumpkins when their skin is hard enough to withstand the pressure of a thumbnail.

• Pull out finished stalks and plants, such as corn and tomato, and add them to the compost.

Add nutrients to the soil to replenish it once summer vegetables have finished, this is an essential step for ensuring healthy winter crops. Add compost and sheep pellets. Turn the soil, dig it through and pull weeds.

Plant broccoli, cabbage, kale, cauliflower, carrots, spinach, rocket and beetroot. Either grow from seed (see our tips for growing from seed) or choose seedlings.

Why is it important to fight climate change collaboratively?

I always like the quote “We don’t know what we don’t know”. For an issue like climate change, we might have parts of the solution, but we don’t always know what parts of the problem we are trying to solve. To get the full picture we need to work together as a region and a community.

What else needs to be done to support the reduction of carbon emissions?

Beyond working together as a region, I would love to see more research and decision making to really explore the potential of soil-based carbon sequestration. This is a contested space, but I am excited about the opportunities that could be there.

How do these actions benefit the regional economy?

We need to be known beyond our wine-making talents. For instance, there would be value in a regional bio-energy hub in Marlborough, this would create jobs and have significant economic and social benefits.

Regionally, there is real potential in the use of bio char as carbon capture and also soil enhancement. We can also support the Marlborough energy market with biofuel products that can help local businesses reduce their carbon footprint.