Saturday Morning With Jack Tame

It’s been a weird winter – cool and often wet. Indeed, I grew a few edibles in my tunnel house after most of the tomatoes had been removed.    With rubbish weather I tend to divert to bird hobbies, rather than vegie-garden maintenance. But in early August things become a bit more positive, and today that was highlighted when I visited my old mate Mike (a Scottish builder with heaps of Scottish humour).  He had already planted small strawberry plants under a cover of dense pea-straw – yes, next summer’s fruit extravaganza: STRAWBERRIES! New Zealand Gardener usually gives you the latest varieties available.  I had totally forgotten that I could have planted them a month or so ago, here on the port hills! Time to become a lot less lazy!  Friable, well-draining soil with heaps of organic material in the top layers. Some granular, general fertiliser (not too much – just a bit) so that the roots will lick their food on the warmer, early-Spring days. The pea-straw (and mulch) protects plant