July Diary 2012

July is considered  Mid-Winter in New Zealand and often the coldest, wettest month of the year. Watch weather forecasts and local conditions carefully and be prepared to protect tender plants from frost, freezing, prolonged wet and snowy weather, hail, wind damage, flooding, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, plagues, pestilence, civil unrest and the government.

Winning over Winter: Frost, freezing, prolonged wet/snowy weather, windy spells and the general malaise of seemingly endless wintry conditions are the things that make winter gardening most problematic. Short of moving to a sunny (sub) tropical location there is no magic wand to wave winter away. But there are things the gardener can do to make the time go faster with less damage and really win out over winter.