New Zealand's National Gardening Week is Coming Soon

National Gardening Week falls on 6-13 October, and New Zealanders are encouraged to get their green fingers moving. To celebrate the planting season, this year’s sponsor Yates is giving away a free packet of vegetable seeds to everyone who registers online.

For those who aren’t sure how to get involved in gardening week, Yates has a few suggestions.

Begin a bee friendly garden – blue, purple and yellow-flowering plants are their favourites
Brighten up the garden with a hanging basket of flowers – or fill with strawberry plants
Plant microgreens for the kitchen window sill
Feed your plants to get them ready for the Spring growth spurt
Start a compost bin or worm bin to convert kitchen scraps into a valuable plant food
Volunteer for a local replanting programme
Join your local garden club
Lend a hand in your community gardens
Help a neighbour in need – offer to weed their garden
Visit a Botanical Garden or local park and stop and smell the roses

October is an exciting time for gardening, as the temperature is just right. It’s the traditional time to plant vegetables such as beans, peas, carrots, radish and beetroot. It’s also the ideal time to plant aubergine, lettuce, cucumber, cauliflower, courgettes, peppers, pumpkin and tomatoes.

Spring is the perfect season for fresh meals, from the garden to the plate, but for those who prefer to decorate their garden with flowers over edibles, October is also the time to plant colourful blooms. Plant perennial and summer flowering bulbs such as dahlia, begonia, gladioli and calla lily. It is the season for roses too

Gardening is a popular pastime in New Zealand, with so many of us taking care of our backyards with pride. Take National Gardening Week as an inspiration to sow new areas of lawn. Add fertiliser to existing lawns and give it a spring clean with a spray of weed killer. Grass is often neglected, but a well-kept lawn can mean the difference between a healthy, beautiful garden and a messy one.

Gardening can be a big task, but there are many gardening services around that can lend a helping hand. Crewcut is a lawn mowing company that provides lawn care in Wellington and other cities in New Zealand. If you want to tidy your garden but you’re short of time or don’t know where to start, get professional lawn garden care.