Hōtoke/winter garden guide – foliar feeding
Kia ora Paetūmōkai, apologies that our autumn and winter guides have been a bit late, we will start fresh with your spring guide coming in the September issue. If you caught it, our autumn guide talked about the soil ‘going to sleep’ as it gets colder. This means that all of the biology living there, including everyone from tiny bacteria, wee springtail and up to giant millipede, are doing less of the important work of breaking down organic matter and converting it to absorbable nutrients for our plants to pull up via their roots. The soil food web is taking an important nap, and winter is the time for us to rest and plan too. However, if you do want to give your plants a nutrient boost then there is a shortcut, directly feeding them nutrients through their foliage instead! Foliar feeding uses liquid nutrients directly sprayed onto the leaf surface that the plant then absorbs through their stomata (their version of skin pores).
