Māra Kai - Mahuru

Kua pūmahana te whenua, me ngā otaota, me ngā rākau”

As the warmth is returning to the land, growth will begin once more. Just as out tupuna began preparing the earth as they heard the cries of “Kui, kui” from the pipiwharauroa who had returned from Hawaiki. Here is what we can start doing to get our māra kai ready for the growth that kōanga brings.

Mahuru (September- October)

is a great time get everything in place so that you can provide plenty of food for your whānau over the next few months

General Tasks

• Build new gardens or prepare new containers – tyres, half wine barrels, plastic, timber or terracotta pots or tubs can be used. Just make sure they have good drainage.
• Finish your kūmara and seedling beds and prepare your own fertilisers and compost.
• Feed gardens, containers and fruit trees with compost, manure, organic fertilisers
• Build support frames for climbing and edible vines (e.g. peas, beans). These can be made from chicken wire, trellis, thin sticks or even the old flax flowers.
• Check water supply is plentiful and that all garden and sowing equipment is in good working condition and ready to go
• To help fast-track the soil getting warmer clear polythene can be pegged out over the garden .After a month seedlings can be planted into the plot.
• Start collecting two litre drink containers and bottles as these can be used later on to protect seedlings from mānu and frosts.

Sowing and Planting

• The following can be sowed into trays; salad greens such as rocket, mizuna and mesclun, coriander, broccoli, tomatoes, peppers, melons, courgettes and cucumber seeds.
• Buttercup, eggplants, lettuce, parsley, dwarf beans, marigold, celery, nasturtium (similar taste to watercress), sweet peas can also be germinated inside and sowed in the first quarter of the moon. To germinate seeds fill a tray or recycled punnets with fresh seed raising mix.
• Moisten with water and then space the seeds 4-5 cm apart. (This allows each seedling enough room to grow sturdy roots over the next few weeks without invading its neighbour's space, so you can transplant them later on without having to prise all the roots apart). Cover with a light sprinkle of extra seed-raising mix and firm down lightly. 
• Eggplants, peppers and tomatoes in particular love heat not necessarily light to germinate so a good trick is too wrap the trays in gladwrap or a plastic bag and place them in the hot water cupboard.
• Once the seedlings have germinated or planted into trays they will be to be pricked out (remove some of the plants so there is more room for others to grow) and placed in full sunlight.
• Seedlings of vegies such as peas and beans can also be placed in toilet roll tubes filled with seed raising mix and supported in an ice cream container. This helps to protect their roots and makes planting easier later on. 
• If you have raised leeks, summer cabbage, beetroot, spinach, broad beans, radishes, silver beet and Asian greens indoors these can be planted out towards the end of the month providing the soil is not water logged and the frosts have gone.

Whiringa ā nuku   (October – November)

General Tasks

• Nurture all new plants, seedlings with manure and compost.
• Set up a good range of herbs and flowers in your garden so that you can start doing some companion planting. This will assist your new plants with nutrient uptake, pest control, pollination, help reduce weeds and also you will have a more varied, attractive māra.
• Good companion plants include basil and marigolds but there are many more so the best way is to have a large variety of plants.
• Prick out seedlings into pots
• Place mature indoor raised seedlings in a warm place outdoors this helps them to harden off. Once growth is sufficient and plants are healthy start planting into outside gardens.
• Cut the bottoms off plastic bottles, remove the screw cap and use these top pieces to place over seedlings once planted for protection.
• Start preparing strawberry patches or summer fruit beds.

Sowing and Planting

• Sow potato, corn, pumpkin, beans, lettuce and beetroot seeds into trays.
• It is also time to transplant peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, cucumbers, and all those vegies you sowed into trays during mahuru. Artichokes, asparagus, yams, dwarf or climbing beans, melons and spring onions can also now be planted.
• Also if you are hoping to have kūmara, potatoes, pumpkins, peas, radishes and courgettes or marrow for Christmas these need to be planted by early November.
• Also remember to stake and tie up eggplants, peppers and tomatoes plants as they grow. This offers the fragile plants support as they grow the fruits.  

References:

• Te Reka O Te Kai – Kai Atua, maara Practical Guide. Te Waka Kai Ora.References:
• Edible Garden Planner; a guide for NZ and Australia. Authors Diana Anthony and Jon Muller.
• NZ Gardener Magazine, September 2011.