Blenheim · Marlborough · New Zealand
Jacob’s personal gardening dashboard for the Blenheim and Marlborough region. It pulls together a month-by-month planting calendar, a winter frost watch, a blueberry care tracker, and a companion planting advisor, all tuned to this cool, dry, frost-prone climate. Every section is written as plain, labelled text so you can read exactly what to do and when.
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Summer in Marlborough
Year at a glance
The full year, month by month, for the Blenheim and Marlborough climate. Each month lists its season, its frost status in words, the single most important job, and what to sow or plant outdoors. Read it as a list, top to bottom.
Key job. Water in the early morning and mulch every bed to hold moisture through the dry Marlborough summer.
Sow or plant
Beans (dwarf and climbing) · Beetroot, carrots, radish · Lettuce and salad greens (in afternoon shade) · Spring onions, leeks (seedlings)
Key job. Start your winter brassicas now so they bulk up before the cold slows growth.
Sow or plant
Brassicas for autumn: broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage (seedlings) · Carrots, beetroot, kohlrabi · Coriander, rocket, winter lettuce · Spring onions
Key job. Plant garlic and broad beans, and start clearing finished summer crops into the compost.
Sow or plant
Garlic (plant from late March onward) · Broad beans · Spinach, silverbeet · Onions, winter lettuce, mizuna
Key job. Sow a cover crop on any bare bed to protect and feed the soil over winter.
Sow or plant
Garlic and shallots · Broad beans, peas · Spinach, corn salad, winter lettuce · Cover crops (lupin, mustard) on empty beds
Key job. Get the last garlic in the ground and mulch around perennials before the hard cold arrives.
Sow or plant
Garlic (last good window) · Broad beans, peas · Hardy greens: spinach, miner's lettuce, kale (seedlings)
Key job. Frost watch month. Plant dormant fruit including blueberries, and keep frost cloth ready for any tender survivors.
Sow or plant
Deciduous fruit trees and berries while dormant (plant bare-root now) · Blueberries (start of the June to September planting window) · Rhubarb crowns, asparagus crowns · Garlic, if you missed autumn (it will be slower)
Key job. Frost watch month. This is the best time for planting dormant blueberries and fruit trees while they are fully asleep.
Sow or plant
Bare-root fruit trees, currants, gooseberries · Blueberries (prime dormant planting window) · Strawberry runners · Shallots in milder spots
Key job. Prune dormant fruit and roses, and prepare beds with compost ready for the spring rush.
Sow or plant
Blueberries (still within the planting window) · Early potatoes (chitted, in frost-protected spots near the end of the month) · Peas, broad beans · Onion and brassica seedlings
Key job. Start frost-tender seedlings indoors. Do not plant tomatoes outside yet, a late frost can wipe them out.
Sow or plant
Blueberries (final month of the recommended planting window) · Potatoes, peas, beetroot, carrots · Lettuce, spinach, spring onions · Tomatoes and capsicums (indoors, under cover only)
Key job. Harden off summer seedlings gradually, and watch the forecast before planting anything tender outdoors.
Sow or plant
Beans (after the last frost, usually mid to late October) · Carrots, beetroot, silverbeet, lettuce · Courgettes, pumpkin, cucumber (start under cover) · Tomatoes (harden off and plant out late October if frost has passed)
Key job. Plant out all the summer crops now and set up stakes and supports before plants get large.
Sow or plant
Tomatoes, capsicums, chillies, eggplant · Beans, sweetcorn, courgettes, pumpkin, cucumber · Basil and other tender herbs · Successive lettuce and beetroot
Key job. Set up a consistent deep-watering routine and mulch heavily before the driest part of summer.
Sow or plant
Successive beans, beetroot, carrots, radish · Sweetcorn (last sowings) · Basil, dill, lettuce in part shade · Pumpkin and squash (last sowings early in the month)
Winter safety
Marlborough’s heaviest, most frequent frosts fall in June and July, with July usually the coldest. On clear, still nights, temperatures inland can drop to between minus 2 and minus 5 degrees Celsius. Plan around it: finish tender summer crops before winter, and treat any warm winter day as a trap, not a signal to plant frost-tender seedlings.
FROST WATCH. June is one of Marlborough's two coldest, frostiest months. Expect hard frosts on clear, still nights, often down to minus 2 to minus 5 degrees inland.
FROST WATCH. July is typically the coldest month in Blenheim. Hard, repeated frosts. Soil is cold and growth nearly stops.
Throughout this dashboard, frost risk is always written out in words, never shown by colour alone. Here is what each label means.
Long-term crop
Blueberries are a decades-long commitment with specific needs that most Marlborough gardens do not meet by default. Here are the four facts that matter most, followed by a checklist you can work through and tick off as you go.
pH 4.5 to 5.2
Blueberries need distinctly acidic soil. Most Marlborough garden soil is closer to neutral, so you will usually need to acidify it before planting. Test the soil, then lower the pH with peat, composted pine bark or pine needles, and elemental sulphur applied several months ahead. Re-test each year.
30 to 50 years
A well-sited, well-fed blueberry bush is a long-term investment that can crop for three to five decades. Choose the spot deliberately, because the plant will be there a very long time.
June to September
In Marlborough, plant blueberries during winter while they are dormant, from June through September. Dormant planting lets the roots establish before the spring flush, which is the whole point of the winter window.
Netting required
Birds will strip a ripe blueberry crop in days. Bird netting is not optional in Marlborough. Build a frame and net the bushes before the fruit starts to colour, and make sure the net is secured at the ground so birds cannot get underneath.
0 of 8 steps done
Tick each step as you complete it for a bush. Your progress is saved in this browser, so it will still be here when you come back.
Plant pairings
Pick a crop to see which neighbours help it, which to keep apart, and a note specific to growing it in Marlborough. Each pairing comes with a plain reason so you know why, not just what.
In Marlborough, plant tomatoes out only once spring frosts have passed (usually late October to November) and give them the hottest, most sheltered spot you have.