Down to Earth: Growing citrus
As the dry weather settles in, water becomes the critical ingredient keeping everything alive. Those who have added plenty of organic matter to the soil and mulch around plants will need to water less than their neighbours but watering, weeding and mulching are important just now. Subtropicals like citrus will struggle if water is too scarce. If you're like me, there's nothing quite so refreshing on a hot summer's day as citrus.
Here are a few tips on growing citrus successfully.
· Choose an open, sunny position, sheltered from strong winds.
· Provide both wind and frost protection for first few years.
· Plant in spring, into a well-prepared hole (75cm diameter and 50cm deep). Add compost (half a barrow), 2kg of gypsum per m² if the soil is heavy, and 300-400 g of lime/dolomite per m² if the soil is acid (pH below 6.0).
· If drainage is poor, plant on a mound, or dig drains.
· Mulch heavily with mixture of woody shreddings and grass clippings, keeping clear of the trunk.
· Remove fruit and flowers in the first year, so energy goes into growth.
· Citrus are heavy feeders for trace elements, so spray regularly with a seaweed fertiliser. In autumn add compost and/or animal manures (about 4kg for a year-old tree to 20kg for a mature tree). Supplement with blood and bone, ash and urine!
· Plant comfrey 1 metre from trunk to aid drainage and nutrition.
· Water well if dry when fruiting.
· Prune to a new shoot when harvesting back. Or do a main prune in spring every few years. Always remove dead and diseased branches, and suckers.
Fruit care:
· Summer prune trees. Remove diseased wood and fruit and burn.
· Prune old canes off berryfruits. Select and tie up strongest new canes.
· Tip grapes and passionfruit runners.
· Watch out for silverleaf in fruit trees and insert bio-dowels into trunks.
· Replace pheromone traps in orchards.
· After fruiting, remove old strawberry plants, leaving young ones.
Herb Care:
· Clip back perennials for winter use.
· Sow annual herbs. Direct sow dill, parsley and coriander for best results.
Vegetable Care:
· Plant winter crops now, eg broccoli.
· Liquid fertilise with comfrey weekly, especially fruit crops.
· Sow summer green crops (lupin, buckwheat, mustard, rye, corn) on vacant beds for autumn/winter plantings.
· Stay observant for pests and diseases.
· For caterpillar pests on brassicas (cabbages etc) spray Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) every 2-3 days.
· Mound celery and potatoes (or mulch with straw/grass).
· Thin carrots. Cover shoulders to deter carrot rust fly.
· Keep hothouse ventilated. Change yellow sticky cards and control pests.
· Harvest main crop potatoes and onions. Store in cool, dry, shady place.
· Keep harvesting beans, zucchinis and tomatoes.
· Harvest sweet corn when tassles are brown.
· Tip pumpkins and melons.
· Save seed.
Sow for transplanting: Leafy greens (summer spinach, lettuce, endive, cabbages, silverbeet/rainbow chard and celery). Broccoli and early cauliflowers (best 15-16th Feb). Herbs: basil, parsley. Flowers.
Sow direct: Radish, parsnip, carrots, beetroot (best 13th-14th Feb). Spring onions, salads, silverbeet/chard. Late French/butter beans. Flowers, eg snapdragons.
Plant: Salad greens, spinach, celery, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbages, silverbeet/rainbow chard, beetroot and leeks. Annual herbs. Flowers.
General Garden Care:
· Mow lawns with mulch mower.
· Prune back flowering plants.
· Collect seed from annual flowers.
· Plant bulbs.
· Shred prunings.
· Make and turn composts.
Sol Morgan, GroWise Consultancy. Ph 525 9110.
