down to earth: Sustainable orchards
Sustainable orchards.
Many of you will have already established orchards. Others may have just planted one. It’s important to get fruits that suit our climate and soil conditions, plant them well at the right spacing and protect them from pests, wind and frost.
What’s needed then is to set up the orchard to be as self-sustaining as possible. That means less work and greater rewards in the long run. Here are some ideas for sustainable orchards.
Establish permanent understorey plants between trees. Under trees (allow 1.5 metres from trunks) plant deep-rooting plants that bring nutrients up from the subsoil (like comfrey, chicory, and annuals like daikon radish, which aid drainage) and other floriferous perennials such as cow parsley, golden rod, fennel, angelica, daisies, feverfew, and annuals like phacelia, parsnip, parsley, borage and nasturtiums. These plants both add nutrition to the fruits (when cut down as mulch) and provide a habitat for beneficial insects that keep fruit pests in check. Most annuals self-seed once established. Woody herbs like rosemary and lavender also provide nectar and woody material for mulch when trimmed annually. Bulbs add colour, attract bees and provide organic material as mulch as the soil warms in late spring. Alliums like chives and garlic help repel soil pests. Keep mulch from touching the trunk.
Between the rows plant a diversity of perennial herbs that when mowed add further orchard mulch (or greens for the compost) like the legumes white and red clover, lucerne, and chicory, plantain and grasses.
Shelter belts made up of a diverse range of shrub and tree species provide excellent woody mulch when shredded and placed within the trees’ drip line (around understorey plants). They also provide habitat for birds, which eat many insect pests.
Integrate chickens, ducks, pea-hens, and sheep (for a limited time only as they also like trees!) into the orchard system. If several fenced runs divide the orchard, this allows greens to grow again so the soil isn’t bare around trees (this encourages diseases like black spot). Poultry in particular provide nutrients such as phosphorus, important for fruit development, and they clean up unwanted fruit that often contains overwintering pests. Litter from their chook houses can be used as mulch.
Fruit care
Sow beneficial understorey annuals now in bare soil around fruit trees (Kings Seeds has mixes).
Plant comfrey and other beneficial herbs around orchard.
Plant strawberries into well-prepared beds if you didn’t in autumn.
Spray stonefruit and pipfruit with cutonic copper vs bacterial diseases before and after bud burst, or use liquid seaweed as a tonic.
Also all-purpose oil or lime sulphur for scale insect on citrus.
Prune citrus as you harvest. Best to do heavy pruning now.
Apply fertilisers to fruits before spring growth, eg rock phosphate, lime, boron and wood ash.
Vegetable Care
Start sowing early crops (e.g. tomatoes, peppers) in propagation houses or cold frames.
Dig in green manures/crops or cut and mulch with black plastic for upcoming spring plantings.
Prepare ground for early potatoes and other spring crops.
Chit (sprouted and ready to plant) potatoes and yams (oca) by putting in the light to encourage strong shoots.
Remove heavy mulches or weeds from ground for early crops to improve soil warming.
Cloche for frost protection and soil warming.
Liquid fertilise in the morning once a week, especially nitrogenous brews like diluted liquid manures and urine.
Weed beds, especially around alliums.
Mulch with seaweed or seagrass around brassicas, garlic, broad beans and greens.
Stay observant for pests and diseases, especially slugs and snails.
Plant Jerusalem artichokes, rhubarb and asparagus into well-prepared beds.
Hothouse
Prepare propagation area for main sowing, eg make seed-raising mix, gather seed, etc.
Prepare beds for early hothouse crops like tomatoes, eggplants and peppers.
Complete plan of garden cropping and spring rotation.
For transplanting: Sow all seeds 3rd September. Leafy greens (summer spinach, silverbeet/chard, lettuce, endive, cabbages)(also 28th August). Broccoli, cauliflower. Early cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkins, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants (with bottom heat). Flowers, eg lobelia.
Sow direct: Sow all seeds 3rd September. Radish, spring onions, carrots, beetroot (under cloche), parsnip, kohlrabi, turnips. Peas, French beans (under cloche). Flowers, eg orchard beneficials.
Plant: Salad greens, spinach, cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower, onions and early potatoes. Flowers, eg comfrey in orchard or by compost.
General garden Care
Complete planting of trees and shrubs.
Make compost.
Mulch citrus with grass clippings.
Sol Morgan, GroWise Consultancy
