Inspired to garden
Happy new year everyone! The dawning of 2010 will undoubtedly herald the birth of new things for many people (a baby for me!). At this time I’m reflecting on what I’ve got and what I want for the future. One of the things I really appreciate is my garden. Here are some of the reasons why.
A space for everything: The garden provides opportunities to relax on the lawn, play with the kids, eat fresh fruit, pick flowers to brighten the house and create funky structures like the herb spiral.
You’re constantly inspired: nature and all its creatures are doing their thing, creating balance with predators eating pests; trying different crop varieties, plants growing through their life cycle to ensure survival.
Supplying so much food: eating from the garden in season is wonderful and healthy. Fruits, herbs, vegetables: they all give sustenance.
A place to explore: watching kids (and adults) discovering new things about nature, weather influences and the seasonal cycles. Making huts, and using shrubs as ice cream shops is lots of fun too.
Natural recycling: watching the worms eat our food scraps and paper waste and turn it into vermicast or humus is truly incredible. Compost recycles garden debris with extras (eg manure) into friable humus. With an abundance of humus it’s easy to keep the garden well fed.
Getting physical: toiling in the garden gets me noticing my body and keeps it exercised too.
A sense of connection: probably the most important thing I get from my garden is a feeling of being in touch with nature. Being part of the whole.
Maybe you’ll get inspired to start gardening, expand your edible collection or experiment with new ideas. Either way, have a happy gardening year.
Fruit care
Support heavily fruit laden branches so they don’t break, or shorten them.
Summer prune after fruiting: when sunny prune out water shoots low on trunk or in fruit tree centres, especially stonefruit.
Watch for silverleaf. Prune out affected branches and apply trichoderma to cuts and insert bio dowels into trunks asap.
Tip figs once fruit buds present to encourage better fruiting.
Cover berryfruits with netting to stop the birds!
Water young fruits if in a dry spot, and keep fruits well mulched.
Change pheromone traps to prevent codlin and leafroller moth damage.
Put bands of corrugated cardboard around fruit tree trunks. Remove and burn every two weeks to limit moth caterpillars. Barrier paste in a band helps trap them (see garden shop).
Strawberries need fortnightly liquid fertilising with comfrey. Mulch with pine needles or wood shavings.
Spray fruits with liquid seaweed as a tonic. Spray Bt vs moth larvae fruit damage on raspberries. Spray garlic and pyrethrum vs pear slug damage on pipfruit.
Also spray citrus with all purpose oil for scale insect and aphids (or use garlic and pyrethrum).
Prune citrus as you harvest.
Prune grapes back to two leaves past last fruit truss.
Herb care
Keep harvesting to stall flowering. Dry excess for later use.
Sow basil, coriander, dill direct fortnightly for continuous supply.
Plant parsley.
Vegetable care
Harvest garlic, onions and shallots when tops flop. Lift and dry in sun. Clean, plait and hang.
Keep weeding and make lots of compost.
Plant winter brassicas and celery into fertile bed. Cover to protect from pests (eg netting or shade cloth).
Plant leeks using a dibber and just water in.
Sow parsnip and other roots now for winter eating.
Sow salads every two weeks for continuous summer supply.
Earth up potatoes and yams. Harvest early potatoes.
Liquid fertilise in the morning once a week. Comfrey for fruits.
Remove tomato and cucumber laterals and lower leaves as they grow. Tie or train them onto stakes or string lines.
Watch out for pests and diseases, especially aphids on young seedlings and spray with natural garlic and pyrethrum. Spray Bt onto brassicas vs caterpillars.
Sow and plant lots of flowers to attract beneficial insects.
Hothouse: Liquid fertilise weekly. Use yellow sticky cards/bands for whitefly. Keep well ventilated. Spray with garlic and pyrethrum if plants get aphid infestations.
For transplanting: All seeds 28 Jan. Leafy greens (leeks, celery, summer spinach, silverbeet/chard, lettuce, endive, kale, cabbages, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower. Flowers, eg cyclamen.
Sow direct: All seeds 28 Jan. Mesclun salad, radish, spring onions, carrot, beetroot, parsnip, French beans, late climbing beans, late zucchini, sweetcorn. Flowers, eg viola.
Plant: Salad greens, silverbeet/chard, spinach, celery, kale, cabbages, leeks, late potatoes, sweet corn, and late cucumbers, zucchini and tomatoes. Flowers, eg self-seeded aquilegia.
General garden care
Prune trees and shrubs after flowering, including roses.
Collect seaweed/seagrass.
Make lots of compost. Turn heaps.
Make comfrey liquid fertiliser: cut, fill drum and add water. Wait month before use.
Mulch citrus and ornamentals with grass clippings. Avoid mowing lawn really short.
Check irrigation system. Collect water in drums.
Sol Morgan, GroWise Consultancy
