Planning the ‘Autumn’ garden

Ahh, the Autumn garden…perfect for brassicas, leafy greens, turnips, peas! Autumn is one of the best gardening times of the year!

Or it used to be.

I was mulching the garden this morning when I noticed new blossom on the plum tree.

New blossom on the plum tree. In May. In South Australia.

One of these things just doesn’t belong here.

The fact is that over the past several years, Summer has blended into Autumn, which has blended into Winter. Our warmer weather is stretching out into our so-called Winter, and we have much-reduced rainfall. Last week, we had temps in the mid 20s.

I flew to the West coast last week, and as I sat by the window looking down, all I could see was an ocean of brown. Dry, brown fields, stretching from Northern Adelaide to the Spencer Gulf. When we drove into the town, I could see close up that trees along the roadside were dying from lack of rainfall. It was a shocking sight.

This all has a cost, both to our landscape and wildlife, humans who rely on it for their income, food, or recreation, and for those of us who try to grow gardens.

For me, that cost was borne home to me in a very concrete form when I received a huuuuge water bill last month – 3x our usual quarterly average for the Summer.

We expect a higher bill in Summer. You cannot grow a mini-orchard in Adelaide without irrigating. We accept that as part of the deal for the privilege of our land use. However 3x the average is crackers!

Last post, I mentioned my trial of no-dig gardening, (and my lack of success). That doesn’t mean I am 100% sticking with the way I have always done things. Obviously, I have to change how I garden and what I plant. And that includes in my Autumn garden, when in the past I could have naturally reduced how much I rely on irrigation in the garden due to the cooler weather and rainfall. The fact is, I can’t rely on that anymore. And I can’t rely on old methods and plants anymore either.

Doing things Differently in my Autumn Garden

In previous years, this Autumn would be peak brassica planting season. I love to grow broccoli and romanesco especially. I also usually grow a lot of kale, turnips, and swedes (also known as rutabagas). I often grow onions, put in at least one patch of garlic, and some silverbeet.

All of these plants are heavy feeders, especially nitrogen. They take a lot from the soil without giving much back, and they do require a lot of water. That’s no problem when there is decent rainfall. But I can’t rely on that anymore.

This Autumn, my soil is not in great condition. As I mentioned in the last post, when I dug it over recently, I found it was full of roots and rocks. After months of heat and little rain, it lacked structure. I decided that the whole garden needed a rest and time to recover.

However, nature abhors a vacuum. If I plant nothing, weeds will happily jump right in. So, this season, I decided to plant high nitrogen crops to feed the soil and help give it back structure, organic matter, and nutrition.

Before planting, I spread generous amounts of pelletised chicken manure across the soil and raked it in. Then I planted legumes and green manure across the whole garden. I chose dwarf snow peas, climbing peas, broad beans, sweet peas, fenugreek, and a green manure blend. After planting, I mulched with chopped sugarcane mulch.

My intention is to water up to once a week from now until Spring, but only if the soil under the mulch is dry. Otherwise, this patch must now fend for itself. Fruit trees will continue to be watered if needed. If we get a crop of snow peas or broad beans, that will be great – but it is not my primary goal. Once these plants reach maturity, I will chop them down, leaving the roots to release their nitrogen in the soil as they die, and chop up the plants on top for new mulch.

My only concession to other veggies in the garden is a punnet of Tuscan kale, which I have popped in one corner. I love kale and it does not do well in the greenhouse at all – just too warm! So, it does get some space in the patch and hopefully will not require too much water.

The Autumn Greenhouse

I still want some veggies for our household over the Winter months, but I am focusing my efforts on the greenhouse, where I can control much better how much water I use. I have two large wicking beds and four troughs. I am growing leafy greens (lettuce, spinach, bok choy) and herbs (dill and coriander) in these, as well as trialling root vegetables in the wicking beds (leeks, celeriac and radish). I have really tried to consider what we like to eat over the cooler months, and what would grow best in containers.

Hopefully, the greenhouse will not be too warm for these winter leafy greens. I had great success with dill and spinach in the greenhouse last year. It was the best spinach crop ever, and lasted for months and months. Let’s hope for another bumper crop this year!

How about you – are you adapting your garden style or plants due to weather conditions?