There comes a point when one has a dreaded lurgy, and it will differ for each person, when the thought of staying in bed one moment longer is just unbearable.
That moment was yesterday (Saturday) morning. The sky looked blueish enough, my cough was less hacky, and I thought, enough.
Rugged up well so I would not make my cough worse, I ventured outside, where I discovered my daffs and jonquils were in full bloom. I usually don’t pick them, because I love them in the garden, but there were so many I decided I could afford to fill a vase.
Saturday
My first job though was to dig over the chopped down green manure beds. Last week, I had hacked back the green manure and left the roots to release their nitrogen. This weekend, I dug them into the soil. I will leave them again for another week before digging them over again.
I was very pleased to note that when I dug over the bed near the chicken coop, I only found a small handful of roots and rocks. Last time I dug over that bed (in Autumn), I dug up a whole bucketful of horrible roots and rocks. I also noted that the soil right across the veggie patch is returning to a healthy state after my experiment with no-dig gardening went awry.
After digging these beds over, I sprinkled them with pelletised chicken manure and rock dust, and raked each one over.
Rock dust soil improver helps to remineralise the soil
Soils around the world, including Australia, have become progressively demineralised. While agricultural soils are the most impacted, home garden soils can also be affected. Rock dusts are a relatively, cheap, accessible, and organic method of improving the mineral content of the soil.
You can buy rock dusts from a range of sources, but I bought this bag from the Diggers Club when I ordered some seeds and plants recently. I do not apply rock dusts annually – I think I last applied some a couple of years ago. However as I am trying to repair my soil, I decided I would do it again this year.
It’s easy to apply. Just choose a clear day with little wind, mask up so you don’t breathe any in, and sprinkle it lightly on top of your soil. Instructions say a ‘handful per 1 metre square’ – however I have little tiny bird lady hands, so that doesn’t help me much. I just sprinkle what I think looks about right. Scientific!
Rake and water in. That’s it!
I also sprinkled a little on each potted fruit tree. I have four fruit trees in pots at the moment, including a new pink finger lime and a mini peach tree that I bought because it was so cute. I don’t even know what kind of peach it produces.
Then the rain came, and I headed inside so I would not get crook again.
Sunday
Sunday was supposed to be wet and horrid, according to the AI (Google Home), but my standard boring human intelligence informed me (by looking out the window) that the day had dawned clear and perfect. So out I went again, determined to spread sheep manure around my fruit trees, a job that I do every Winter. I am late to this task, preferring to do it in July rather than August, but better late than never.
You know you’re feeling better when you can spread sheep manure.
Every tree received a sprinkle of organic fruit tree fertiliser, a sprinkle of rock dust, a bag of sheep manure, and some mulch. What lucky trees!
I feel so dang virtuous!
You know what else I feel? Actually better – as in, well.
I honestly believe that spending time in the cool, fresh air and sunshine, surrounded by some healthy dirt and sheep poop, was the cure I needed.
How can I bottle that, I wonder? Maybe I should start a wellness Tik Tok. SheepPoopGirl? ManureMama?
The blog, like my garden, has mostly lain fallow for the past few months. I had a major project deadline to reach, which meant I worked 12 weeks worth of hours in 4 weeks. When I finished the project I decided to take a few days off, and predictably fell ill with the plague a nasty cold. All my gardening plans fell by the wayside while I languished in bed, cursing.
But resting makes time for planning. In between watching old episodes of Bones and reading delightfully silly Sookie Stackhouse novels, I also did some planning for my Spring and Summer veggie patch.
You might recall that I decided to grow green manures and legumes in my veggie patch over Autumn and Winter, letting my soil rest for the whole cool season. This was after my disastrous ‘no dig’ experiment, which left me with a rocky, dry, rootbound patch of sad looking soil.
Planning for Water
I am hoping that after this season of rest, my soil will be much happier and willing to take on some heavy producing plants. Think pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins. Last season was incredibly disappointing for pumpkins, which I mostly put down to the terrible weather. However, I do not believe that was the only reason. I think that the dodgy soil and my watering regimen was also a problem. I hope that this season’s soil repair efforts will make a big difference, but I have also decided that it is well past time to give up my old-school watering system (hose and sprinkler). This is just not serving me well anymore, partly because I am getting older, and partly because it takes way too much time (the part-time gardener’s most limited resource), and most of all because it just not efficient. This last year was the driest on record. My water bill for the Summer quarter was our highest on record. Something has to give.
From my sickbed I did some desktop research and contacted the highest rated and most consistently well-reviewed irrigation company near me, and asked them to quote. They contacted me five minutes later, and I organised for them to come out a few days later, when I was not so cooty-filled. They said they were not worried about my cooties and came out two days ago. While I sat in the weak sunshine feeling sorry for my snotty self, they measured and took photos, and then sent me an incredible quote (think about 25% of what I was expecting to pay) for an irrigation system for the entire veggie bed and all my backyard fruit trees. They are coming to install next week. If they do a good job, I will ask them to quote for the front yard fruit trees as well. If this system shaves down my Summer water bill and saves me time on watering, it will be money very well spent. If it improves my pumpkin growing experience, it will be worth its weight in…pumpkins. Which are quite heavy.
Last year was a singular disappointment in the pumpkin department. I refuse to live that disappointment again. That is the main reason for investing in the irrigation system. My brother had a spectacular melon patch last year, and he had installed a watering system. Pumpkins and watermelons are cousins, so I figured it was time to stop being a cheap stubborn old biddy and just do it already.
If you build it, they will come. Pumpkins, that is.
Planning for Spring
Spring is a great time to grow a quick cheeky crop of greens
The idea that we have four seasons that correspond to European seasons (but backwards) does not really fly in Australia. The Kaurna people, who are the traditional owners of the Adelaide Plains and the lands on which I live, describe four seasons, but start about a month later than we traditionally believe (i.e. Wirltuti or Spring, starts in October, not September, and Summer or Warltati starts in January, not December). That makes a lot of sense to me, when you consider that our September weather is still often so cold we have continue to run the heating at night. The soil is still often not warm enough to plant tomatoes outside until mid-October.
That means it is possible to plant a crop of cool season plants in Spring, if you plan well.
I don’t plant cool season veggies that take a long time to reach maturity in Spring (i.e. no cabbages or anything that has to form a head), but it is still worth planning to grow quick growing cool season veggies that will fill the so-called ‘hungry gap’ between the Spring and Summer harvest. This Spring I am planting:
I ordered a batch of el cheapo bargain seeds from one of my favourite suppliers, Happy Valley seeds, when they had a $1 a packet sale. Even if a few of these run to seed when the warmer weather hits, it doesn’t really matter much. At $1 a packet, if I can harvest a quick crop I will have done well.
I still have a healthy crop of spinach, bok choy, coriander and dill that I am harvesting now in the greenhouse, and a small crop of celeriac in a wicking bed that I am keeping my eye on. That may not reach maturity before the hot weather hits – it was always a risk to grow it in a wicking bed, but I am hoping it will start growing lovely warty roots soon.
Planning for Summer
Pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins
I have a clear plan for my Summer garden this year, and it involves pumpkins.
Pumpkins, you say?
Pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins.
Also, beans, eggplants, chillies, zucchini, cucumbers, and tomatoes.
But mostly, pumpkins.
To be honest, I love growing pumpkins much more than I love eating them. They are so beautiful, have so many varieties, and are just fun.
This year, in addition to the old faithfuls (Butternut, Buttercup, Queensland Blue), I am going to try:
All ordered online from the Diggers Club, the home of funky heirloom pumpkins.
On the bean trellis I am trying several kinds of climbing beans. I enjoy eating fresh green beans more than I enjoy eating pumpkins, to be honest, but for some reason, growing pumpkins is just so much more fun. So most available garden space will be handed over to the pumpkins. I may try a melon in with the pumpkins, despite my annual vow to never grow melons again.
Everything else (tomatoes, eggplants, etc) will go in the greenhouse. I ordered the eggplant, cucumber, and tomato seeds from Diggers Club and they arrived in less than a week, along with a native finger lime and lemongrass plant that I ordered on a whim, just coz.
On one sunny day when I felt slightly less like death warmed up, I staggered out to the greenhouse, masked up to avoid breathing in any dust and crud, and planted some eggplant and tomato seeds. Then I crawled back into bed.
Manure is a critical ingredient in your soil health – both animal manures and ‘green’ (plant-based’) manures. I use both – but it can be confusing to know which kind of poo to use in your garden.
Green (Plant-based) Manures
Healthy Crop of Green Manure in my patch
Green manures are nitrogen-fixing plants that feed the soil from the nitrogen nodules on their roots. There are many different green manures – you can buy them easily from most nurseries and online. This season I planted a few mixes and a single species variety (fenugreek). Plant in a bed where you have had a heavy feeding crop like tomatoes – just bear in mind you will need to leave that plot aside for about 10 weeks. You won’t need to do much to it in that time while the green manures grows.
The trick with green manures is to cut them off at the base before they set seeds – either just before or just as they flower.
Chopped Green Manure
Once you have chopped them down, leave them alone to sit on top of your bed for another week or so. Don’t dig over the bed.
A week later, come back and dig the plants into your bed. Don’t be tempted to dig out the plants. This is when the magic happens! The nitrogen nodules will release their precious nitrogen into your soil at this point.
Come back a week later and dig it over again. Then let the plants continue to rot down. They will build structure into your soil.
You should do this in late Winter or early Spring, at least a month before planting Spring or Summer veggies. My soil here doesn’t warm up enough for Summer veggies until mid-late October, giving these plants plenty of time to rot down. I’m going to follow up these beds with a sprinkling of rock dust minerals and a bag of sheep manure and compost from my bins for extra nutrition and organic matter.
Animal Manure
Animal manures are useful in the organic garden. Vegans choose not to use these, as do some vegetarians. While I sympathise with these viewpoints, as a vegetarian I personally do choose to use these poos. Animal manures are a waste product and are a valuable soil amendment and compost activator. Aged and well-composted, they are safe to use in home gardens, including in soils used to grow vegetables and fruit.
Moreover, if we do not use animal manures to improve and amend our soils, where will the poo go? Landfill! Once there, manure will either break down anaerobically and create harmful greenhouse gases, or leach into waterways. In my opinion, not using manures is wasteful and harmful for the environment.
Some manures are better for the home garden than others. Different poos have different uses, and there are some I prefer to avoid (although some people do).
Compost Activators
I use some manures to activate compost. Compost is made up of ‘greens’ (grass clippings, kitchen waste, coffee grounds, and garden cuttings and weeds) and ‘browns’ (cardboard and paper, straw, dried leaves). A good blend of browns and greens is needed to make good compost – too many greens, and the compost will become anaerobic and smelly. Too many browns, and it will be too dry and will not compost quickly enough. To help your compost get moving and heat up, it helps to add some fresh manure.
I believe that the best manures to activate home compost are chicken, pigeon, rabbit, donkey, and horse.
Pigeon
Pigeon manure is the king of manure, in my opinion, but it is hard to get. My neighbour used to race pigeons and still has a coop. Every now and then, I find a bag of pungent pigeon poo at the bottom of our steps. No, he’s not sending me a message to get out of town – he’s giving me a bag of poop because he actually likes me, I promise.
Pigeon poo is very rich in nitrogen and must be composted for several months before it is ready to be used, or it will burn any plant it touches. Half a shopping bag in each compost bin sets the microbes to work like nothing else. Turn the compost once a month and in a few months it will be gorgeous.
Chicken
I also have ready access to fresh chicken manure mixed with straw from our coop, providing a mix of poo and browns in the compost bins every couple of weeks. Chicken manure is also very high in nitrogen, but not strong as pigeon. Every couple of weeks, I take a couple of inches of muck and crud off the top of their run, and dump that in the compost as well. That is also basically half-rotted chook poo and plants, and activates the compost almost as well as the pigeon poo.
Rabbit and Donkey
Very occasionally I receive a bag of rabbit poo from my brother-in-law. Rabbit poo is not high in nutrients but is light and dry and provides structure to the compost. Donkey poo is quite similar. You’d think it would be similar to horse manure, but actually it is quite dry and light, and provides both nutrients and structure to the compost. Due to the high likelihood of weed transference, it must be composted for at least six months.
Horse
Lastly, I occasionally add a couple of bags of horse manure to the compost bin. However, generally it is my preference not to use it. Horse manure can carry a lot of weed seeds. While their manure has value from a nutrient perspective and it adds good structure to the soil, it can bring weeds to the garden and must be composted for quite a while before use. I can get horse manure easily for free from the nearby race track, but for the most part choose not to because I have access to other manures. If I did not, I would use the horse manure, but would have to compost for longer than other manures.
Manures for use as a soil amendment
The only time I add manures directly to the garden without composting are already aged cow or sheep manure, which I buy from a trusted supplier, or pelletised chicken manure (for example, Dynamic Lifter). I never add manure that has not been well aged or composted directly to the garden. This is because fresh manure can cause several problems:
It can carry diseases that can transfer to the soil and the plants;
It can contain ungerminated weed seeds that can infest your garden;
If it is very high in nitrogen, it can burn plants.
My preferred aged manure is well-aged sheep manure, used as an amendment around fruit trees in Winter. Sheep manure is gentle, high in potassium but lower in nitrogen, adding structure to the soil without the risk of burning plants. There is a risk of some weed seeds transferring, but I have not had this issue.
Cow manure is also acceptable. Like sheep, they have four stomachs, which means their food is pretty well-digested by the time their manure is produced. As such, most weed seeds have been digested or killed off by the time they come out.
Dynamic Lifter or similar pelletised chicken manure products are commercially produced organic fertilisers, safe to use on the garden and high in nutrients. I use these directly on the garden at the start and end of each planting season to replenish the soil and feed the plants. While it is high in nitrogen, it will not burn plants due to its slow release, pelletised form. I use a similar organic chicken manure-based product to feed my fruit trees during Spring and Summer.
Poos to avoid
There are some manures I avoid. I believe that pig manure is a risk to the home garden, as it can harbour more disease than other manures. The home compost bin does not reach a high enough temperature to destroy these. Also it stinks like hell, which is a risk to neighbourly relations. I could end up with a less friendly bag of poo on my doorstep if I started using pig manure.
Cat and dog poo are not safe to use on the home garden, although there are composting units available specifically for dog and cat waste, these are to break it down so you don’t contaminate landfill, not to use it on your vegetable garden. Cat poo can carry diseases such as toxoplasmosis and should not be used in any garden where produce is grown for consumption.
It should go without saying, but human waste should also not be used on the home garden. Composting toilets have been in existence for many years, but most homes do not have these specialist facilities.
I’ve been a bit late to planting this season, because I’ve been working non-stop, seven days a week. Unfortunately, just at the best possible time of year to be out in the garden, I am also usually the busiest, work-wise. My little office overlooks my front garden, and I have been watching the Spring garden bloom away while I have been working away. It’s kind of a bummer, to be honest. But not having any money is also kind of a bummer, so I have sucked it up and looked forward to the time it all settles down and I can get back out there.
That time is now, before the next major project starts (any day now). Carpe diem, my friends.
This weekend I spent the first full day in six weeks out in the garden. There was a *lot* to do out there, from digging up the used brassica plants, to a heckton of weeding, to feeding and mulching, to planting. Let’s just say at the end of the day I was in some state of pain. Seven days a week sitting at a desk is not good conditioning for a day spent digging and weeding.
It was lovely though, to be outside in the sunshine, not thinking about the election of schmonaldschrump and focusing on what I can personally do to make my little patch of the world more beautiful and sustainable and healthy.
I tried to make some ruthless decisions about what to plant this year, based on experience about what has continually succeeded and failed in my garden over the past couple of years. I’m kicking out melons this year, and have carefully selected the type of eggplants, chillies, and capsicums. I tried to reduce the number of tomatoes but I have to admit I failed at that, big time. I’m trying to grow a lot more beans (both bush and climbing).
I am continuing the okra experiment, but it is not going well at all. After transplanting from the greenhouse, they are spindly and slow-growing. My husband thinks they will do better in the greenhouse as it is more humid, and he may be right, considering their natural habitat. I might plant some in the greenhouse and compare their growth to the open garden beds. I know that the cucumbers do not do well in my open garden beds, but in the greenhouse they do really well.
The cucumbers are getting even more greenhouse space this season – we love them fresh and pickled, but it does depend on the pickle recipe. I did both sliced and spears last season, and the spears recipe was not very tasty (waste of delicious cucumbers!). We still have some and I will get through them, but it makes me a bit cranky when I make a pickle recipe that is not as delicious as it should be. There is no excuse for a bad pickle, when they could be so good.
Zucchini, squash, and pumpkins are also getting generous garden space. Last year’s pumpkins were a bit average. I love growing pumpkins, but I grew an heirloom variety that did not do well and wasted a whole season and a heck of a lot of garden space (Wrinkled Butternut – way less productive than the regular tried and true Butternut and much less tasty – my recommendation is not to bother). This year I am still experimenting with an heirloom (Musque deProvence) but also growing the tried and true Kent, which always kicks butt in my patch. From now on, I will combine an experimental pumpkin with a trusted variety so if the experiment does not work out I will still have the trusted pumpkin in pocket.
This year I am growing:
Beans: Kentucky Wonder Wax (Climbing), Cherokee Trail of Tears (Climbing), Goldrush (Bush). When I spotted Cherokee Trail of Tears I knew I had to grow it. This was apparently the bean that the Cherokee brought with them from their homelands and carried it with them all along the Trail of Tears – heirloom seeds tell a story of the people that have grown it, and this is a devastating story of horror but also resilience. To grow it and save the seeds is to honour their resilience and history;
Cucumber: Marketmore, Dragon’s Egg, Jefferson, and another one I can’t remember the name of! I grow Marketmore every year, it is a real trooper of a cuke, good disease resistance and is prolific;
Tomatoes/Tomatillo: Black Cherry, Black Russian, Jaune Flamme, Costoluto Fiorentino, Azoychka, Tomatillos;
Zucchini: Tromboncino, Ronde de Nice, Cocozelle.
This year’s planting decisions were made based on: what we like to eat and the cuisine we mainly cook (Indian, Italian, Mexican, all vegetarian), what grows well in my garden, what I have space to grow, watering requirements, and what I have the time to take care of.
How about you – what are you growing in your patch this Summer?
Of course – and like all podcasts, there are good ones and…not so good ones.
When I’m out in the garden, I like to be joined by other gardening nerds, so I listen to gardening podcasts. My preference is for Australian podcasts of course, because the hosts know our unique growing conditions and the information is seasonally relevant. However, I do listen to one or two international pods, if I think I can use the information or I like the hosts and the content.
I have tried and tested almost all the different gardening podcasts out there, and these are my top five.
All The Dirt is an Aussie pod recorded in Western Australia, hosted by horticulturalists and garden writers Derryn Thorpe and Steve Wood. Almost every week they interview an Australian garden expert, horticulturalist, or gardening writer on a specific topic (for example, curator of the WA Seed Centre at Kings Park, or the Compostable Coach (aka Compostable Kate) about different methods of home composting). In other episodes they will just have a chat about best plants to grow in a Summer veggie patch (tbh these are my favourite episodes). I like their gentle, knowledgeable approach, that makes you feel like you are joining them for a cuppa and a scone.
This is an American gardening podcast, with two very different hosts from two very different parts of the USA. Ben gardens in the South, and Batavia gardens in metro Chicago. Their banter can take some getting used to (quite different from the more laidback Aussie style of All The Dirt, for example). At first I found Ben’s approach a bit abrasive. After sticking with it, I found that Batavia is more than able to handle him, and I enjoyed their divergent communication styles and gardening approaches, which are very different due to the different conditions they garden under. To deal with the seasonal differences, I generally listen to their Summer podcasts (current now) in our Summer (so, six months behind) and am now listening to their Winter gardening podcasts from last year. Or I choose podcasts that are not seasonally specific. For example, they did a great series on food security and preserving food, and another on sustainable gardening. Everything comes from the perspective of home gardeners.
Another Western Australian podcast, hosted by Amber Cunningham and well-known gardening expert Sabrina Hahn, this is one for people who don’t mind a laugh while learning about gardening. I’d say only about half of the pod is about gardening; the rest is jokes, Sab laughing at her own jokes, and general tomfoolery. Available through regular podcasting apps as well as the ABC Listen app.
The podcast of the Saturday morning ABC Adelaide’s talkback gardening show, hosted by Deb Tribe and gardening expert Jon Lamb, expect a million questions about lemon trees, citrus gall wasp, and how to remove scale from various trees. Regular helpful guests including interviews with local fruit tree nursery owners, a citrus expert, a turf consultant, some rare fruit and organic gardening experts, houseplant, garlic, and herb writers, and a monthly long range weather forecaster who gives his very accurate predictions about the weather and rainfall at the start of each month. As comfortable as a well-worn gumboot. Available through regular podcasting apps as well as the ABC Listen app.
A recent discovery, Avant Gardeners is a Tasmanian podcast hosted by two women, Emily and Maddie, who are a bit like me – raising families, trying to fit gardening in their busy lives, doing their best. They also interview gardening experts, in a similar vein to All The Dirt, but as the hosts don’t have the decades of industry expertise, it’s quite charming and chilled. I’d have to describe it as very ‘Tassie’? There is a distinct difference that you can feel between the WA and Tassie gardening podcasts – I reckon it’s all that lovely water and cool weather in Tasmania. They’re just not that worried about as much in the garden, whereas the WA gardeners seem just a bit stressed out all the time. I get it – trying to grow a garden on pure sand with almost no water will do that to a body.
What to do in the garden with the time you have this week
If you have an hour
Check your garden for slugs, snails, and cabbage moth larvae. The wetter weather attracts these pests, so I often take a walk around the patch to check for them and pick them off the brassicas. My chooks don’t eat them (little slackers), so I usually squish them. Although I don’t use poisons in my garden, I do sprinkle an organic iron-based pellet around the leafy greens and brassicas to deter slugs and snails (non-toxic to dogs and cats and other furry critters). A visit from these little monsters can take out your Winter veggie patch overnight!
If you have 2-3 hours
Start trimming dead growth on woody herbs. Ideally, I would have done most of this in late Autumn, but pobody’s nerfect, amiright? My herb garden is large, and trimming all the old woody growth on the mint, oregano, salvia and thyme takes a long time. I spent several hours on this extremely boring task last weekend, and only completed about 30% of the task. I have it on my list for this coming weekend as well (reluctantly). I know that future me will be very pleased with past me if I do get this task done, as future me will be rewarded with lush new growth in Spring.
If you have 5-6 hours
Mulch all your fruit trees with aged cow or sheep manure. I do this every Winter. As I have about twenty fruit trees, it takes me a long time. This is another one of those boring, once-a-year tasks that I don’t really enjoy, but I know must be done. The thick mulch of manure creates a warm blanket over the soil and rots slowly. By Springtime, the nutrients are ready for the tree to take up in time for the fruiting season.
My preference is to use aged sheep manure, but my usual supplier sold out this year, so I settled for cow manure. Either will do the job, but I do prefer aged sheep manure because it is higher in potassium. Just make sure that whichever poo you choose, it is well aged and composted, and that when spreading you do not place it right up to the tree trunk – leave a ring of 5-10 cm away from the trunk to prevent collar rot. Then let it rot down slowly over Winter and into Spring. I use three 25 litre bags per large tree (e.g. the Apricot and Mulberry trees), and one 25 litre bag per small tree (e.g. the dwarf Apples and Plums).
Still picking chillies almost at the end of Autumn
It’s been several weeks since I’ve been out in my garden. I’ve been working almost non-stop for six weeks, punctuated by one heck of a respiratory virus that knocked me on my butt. So, six weeks has gone by with little more than a wishful glance outside my window to watch the leaves on my pomegranate slowly turn golden.
Technically, it’s Autumn. I say technically, because with the change to our weather patterns, mid-May is still dry and quite warm in our part of the world.
We have had almost no rain since late January, and the long-range weather forecast is for very little rain to the end of the month and the start of Winter. These warm, dry autumnal conditions are sadly becoming the norm in Southern Australia.
While this has enabled me to continue to grow some Summer veggies into late Summer/early Autumn, it has also delayed planting of cool Winter veggies. I have planted turnip and swede seeds, and I have planted out some brassica seeds. But I am also picking tomatoes, tomatillos, and chillies, two weeks before the start of Winter. And I don’t mean from the greenhouse – I’m talking from the outside garden patch. That should tell you how warm the soil and air temps still are.
Summer Garden Duds
At the end of the season, I always review the season’s successes and duds, to help me think about what to plant the following year.
This year, the absolute losers have been the eggplants. It breaks my heart to tell this tale yet again (last year, they were the losers as well).
I adore eggplants, but honestly all my efforts have led to a couple of meals-worth of mixed eggplant from about 15 plants.
Why were they duds, yet again?
The cool start to the Summer season was the main reason. They grew slowly, not putting on much growth until quite late. As they took so long to pick up, pests set in, particularly the little jerk spider mite, which has been the bane of gardeners in our region this year. After I got on top of the spider mite, the aphids have set in to take advantage of already weakened plants.
I think the other reason is that I was lured by the seed catalogues to try fancy heirloom varieties instead of going with old faithfuls that are known to do well in our areas. Instead of going with the classics, such as Lebanese or Bonica, I just had to try the bright red, white egg, and Thai ball varieties. This is nothing against heirlooms. I love growing heirlooms, particularly tomatoes, and most do very well in my garden. But you do have to select carefully, and I think I was not careful enough in my selections. The varieties I chose just don’t do that well in our region. Next year I’m reverting back to the classic varieties that have stood the test of time in South Australian gardens.
Another dud was again, as usual, melons. If I say I am trying melons ever again, someone send me a comment or message to remind me that I cannot grow melons in my area. It doesn’t seem to matter if it is in the garden bed or the greenhouse, it doesn’t matter if it is an heirloom or a hybrid, full-size or a mini – if it is a melon, it just ain’t fruiting in my garden.
The other dud in my patch this year was, unusually for me, pumpkins. I understand that this has been the case for many gardeners in our region, so will try not to take it personally. Usually, I have a good run with pumpkins of all types. This season, perhaps again due to the late start to the season, I had healthy vines but not that many pumpkins. In the end I picked seven pumpkins. That’s not terrible but not great for me.
My mother has had a bumper crop of Butternuts from her tiny courtyard garden down the hill on the Adelaide Plains, which goes to show it can be done.
The lower early Summer temps also caused some issues with Summer squash. This year I had a few nice, big, Bennings Green Tint squash before they just started fasciating due to the low temperatures. Fasciation is a rare mutation that can occur in certain plants exposed to lower-than-normal temperatures. Squash and zucchini can be affected, causing contorted flower production at the end of a stem. Several squash plants started off well, produced fruit, and then fasciation set in. It did look quite cool though.
Summer Garden Wins
I have had some great wins this year though. The biggest winner was our Travatt apricot tree, which went bananas (er…apricots) and gave us the biggest crop of fresh apricots we have ever had. We gave away, we dried, we stewed, we bottled, we jammed, we gorged. If apricots were dollars, we were filthy rich in golden orange goodness for about a month. It was awesome.
The other winners were chillies, tomatoes, cucumbers (yay), tomatillos, and zucchini.
I wrote about chillies recently. We have had an excellent crop this year, and they continue to produce.
While tomatoes have not been prolific enough to make sauce, they have been really delicious. We grew three varieties this year: Green Zebra, Riesentraube, and Mysterioso, which I have mentioned before is an unknown beefsteak variety I grew from a storebought tomato. All three have been good, although the Green Zebra has outperformed in terms of productivity, while the Mysterioso is my favourite for size (huge! One slice fits a piece of toast or a sandwich – crazy!) and flavour (so sweet). My husband prefers the Green Zebra, as he loves the firm texture and tang. We have planted another crop of both in the greenhouse. My friend K has a crazy prolific cherry tomato plant that popped up in their garden – I have saved seeds from that and am giving it a go. Will let you know how K’s Tomato does on the productivity and taste test – seedlings went into pots last weekend.
Related to the tomatoes are the lovely tomatillos. I have not grown these for many years, but when we were in Tasmania last year, I bought some seed at Salamanca Markets. The other seeds I bought at the same stall turned out not to grow too well in my region (Hobart and Adelaide – not being very similar, weather wise), but the tomatillos have done well. We have a freezer full of salsa verde, and another bagful of whole tomatillos in the freezer ready for when we run out of salsa. Considering how often we eat Mexican food, I would say that will be pretty soon. Aside from the usefulness and deliciousness, I love growing them for their lovely flowers and beautiful growth habit.
Cucumbers were another great win, and probably my proudest. I have not always had success growing cucumbers. I love them – particularly pickled – but also fresh for snacks and in salads, and homegrown taste so delicious. But my efforts have been very pitiful, until this year. I have grown a huge number in the early season, that we enjoyed in salads, as little snacks, and then I made pickled spears and sliced cucumber pickles for burgers and sandwiches. I could not have been prouder of the jars of cucumber pickles in my pantry – not so much for the pickles, but because I actually succeeded in growing enough cucumbers to make pickles! I grew several varieties, including Marketmore and Mini White, and Gherkin. So far Marketmore and Gherkin were the winners for productivity and resistance to powdery mildew.
Zucchini have always been a bit hit-or-miss at our place. Some years we have a good crop, and other years, quite average. This year, I took a chance and planted Tromboccino, an heirloom zucchini that is a bit like a pumpkin, growing on a climbing vine that spreads all over the place. It produces long, skinny fruit with a bulbous end (like a trumpet or trombone – hence its name). I love this plant. Zucchini is one of my favourite vegetables, but when they grow too large they can become quite watery. Tromboccino stays lovely and firm even if you forget to pick it, makes delicious pickles, curries, or pasta, and keeps for a long time. You need space to grow it though, as it will run rampant across the garden. It produces for months.
I did try a couple of other zucchini this year – Rondo, Black Beauty, Cocozelle – but tbh none of them really took off like the Tromboccini. Given garden space is at a premium and that Tromboccino takes up so much of it, next year I will just grow Tromboccino and let it go hard. I will keep trialling some Summer squash though.
How about you – what were your garden winners and losers this year?
This weekend my nibling and nephew (aged 9 and 11) came to spend some time with us in the garden.
Gardening with kids is one of those things that, if you get it wrong, you can put them off gardening for life. Make it too boring or hard, and they may never want to do it again. Give them the opportunity to have fun while learning, and perhaps they will look back on that experience in a positive light. Even more hopefully, they may decide to take up gardening themselves one day.
We knew they were coming for a finite time, so my husband and I brainstormed a little about what we could get them to do. The activities had to be safe, first and foremost, and engaging enough to keep two kids occupied for a couple of hours. My garden is a large, working, productive veggie patch. While I do have flowers in the garden, and while I think it is beautiful, it is not really a place devoted to decorative plants. Kids often think ‘flowers’ when they think ‘garden.’ That might be disappointing for some kids. I did consider popping out to the nursery to buy some flowers for them to plant, but I ran out of time. These two kiddos know my patch pretty well though, so I thought they would be OK not planting flowers. In fact, they might have been disappointed if that is what I had suggested.
These were the easy, entertaining, safe, and helpful activities I had two curious kids help me with in the garden:
Watering the balcony garden;
Spraying aphids with potassium soap spray (non-toxic and easy to do);
Watering the greenhouse plants with liquid fertiliser (again, non-toxic – I did the measuring out and he did the watering);
Watering all the pot plants in the patio;
Planting broad beans and lettuce seeds;
Hand-pollinating cucumbers and eggplant;
Feeding the chickens and collecting the eggs (a perennial favourite with kiddos).
After watering – we used watering cans, not hoses (we have learned from experience!) – we spent time showing them how to hand pollinate different plants. They were fascinated that some plants need a male and female flower (cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkins) and some plants are buzz-pollinated (eggplant, capsicum, chillies, tomatoes). They loved feeling the spiky-soft cucumber leaves, and were interested in how droopy they were because they needed water. After we showed them how to buzz pollinate an eggplant with an electric toothbrush, and hand-pollinated the cucumbers, we looked around the garden at other plants that have different pollination methods.
I think it is so helpful for kids to see how the plants they eat are formed and grow. My nibling was fascinated by the cucumber plants, and searched out the baby cucumbers among the vines. They were very interested in the different types (I am growing three different varieties at the moment), and the fact that homegrown cucumbers have little spikes – so different from the smooth cukes they are used to from the supermarket.
After hand-pollinating the cucumbers (and a promise they could come back to see the growth later in the week), we moved on to planting seeds.
I chose to plant broad beans and lettuces with them because the seeds are so different. Broad beans are large (larger than a child’s fingernail) and lettuce seeds are tiny. Lettuces also often have funny names, and these were no exception: Flashy Trout Back and Great Lakes. It was a good experience for the kids to plant the broad beans as deep as their knuckles (or phalanges, as my nephew informed me, lol), and then lightly sprinkle the lettuce seeds on top of the soil and lightly cover with seed-raising mix. Planting seeds of different sizes helps kids to learn about biodiversity.
My kids are grown up now, so it was lovely to spend some time outside with young ones. I got to show them some of the crazy veggies I picked this morning, like the bowlful of Tromboccino zucchini. I had them guess why they were called that, and pretended to play it like a trumpet – uber daggy – but that is what crazy gardening aunties are allowed to do.
Tips for involving kids in the garden
Plan activities that kids can do – think about their age and abilities. If a child has a disability, plan activities they can manage, or make the task accessible for them.
Remember, safety first – don’t have them using power tools!
Choose activities that are fun and keep their interest. Plan specifically for the child you will be spending time with. Some kids might enjoy weeding, while others will complain mightily about that task. A couple of autistic kids I know (including my own) love weeding and will happily do that for ages.
Plan a list of short, active tasks with a quick reward or payoff. Kids (and tbh, many adults) will be more engaged if they can see the results of their activities – for example, watering, planting, or picking. I did not get them to pick zucchinis today because a knife was required for that task.
Stand back. While some tasks need you to closely supervise, it’s best to give them the space to try things independently. Because we chose safe tasks, we could take a step back and give them the space to do the tasks themselves.
Split them up. We had a 1:1 ratio of adults to kids. These are two well-behaved kiddos, however any kids can bug each other after a while. For some activities, we split them up. For example, one kid watered the balcony and another the greenhouse. That kept water horseplay to a minimum. For planting and pollinating, they came back together.
Don’t forget to break up the time with cold drinks, ice blocks or fruit, and chats. We always keep a stash of juice ice blocks in the freezer for when they visit.
Remind them to wash their hands after gardening and before eating and drinking if they have been in the garden. Soil is full of microorganisms that can carry nasties.
February is a strange time in Southern Australia. It’s usually the hottest month, with many of the summer veggies such as beans and cucumbers almost at their end, but at the same time, it is usually too late to sow any new Summer plants. This year however, the late start to the season has the tomatoes, capsicums, eggplant, and chillies just kicking off. We are stuffing ourselves with fresh tomatoes in salads, salsas, on toast, and in pasta every day, and eating delicious fajitas with homegrown zucchini, drizzled with salsa made of tomatillos, green zebra tomatoes and jalapenos, pulled out of the garden that morning. It’s bliss – everything I have ever wanted in a garden.
To keep the Summer abundance going, I’m risking some late plantings with the hope of a longer season. I’ve planted more cucumbers, taking care to choose varieties that can apparently resist the powdery mildew (Jefferson’s Cucumber and Dragon’s Egg). I’ve planted a heap of dwarf beans (Dior bush beans) all over the garden in spots where I could poke a seed, with the hope of a quick extra bean harvest, if I’m lucky. We have eaten so many green beans this year, it has been fantastic.
I’ve raised some extra squash and zucchini plants, hoping we can get a couple of rounds of extra zuccs, as they are just my favourite veggies along with eggplant, and I live in hope. I’ve even taken a punt and planted some more tomato seeds – I have a greenhouse, so I think I can get another full tomato harvest before Winter sets in. I’m trialling late plantings of cherry and saucing tomatoes (Black Cherry, San Marzano).
Preparing for the Winter garden
Oddly at the same time I have just planted another round of tomatoes, I’ve also started planting brassicas for Winter. I have never grown Brussels Sprouts. I’ve always believed that our area is too warm for them to be successful. That might still be the case – but I recently read an article about growing them and decided to have a go. Brussels Sprouts must be started in February for success, as they need a long growing season, so today when planting my extra tomatoes I planted the first batch of Catskills Brussels Sprouts seeds. Hopefully they pop up soon and I can put another round in. If I succeed in growing Brussels Sprouts, I will be bragging so hard.
Catskills Brussels Sprouts
I also planted more Cos lettuce and dill seeds. I have recently discovered the wonder of fresh dill, and now all our salads are sprinkled with fresh dill and basil. My kids aren’t really fans of it, so I have to soften the dilly approach a little.
Some Summer garden duds
There have been some duds though, I’m not gonna lie. The Red Ruffle Eggplant have been a huge disappointment, and so have the Turkish Red Eggplant – in fact, eggplant in general have not responded well to the cool, wet start to the season. I have picked enough for one meal so far – definitely not the eggplanty-dreams I was hoping for. A batch of Armenian Striped Cucumbers fell prey to powdery mildew as soon as I planted them, without even offering a single cuke. Once again, melons have been a disappointment – why, oh why, do I keep planting them? And I have been battling the little jerk Red Spider Mite in the greenhouse for half the season. A mild soap spray seems to be doing the trick, but I have to be on top of it constantly.
Bye-bye Pepino
Speaking of garden duds, about two years ago I bought a pepino plant from the Big Green Shed and put it in the patch against the fence. To say it grew prolifically would be an understatement. That thing quadrupled, then quadrupled again. It saw off several passionfruit that came only to say hello, then gently expired. It flowered, and flowered, yet only bore mature orange fruit a handful of times. The fruit did not really appeal that much to anyone, tasting like a weird mini rockmelon. And still it grew. By mid-January this year, it took up a square metre of back garden space. And that is when I decided its number was up. That much garden space is far too precious to be taken up by a freeloading plant that no-one likes.
I think it took me well over an hour and a thousand calories to dig the thing up, but it has now been removed to the green bin where it belongs, and several squash and zucchini plants are sunning themselves in its place.
Good riddance.
This is a lesson to me not to be suckered in by something promoted by a garden centre, and to do a bit of research before planting something in my edible garden. I should have read up about how large the pepino grows, and what it tastes like. If I had just googled ‘what does a pepino taste like’ the first result would have informed me that it is ‘a delicate combination of cantaloupe and honeydew melon.’ I dislike both of those flavours, and so does my family. So, note to self: check these things.
But if you have plenty of space and you love melon, I can recommend a fast-growing bush apparently known as the “Year-Round Rockmelon”!
What to do in the garden with the time you have this week
Houseplants need attention this time of year. During Summer, houseplants are in growth mode, and are also prone to drying out in the warmer weather. Indoor houseplant gardening is still gardening, and requires focused attention to keep things looking good – in fact I would argue it requires more care and attention, because a dodgy looking houseplant is more annoying on a daily basis than a dodgy looking zucchini plant.
If you have an hour
Take cuttings and propagate in water. The warm weather is ideal for propagating houseplant cuttings. This weekend I took cuttings of Harlequin (Marble Queen) Devil’s Ivy (a gorgeous variegated Pothos with lovely marbled leaves), Scindapsus Golden Queen, and Dragon’s Tail (Epipremnum Pinnatum), and have placed them all in water to strike. I was careful to take the cuttings under a node where the plant will easily sprout a root. These plants strike very quickly just in water.
If you have 2-3 hours
Clean, water, trim, and feed your houseplants. Houseplants should be cleaned regularly, as the leaves collect dust, which prevents transpiration. In a tub of tepid water, add a drop of olive oil. With a soft cloth or paper towel, dip in the water and olive oil and wring out and clean the leaves of dust. The olive oil will give a gentle shine.
Using scissors or snips, remove dead or bedraggled looking leaves. Feed the plants with either slow-release prills such as Osmocote (my preferred) or Thrive for pots or planters, or a liquid feed for pot plants (I use the Powerfeed spray for indoor plants), and water your plants.
Depending on the number of plants you have, this task can take a couple of hours, by the time you clean, trim, water, and feed everything. I have quite a few plants, including hanging plants, so it generally takes me about two hours to complete, every couple of months. I know it is time to do it when my favourite houseplant, the beautiful giant DiffenbachiaReflector in my bedroom loses its lustre and bright neon and green colouring.
My huge spotted Begonia was also looking peaky, so I placed it in a bucket in the laundry and soaked it overnight in a tub of water. I find this treatment, once every six weeks or so, keeps it happy.
If you have 4-5 hours
Around this time of year, you will find some of your houseplants need re-potting. I have been looking at my houseplants since Christmas (and ignoring them), fully aware that about ten of them needed repotting. These included my Fiddle-Leaf Fig, Harlequin Pothos, a Silver Sword Philodendron (philodendrum hastatum) that was looking about as miserable as it was possible to look, and a floppy Monstera.
Repotting is easy but messy, so do it outside. Fill a bucket with water and some seaweed extract. Remove the plants from their existing pots, and soak them, soil and all, in the bucket. I was shocked to see how dried out some of them were. Let the plants soak for fifteen minutes, or until the water has penetrated the soil and roots. While it is soaking, give the plant a trim of dodgy looking leaves, and if you want to, take a cutting or two to propagate into new plants. I find that most houseplants can be easily propagated in either water or in sand or seed-raising mix. The easiest plants to propagate in my experience are pothos (Devil’s Ivy), spider plants, and spotted begonia (in fact these last two are so easy that I have had to stop propagating because I have too many).
Meanwhile, take new or recycled plastic pots in the next size up, and half fill with fresh potting mix.
When the plant has had a lovely soak and are wet all the way through, tease the root ball out a bit – not too much – and place it in the new pot. It’s ok if some of the existing soil comes along for the ride. Backfill with new potting mix and add a tablespoon or so of slow-release fertiliser for pot plants. Place the plastic pot in a cover pot, and water.
Remember that when you increase the size of the plastic pot, the cover pot you were using may no longer fit your plant. You may have to do some moving around.
Wash the old pots well with water mixed with a splash of methylated spirits or rubbing alcohol to clean properly, so you have pots for next time. Then clean up all that mess!
Again, the time this task will take depends on the number of plants you have to repot and the mess you make. I’m notorious for making a big mess (I figure, make a mess, apologise later), so I usually have a pile of old dirt, pots, and junk to clean up afterwards. But that is half the fun. Compost the old potting mix, recycle the pots, and try to waste as little as possible.
You can move your newly potted plants directly indoors, or if you want to you can also put them in a sheltered position to acclimate to their new pots. I tend to immediately place them where I intend them to live.
After a month of busyness, both personal and professional, this was the first weekend I had two full days off, and I chose to spend them doing my favourite thing in the world: gardening.
On Saturday, I spent the whole day in the backyard, tidying up the veggie patch and pottering about in the greenhouse, repotting plants and generally having a lovely time. After a month barely spending an hour or two a week in the garden, it was a blissful time. I downloaded hours of gardening podcasts (local and international), and listened to various gardening experts natter on about compost and fruit trees and rainfall. I picked four cucumbers, half a dozen beets, some spuds, a handful of green beans, and an armful of rhubarb from the monstrous rhubarb plants that appear to be untameable. Nothing could have been better.
The only way to demonstrate the size of the rhubarb is to show my hand on a rhubarb leaf. That is one leaf, and my hand. Admittedly, I have fairly small hands, but even so. I picked about two kilos of rhubarb, cooked it up with some blueberries and frozen cherries, and made a pretty great rhubarb cordial. And I still have half of it in the fridge. Lawks, as Nanny Ogg would say. I only picked some of what is out there. Might have to make some jam next weekend!
Rhubarb leaves are toxic of course, so I don’t feed them to the chooks, but it is great for compost. Not sure why, but my compost always speeds right up when I add rhubarb leaves to it (I also find that pineapple bark and cores are spectacular for compost, but I assume that is the bromelain).
I planted out a bunch of seedlings I have been raising in the greenhouse: sunflowers, okra, and more capsicums. I think the veggie patch is officially full. It is starting to look lush and gorgeous, with a mix of beautiful green veggie plants of all kinds and flowers such as cosmos, petunias, alyssum and calendula creating a colourful display and attracting the bees. Sunflowers are on their way, which is always very exciting to me – I just love their cheerful colour.
We are almost at that exciting time of year when all the veggies we eat come straight out of the garden. That is my favourite, favourite time of the year. Last night’s dinner was soft tacos, with black beans and jalapeños, roasted potatoes, beets and broccoli, served with cucumbers and tomatoes. Everything but the broccoli and tomatoes came straight from the garden. I heard a podcaster today say that there is a name for the flavour profile of food from your garden: ‘smugness.’ Classic.
Gherkin cucumbers growing like the clappers
Speaking of smug, check out these flower trusses on the Riesentraube tomatoes in my greenhouse:
Riesentraube Tomato trusses
This prolific flowering is a feature of the Riesentraube, according to the tomato bible, Amy Goldman’s The Heirloom Tomato. She writes the Riesentraube (which is a cherry tomato) “sets fruit on large sprays bearing as many as three hundred flowers and buds, although only 10 to 20 per cent of the blossoms bear fruit.” It’s certainly the most prolific flowerer of the tomatoes this year, although I’ve got to be honest, the crazy flowering is not why I grew it. I just liked the name: Riesentraube. It means “a giant bunch of grapes” in German. I picked it out of a seed catalogue for that reason alone.
Today (Sunday) I determined to tackle the much less fun, but important task of tidying up the front yard in time for Christmas. We are hosting this year, so it did have to be done. The Spring flush is over, and many plants required deadheading and generally tidying up, especially a Pineapple Sage bush that had never been trimmed and was nearly as tall as me. I actually don’t mind these tasks, but if it is a choice between playing in the greenhouse or deadheading the roses, I know what I would pick. Happily, as I had both days this weekend, I could do both!
Salvias and sages should be trimmed annually, but ideally not this time of year – that is a bit naughty of me. Wait until Autumn preferably, and give them a really good haircut then. I just did this one because it was looking very ratty and it has not been too hot and dry this season. Don’t be like me – give salvias a prune in May, not December.
I even started weeding the pavers – now that is a job that is bloody boring and no one should have to do. But I did make a start, and I have to say, it already looks much better.
I rewarded myself for my hard work by spending a last half an hour planting some seeds: dill, zinnia, bush beans, more zucchini (Rondo de Nice – a funky round zucchini that is just fun to grow), and some cos lettuce. Yes, I know I said the patch was full, but these are just in case. And just because. I’m sure I’ll fit them in somewhere.
I was out in the patch this morning moving the sprinkler, and I noted yet another lemon balm seedling.
If you have been gardening for a while, you will likely have made some mistakes. Some will be minor, some not so much. Here’s a few of mine.
Planting the wrong thing in the wrong place
Lemon balm, violets, oregano…these plants sound lovely. They are lovely. But in the wrong place, they are weedy little monsters. Even violets, which are one of my all-time favourite flowers. They were one of my grandmother’s favourites. They were Oscar Wilde’s favourite. Whenever I smell their gorgeous perfume, I think of my grandmother.
But. They grow like a weed in my back garden, to the extent that I pull them up constantly. I planted them as a ground cover, to fill in a space in my mini-meadow, not realising they would find a way to spread through the veggie patch as well.
Ditto lemon balm aka Melissa, which spreads even worse than mint, to which it is related. Every time I am in the veggie patch, I pull up a couple of lemon balm or violet seedlings. I often yank up whole plants of the damn stuff, and we still have it everywhere. I planted the lemon balm as a tea plant, and to be completely honest, we never use it.
Learn from my experience – check how invasive a plant is before you mindlessly plant it in your garden.
Passionfruit
I love passionfruit. I love all passionfruit flavoured things, even that weird passionfruit chocolate that Cadbury just released, that my husband thinks is abominable. Love it. It’s supposed to be easy to grow, and yet I have planted five – yes FIVE – of the damn things since we moved to this property eight years ago, and still no joy. I am about to wave a white flag and put the final two out of their misery.
But have I learned my lesson?
I have not. I am currently raising more from seed in my greenhouse.
This time it will be different.
The lawn
Our lawn, or more properly, the weed patch, is one of the banes of our garden. We should have done something to properly treat the broad leaf weeds and clover that were already invading it when we moved in.
We did not.
We should have acted on our intention to solarise the entire lawn, remove it, and replant it with a herb lawn or even a new hardy lawn variety.
We did not.
Instead, my husband goes out every few weeks and dutifully mows the weed patch so it looks barely passable, and another year goes by with me regretting its existence.
The Mulberry tree
When we moved in, we had to remove a dangerous gum tree and a date palm planted right up to the footings of our house. We considered what to replace these trees with, and decided on an apricot tree and a black mulberry tree. I had memories of a friend’s mulberry tree from when I was a kid – it was huge and covered with juicy mulberries in the Summer. We had great fun climbing it – we would sit up in the tree and eat mulberries until our bellies ached. I thought my kids would love to climb it and pick mulberries.
Well, my kids are adults now, and the tree has barely produced more than a handful of dry, sour mulberries each season. It takes up a lot of space in our front yard, and I swear if it does not produce any fruit this year it will produce lovely warmth from our fireplace next Winter. I’ll replace it with a peach tree or something else useful.
What are your gardening regrets? Let me know in the comments!
What to do in the garden with the time you have this week
If you have one hour…check for critters.
I tend not to worry about critters in my garden much. Critters live in the garden and that is fine by me. However, there are some that love to destroy plants, and these are not really ok. Aphids and white fly are my current nemeses. I check my seedlings every couple of days for white fly and aphids, which are starting to ramp up now that the weather is warming up. If I find aphids on my seedlings, I gently scrape them off with my fingernail and give them a little squish. On plants like roses, you can hose them off. For white fly, I have yellow sticky traps in certain spots in my greenhouse. I’m hoping that this diligence will pay off and I won’t need to take more drastic measures later in the season.
If you have 2-3 hour…keep on weeding
This time of year is Goldilocks time for weeds – not too hot, not too cold. I spent a couple of hours this morning weeding. It’s not the most fun time in the garden, but it is very satisfying. My husband joined me, and we really made a difference out there in a short time.
For the rest of the week…water!
It’s going to be a warm week, so the first thing you should be doing is watering your plants – especially if you have plants in pots.
So, my main suggestion is that if you have any spare time, keep your plants alive! The weather will fluctuate between 20-30 degrees in Adelaide. Plants in pots dry out very quickly in warm weather, and once they do, it is hard for them to draw up water. Plants have the big roots we see when we plant them out, but they also have tiny, hairlike roots that can die off when the plant dries out. These roots are like our capillaries, drawing nutrition and water to the main roots – they are important to keeping plants healthy.
Take care of recently planted seeds and seedlings in particular – once they dry out, it can be difficult to recover them. If your little seedlings are wilted, it is past time to give them a drink. And if you are fortunate enough to have a greenhouse, you may need to water more often.
Of course, there is such a thing as overwatering as well! Check your plant soil with the tip of your finger. If your finger comes back dirty, the soil is damp and will be ok for now.
