Water
Managing, rather than draining away, the water that falls on
your land and the water that flows from elsewhere onto and through your land is
an often misunderstood concept. For some reason getting rid of this water is
seen as the aim, whereas making use of this water in the landscape is much more
beneficial to you, to the flora and fauna, to the soil life and aesthetically.
Of course, rural living often means capturing and storing the water that lands
on structures but even this can be achieved more attractively.
Seattle is a city of inspiration, when it comes to community
gardens and interesting ways to manage water. I spent a fabulous few days there
in 2008, being shown around by a fellow food gardening blogger, discovering
their incredible P-Patch system of community gardens as well as the quirky and
fascinating downpipes and drainage reserves all over the city.
My current renovations include new roof areas and downpipes
and I will be incorporating some ideas from Seattle. One of these is to suspend
2 downpipes out across the path, above head height, into part of the vegetable garden,
then down a series of interesting sculptures, into a purpose built but
attractive ditch which will, with a series of small soakage ponds, take excess
water to an already existing, large pond. The ditch and small ponds will
encourage as much water as possible to soak in and will provide spots to grow
riparian plants and bog plants near the downfall and will water various fruit
trees along the way, decreasing to less water hungry plants further down the
system. The position of the overflow from the big pond will be changed so that
it meanders through and soaks into my new Japanese garden. Finally, if water
makes it right to the end of all this, it will end up in the creek at the front
of my property, which is itself already a series of ponds with overflow points,
made by a previous owner.
If I had left the design to the plumber, there would be
ditches dug and hundreds of metres of pvc pipe channelling all the water to the
creek. Yuk.
Feijoas
A delicious, winter-ripening fruit is a rare treat and that
is a good enough reason to invest in a few feijoas. Size wise, they are very
manageable, making a nice, dense, tall, hedging shrub or small tree….
eventually! They are totally frost hardy, have attractive red and white flowers
in autumn and keep their robust leaves all winter. Evidently there are quite a
few varieties but I have not seen them in Tasmania. For all the information you
could possibly need head to the facebook page ‘Edible Gardens by Craig Castree’
and search for feijoas. He is in Tasmania. I have fruit this year on mine and
am thoroughly enjoying them right now. You must wait for the fruit to fall.
Don’t pick them. Bring inside and leave until they feel soft. Cut open and suck
or scoop out the beautiful flesh.
Choosing and sowing tomatoes etc
If, like me, picking tomatoes from the garden is a favourite
sport of yours then July is the time to get your seeds started. We have no idea
what this summer season will be like so we need to hedge our bets and choose a
range of tomatoes; some that will produce in a cool season, some for a hot
season, some that will thrive even in the rain and some that can tolerate wind
etc.
I always grow some Rouge de Marmande because, no matter
what, they will provide you with a prolific crop of medium sized, red tomatoes
on sturdy, bush plants. I always grow one Black Cherry as they are the most
flavoursome of the cherries, in my opinion, and are reliable. After that, I go
for a dense, luscious, tasty tomato like Black from Tula which may not ripen as
fast in a cool summer but is nearly always the highlight of my garden. Next I
would choose San Marzano, as a cooking tomato as they go on and on for months. Last
year I grew Speckled Roman; a large, red, cooking tomato, decorated with speckles
and stripes. I will grow that instead of San Marzano this year. Very prolific,
very long season and so beautiful.
Basically,
fruiting plants like tomatoes, capsicums and eggplants need the longest growing
season as they have to first get to a good size, then flower, then the fruits
must grow and finally they need time to develop flavour and to ripen. Sow these
now, preferably with even, bottom heat, rather than sun. Over each tray I put a
sheet of glass. This is for 2 reasons. Firstly, successful seed germination
depends on high humidity, but constant watering can be too much, causing low
germination. Once the seeds are gently watered at sowing, covering with a glass
sheet keeps in the moisture without any further watering needed before
germination. Secondly, mice love seeds and this is a fool proof way of keeping
them out.
If you are interested in having a stall at a not-for-profit Garden
Market in Cygnet, one is coming in September. Contact me at katevag@gmail for
details.
|
In the frosty
garden: sow broad beans to harvest or for green manure. Plant out more leeks
and onions Sow insitu the
greenhouse (or outside in frost free areas): Coriander, miners’ lettuce, spring
onions, Asian veg, lettuce, bok choy, sugar snap peas Sow now to
transplant later: Broccoli varieties such as summer purple- sprouting and raab, red
cabbage, kales, parsley. |
For a comprehensive, Tasmanian, monthly, food garden
guide search online for “Food Garden Group calendar”. Thanks to Max Bahrfeldt,
in Hobart.
No comments:
Post a Comment