It has been WET, very wet. November is likely to also be wet, and warm, because La Nina is almost certain. Weather patterns shift and move around the world so southern Tasmania is influenced by sea temperatures, ocean currents, volcanoes, earthquakes and climate change, every day and through every season. Our bodies and minds are too. We are living in and influenced by all that happens on our planet, near and far.
Little and Often
I listened to a podcast from the Gardeners World magazine,
with Monty Don. Asked “what is the secret of successful vegetable gardening?”
he said “Little and often.” I agree. A few minutes every day is going to help
more than one full day per week. He said many things, another of which was in
answer to the question “How can I get rid of weeds?”. He said “The weeds are
not the problem. The problem is you…. The solution is for you to weed a little
bit every day, then the weeds do not become a problem.” Well, I am not sure
about that here in Tasmania, in spring, when the weeds grow faster than a
speeding bullet, but certainly the more often you see to your garden, the
better it will be.
Little and Often also applies to seed sowing. Don’t sow a
whole packet of lettuce at once. Sow a few seeds, maybe 6 – 10. When they are
ready to transplant to the garden, on the same day, sow another 6 – 10….. and
so on. Of course, through the year the varieties will change as some prefer
winter, some summer. Many, many vegetables can be easily grown this way, almost
all year round, so you always have some but never have too many.
Little and Often can also be the motto for compost creation.
Yes, you can gather materials and make cubic meter piles, but you can also or
instead spread the daily weeds onto the path and let them rot away. Here one
day, there the next, every day, for months. Or you can have worm stations
dotted about your garden and feed your daily weeds and veg scraps into one or
another of them. Small is manageable.
Search online for Gardeners World Magazine podcasts and you
will find treasure!
Late November is beans time (earlier if frost free)
Add a handful of potash and a good spadeful of compost per
square metre and fork them in lightly. Water well. Add wet mulch. Sow beans
into the damp soil and water only when the first leaves appear. It is a good
idea to soak the beans overnight before sowing, to hasten germination.
Climbing beans: If you are lucky enough to grow your
own hazelnuts / dogwood / bamboo / suitable willow then you can easily (and for
free) make use of them to erect a frame. (Search Google images for ‘bean poles’
and see how creative you can be). But beware!! We live in the roaring 40’s!!
Pole beans WILL blow over unless the structure is secure. I tie one end of my
frame to a sturdy fence post. I especially love flat beans and long, thin,
round, green beans like Lazy Housewife.
Bush beans: These produce bucket loads of fabulous
beans all summer without the need for a frame but therefore take up much more
room. I love the thin, stringless, French beans as well as borlotti beans. It
helps to mulch.
Bush beans are great for Tasmania as they produce faster
than pole beans. There are hundreds of varieties to choose from and saving seed
for next year is simply a matter of letting some of the pods mature fully and
dry off before picking.
Tomatoes
My tip is to keep your tomatoes in pots until well after the
Huon Show (13-11-21) if you live in a frosty area. I remember the year that
many people woke to find a hard frost had burnt their entire tomato patch
overnight in mid-November! I don’t plant them out until the first week in
December. It is foolproof. I find that potting tomatoes up into slightly bigger
pots at least twice, works really well as advanced plants suffer very little
when planted out into warm soil, unlike the little ones planted out early into
cold, wet soil.
Planting with tomato frames
·
One 30m roll of wire mesh will make 12 circles.
Each roll is 1200mm high and the mesh is 100mm square. (I bought a 50m roll at
Hollanders in Hobart, to make 20 circles).
·
Cut the roll into 2.5m lengths and join the ends
to make 10 circles. Each circle will be 750mm across, suitable for 1 tomato
plant. Do not skimp!!
·
Place all 10 circles, side by side, wherever
your tomatoes will go. This way you can lay it all out and select one bed or
several.
·
Move one of the circles aside. Plant your
tomato. I push one tall, curly rod (from Shiploads) in the hole with the tomato
but a long bamboo stick would do. In France they are called tomato stakes.
·
Replace the wire circle. Bang a wooden stake
inside the windward side of the circle (or preferably 2, for those unexpected
gales from another direction!) Staple the name tag to the top of one stake.
Move to the next circle and repeat until all 10 tomatoes are planted.
·
Next, tie all adjacent circles together, to give
strength from the wind.
·
Water in your tomatoes.
·
Get a coffee and your camera and share your
amazing tomato planting photos!
·
When your tomatoes finish, use the circles for
all sorts of other things in the garden. I used all mine up last year so had to
go and buy another roll this year!
November Event
Cygnet Spring Garden Market: Saturday Nov. 13th,
12noon – 4pm @ The Cannery. Fundraiser for the Huon Refugee Support Group
Inc. There will be 23 stalls, live music, gorgeous food and coffee, open bar
and an area for perpetual, 30 minute gardening presentations. Find all the
details on Facebook and Instagram! Covid compliant.
Jobs for November
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Sow
indoors to plant out later: Cucumbers
(Lebanese or Dragon’s Egg), zucchinis (Romanesco), tromboncino, corn,
pumpkins. Almost anything! Sow in
the garden: Beans (after
frosts), salad leaves (not just lettuce!), brassicas (cover with moth
netting), most herbs, salad and spring onions, beetroot, fennel, carrots,
celery, parsnip, sunflowers and lots of other flowers. |
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