Welcome to the southern Tasmanian kitchen garden guide for
2022, where I talk about growing food, all year round. To find all my previous 9
years or so of Kitchen Garden Guides head to my blog called Vegetable Vagabond
and look for the Garden Guides link directly under the header. It’s a big job
to upload them all there, so it is not finished yet! I want to add relevant
photos and links, which I cannot include in this Classifieds paper version too.
Eating by the seasons brings health to mind, body and soul
as well as real purpose to our lives, no matter our age or ability. The next
level kitchen gardener does not attempt to grow everything themselves, but
connects with neighbours, friends, farmers, local market gardeners, roadside
stalls and old-fashioned green grocers to gather what they do not have in their
home garden and to share what they do. Some call this food security, some call
it community sufficiency, I call it common sense! See below for some stalls and
farms and groups to connect with.
Tomatoes
Are they fruiting? If not, then maybe you are watering them
too much. Once a week is more than enough for well mulched tomatoes in the
ground. I water them about once a month! By now their roots are way down,
seeking out the rain that drenched our gardens before Christmas. Seriously,
water is great for seedlings, for pots, for greenhouses and small, raised beds
but not for tomatoes in the ground. The microbes in the soil will work wonders
for you but they do not enjoy swimming!
When you are biting or cutting into a delicious, ripe,
magnificent tomato, before you eat it all, STOP! Pick out a few seeds, put them
on a piece of paper towel and write the variety and some notes on it. Leave it
on your kitchen bench and add more seeds of that variety to that same paper
towel, through the season. Do that for each variety of tomato. Later, when all
the pages are fully dry, pack them away, to sow from late July.
Greenhouses and shadehouses
During the years of my endless quest to find someone who
will use my salvaged windows and timber to create a greenhouse for me, I have
had to resort to other measures to provide shelter for seedlings etc. I do not
want to grow things out of season; I have more than enough to eat that is in
season, whatever time of the year. I do not want to grow crops in a greenhouse,
I just want to protect trays of seeds and seedlings while they get big enough
to plant outside as well as shelter some precious pot plants from the very
toughest of winter frosts here in Cygnet. There is an excellent, in-depth
article online which thinks through the construction, use and sanity of
greenhouses through cultures, climate and ages. Search for: Reinventing the
Greenhouse. Please, do read broadly and think carefully before constructing
something that you may find you really don’t like or use.
You might actually find that a sturdy structure, covered
with a dense, white shadecloth is more versatile. In summer, when the sun is
overhead, this will provide good wind protection and white is an excellent
choice for bright shade. In winter, when the sun is quite low here in southern
Tasmania, if you have it positioned to fully open on the north side, you will
get full sun.
Basil
Oh the joy of having abundant basil growing in your garden
and filling your summer kitchen with its delicious scent! This is a good year
for basil, so far. If you don’t have any, get some advanced plants and plant
them out or, do as I did last year, and pot them up into nice, terracotta pots
for ready access at the kitchen door or on a bright kitchen windowsill. In pots
you can keep them going for months by bringing them in when the weather starts
to cool. Basil is wonderful for pesto and in salads and but also goes
remarkably well with strawberries or peaches or in a lemon cake!
Chooks in summer
Most of the year my large chook yard under some fruit trees
provides my chooks with all sorts of greenery to pick at, insects to dig up and
clean up, like codling moths. By February, if it has been dry for a while like
this year, there’s not much except dust for bathing. I grow a lot of chard for
them because it is my chooks’ favourite thing. Yours may prefer other greens!
Whatever it is they like, always keep some growing in your garden or next to
the chook yard fence (so they can peck their own).
Natural dyes
Did you know that many of the plants we grow for food also
can be used as natural dyes? The ‘Natural Dyes Project’ was created by Sewing
Café, Lancaster,UK, to develop skills and knowledge of natural dying and bring
awareness to the harmful impacts of synthetic dyes. They have a fabulous
website which showcases a garden full of plants that can be used for dying.
February Events
Woodbridge WaterFest: Sun.Feb 20th
Koonya Garlic Festival: Sat. Feb 26th
|
Seeds to sow in Feb. Broccoli raab Kale Beetroot Shungiku Lettuce Asian greens
(late Feb.) Carrots Spinach &
silver beet Spring onions Leeks Hakurei
turnips Tas. swedes Parsnips Radishes Seeds
to save in Feb Lettuce Shungiku Calendular
marigolds Tomatoes Parsnips |
Plant out /pot up now, yes now Brussel
sprouts Cauliflower Broccoli –
regular, sprouting and raab Salad
vegetables Leeks Jobs for February Plant, feed
or move citrus Summer prune
stone fruits Prepare beds
for autumn plantings Save seeds
for next spring Mulch deeply with
wet straw/silage Give
flowering veg a dose of potash Protect
brassicas from moths Roadside
stalls & farms Ashcraig Farm
stall (Nichols Rivulet Rd) Lenny’s stall
(Jetty Road, Cygnet) Blueberry
farm (Gospel Hall Rd) Canes Orchard
(Franklin) Crop Swap
Cygnet and Surrounds |
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