Kitchen Garden Guides

Monday, November 21, 2022

August 2022 Kitchen Garden Guide

 

August heralds the coming of the light, where the sun is a little higher in the sky and daylight hours are lengthening. Lengthening days and strengthening sun bring energy to life in the southern hemisphere. Along with climate trends and weather variations, these are what influence the arrival of spring. Here in Cygnet, cold winds often arrive, just when we start to enjoy a bit more sun so provide shelter for the edible garden, using hay bales, for example.

Insects, fungus, birds and other annoyances

We walk in the forests and marvel at the beautiful fungi but we don’t like curly leaf appearing on our fruit trees, as a result of other fungi. The difference is that, in the forests, life is in balance. If anyone starts getting too big for their boots, other creatures will bring things back into line.

We can toss cold ash from our fires about the place in autumn under fruit trees and use a woody rather than straw mulch. We can attract predators, like lacewings, by planting hiding places and breeding places for them, near or under our fruit trees. We can let the chooks range in about the fruit trees, to pick off emerging coddling moth larvae. We can net individual trees to keep the birds and maybe the possums off during fruiting but we do need the little wrens, silver eyes and others to hop about on the bare branches all winter, picking off insect larvae, aphids etc and even those pesky blackbirds, rummaging about in the mulch, are doing more good than harm, during winter and spring. I do all these things and rarely have insect or disease problems but there are 3 relatively benign sprays that I use. Nothing is totally harmless. Do not be fooled by chemical companies that claim otherwise!

Curly leaf is best avoided by applying a copper spray several times before bud burst, after which it is too late. I use Burgundy Mix, as described many years ago by Peter Cundall:

1. Dissolve 50 gram of washing soda (from supermarket) in 2.5 litres of warm water.
2. Dissolve 50 grams copper sulphate in a separate 2.5 litres of water.
3. Slowly pour the dissolved washing soda into the dissolved copper sulphate.
4. This is Burgundy mixture. It is at its most effective strength when freshly mixed so must be used immediately or within a couple of days.
5. Spray thoroughly over and under the bare branches of peach, nectarine and other stone fruit trees to help control leaf curl and brown rot disease. It is also useful when sprayed over raspberry canes in late July/early August for control of raspberry rust and on apple trees that had scab last year.

The mixture colours the sprayed plants blue. The spray can withstand light rain but should be re-applied after persistent rain and done at least twice before any buds open. Do not spray once the leaves and flowers open. Read about copper accumulation in the soil and about lime sulphur alternative, on the Deep Green Permaculture website.

White oil

Into an empty jar pour a cup of ordinary cooking oil and ¼ cup of dishwashing liquid. Give it a good shake. It will turn white. That’s your white oil concentrate. It will last for a year or more. Label the container with the correct dilution rate – ‘one tablespoon per litre of water’. I use this for scale on my undercover, potted citrus and on indoor plants that get scale. It is very effective and simply blocks the pores of whatever it lands on.

Dipel

Dipel is a biological insecticide containing the naturally occurring microorganism Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies kurstaki, that only effects caterpillars. It is wonderful sprayed on your brassicas to reduce cabbage moth caterpillars breeding up in spring and summer. It does not harm any other insects or animals.

Sowing Tomatoes

My favourite tomatoes for growing in chilly Cygnet are Black from Tula (big, black, solid, luscious, delicious and surprisingly reliable), Rouge de Marmande (medium, reliable, long season), Jaune Flammé (orange, medium to smallish, delicious, very prolific, long season). Many others are suitable too. Check out Dave’s Seeds website and facebook page.

I have written about sowing tomatoes many times. The gist of it is:

1.   They really do need bottom heat for good germination. Use a brewer’s mat or terrarium mat or silicone terrarium tube or lash out on a heated seed raising kit.

2.   Covering the seed tray with a sheet of glass before germination keeps moisture in and rodents out. This applies to all seed sowing.

3.   Once germinated, they need LOTS of sun plus the heat mat. Water sparingly. Use warm water. Water with a weak liquid feed every couple of weeks.

4.   Pay attention to how they look. Spindly = need more sun. Yellow = too much water. Not growing = need more warmth or food.

Herbs

“Herbs maketh the meal” Kate, 2022

Parsley and walnut pesto, sage leaf chips, salsa verde, tarragon and orange salad, rosemary sourdough, pistou soup, dill cucumbers, bay leaves in vodka etc etc all need to be in your mind when you think about your edible garden. Herbs are not just extras, they are integral to making food memorable.

In these days of rising prices, grow what is expensive to buy. Herbs grow so easily and are so much more tasty picked directly from outside your kitchen door, rather than from a shop. Don’t just plant one of each, plant 6! Put aside a whole garden edge for garlic chives, fill spaces between young brassicas with parsley. Create an area solely for evergreen herbs like rosemary, sage, marjoram, fennel, sorrel and be adventurous. Lovage is fantastic!

 

Plant and sow in August

 

Plant rhubarb, strawberry runners, raspberry canes, asparagus and get all deciduous trees and shrubs in before they leaf.

 

Start sowing summer vegetables with bottom heat:

·         Tomatoes

·         Capsicums

·         Chillis

·         Eggplants…. Good luck!

And while you are waiting for them to mature, why not grow some sprouts in the kitchen for a nutritious and delicious treat for your taste buds and body…. lentils, chickpeas, fenugreek, buckwheat

 

Sow now in trays to plant out later:

·         Onions including red, salad, spring and most others

·         Broad beans (it is not too late)

·         Coriander

·         Brassicas

·         Asian greens

·         Lettuces

·         Peas to eat and as pea shoot microgreens

 

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