Vegetable Vagabond
sowing seeds and putting down roots
Thursday, April 27, 2023
Monday, November 21, 2022
Open Gardens..... in changing times
Tomatoes and snow!
November 2022 Kitchen Garden Guide
Saturation! This last month or so will be testing your
garden layout, water management and soil health. Don’t blame the weather; how
your garden reacts is all about plant health, soil health, drainage and the
state of the ecosystem you have had a big part in creating….. or not creating!
Aphid and white fly infestations, rust, rot and root diseases as well as
pollination issues can be sidestepped significantly by having a garden of
biodiverse plants, including lots of Tasmanian natives, predator attracting plants,
bird attracting plants and nesting sites as well as a soil packed with
microbes, who have spent millions of years evolving strategies to keep the soil
where they live healthy.
What to do now
1.If you have garlic rust, like I do in one patch because I
foolishly planted in a low spot, push your fork well down in between the plants
and open the soil up a bit, to help it dry off. I have also removed all leaves
touching the ground. I am going to spray over the leaves a solution of 1 part
full cream milk: 10 parts water. This is a very good fungal suppressant, as
used by thousands of vineyards worldwide, in preference to chemicals because of
its efficacy. Observe and learn from what you see.
2. Trees do not like to be waterlogged. Fork around the
dripline, not digging, but rather pushing the fork in deep then rocking it
forward and back, to let some air in. This will help relieve the compaction
created by so much rain. The same applies to lawns, garden beds and even paths.
3. If your chook yard is boggy, don’t try to fix it by using
something fine like hay because it may become mouldy and make your chooks sick.
Instead, use something inert and coarse, like coarse straw, not too thick. Dig
a few holes so the water can drain into them and fill them with gravel. If the
roost floor is wet from the chooks coming and going with wet feet etc, dust
with a little lime or carb soda, little and often, so as not to irritate their
feet.
Grass
After 12 years of gardening here on my acre I can finally
say that grass is no longer the problem that it was. Sure, nothing is perfect
but I am pretty happy. What did I do? Firstly, I did not expect miracles and I
have used no chemicals. Mostly I have mulched and mulched and fed and mulched
and pulled and mulched and then some!
For example, I try not to let grass grow within the drip
line of trees. As the trees grow, so the dripline expands and more grass is
mulched over. Amongst the mulch I plant all manner of flowers, bulbs and herbs
and native groundcovers too. This is fabulous for fire zones as it keeps dry
mulch to a minimum, using plants as living mulch. At the same time it benefits
soil microbes, little native birds and beneficial insects as well as looking
pretty. Yes, it takes years but eventually you have flowers and herbs and trees
and lovely garden beds with very little grass incursion. Start small, where you
are, use what you have, do what you can….. and keep doing it!
Codling moth
The adult female codling moth lays approximately 60 whitish
grey eggs that are about the size of a pinhead, on the surface of the leaves of
apples, pears and quinces when the average temperature is over 15 degrees in
spring and early summer. To reduce their numbers you must act now.
Codling moth eggs hatch after 10 days and the small
caterpillars emerge to feed on the leaf surface and make their way to the
fruit. They burrow into the fruit and head for the core. They will spend about
three to five weeks inside the fruit feeding and putting on body mass until
they are ready to emerge. This is the stage that we see, when fruit displays
the tell-tale hole which leads to brown insides or early rotting when stored.
My mother’s remedy works well but annually led to her
becoming embarrassed at her frequent visits to the local bottle shop every
spring! She had a stash of tins, such as from tinned tomatoes, through which
she drilled holes and tied string so that the tins can hang in a tree. Into
each tin she put a dash of port and a double dash of water. She hung 2 or 3
tins in every apple, pear and quince tree. The male coddling moths are
attracted to the port and drown in it, reducing the number of fertile eggs laid
by the females. My mother topped up the liquids regularly.
There is more, information and several non-alcoholic
controls outlined on the fantastic Global Net Academy website. Search for
Tasmania.
November is beans time.
Add a handful of potash and a good spadeful of compost per
square metre and fork them in. Sow beans into damp soil and water only once
until the first leaves appear. This year I will wait until things have dried
out somewhat or they may rot.
Climbing beans: 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 have found some seeds, at last.
Bush beans: Bush beans are great for Tasmania as they
produce faster than pole beans and aren’t as bothered by spring winds. 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.
Cygnet
Spring Garden Market: Sunday Nov. 13th, 11 – 3 @ The Cannery.
39+ garden stalls, 5 presentations, Cannery farm plates & bar, food vans
and stalls, coffee, tool sharpening class (BYO tools to sharpen), Seed
Library pack & chat, Children’s activities. Consider parking at Burtons
Reserve, a 2 minute walk away. Details on FB and Instagram. |
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Jobs for November
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Sow
indoors to plant out later: Cucumbers,
zucchinis (Romanesco), tromboncino, corn, pumpkins. Almost anything but it is
too late for tomatoes! 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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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 |
August 2020 Kitchen Garden Guide
July was terribly dry, with mild nights. Today it is
forecast to snow almost to sea level, with plenty of rain elsewhere. This
winter at the bottom of the world will test the plants and seeds in our gardens
as they try to work out if it is time to grow or best to stay dormant a while
longer. One thing we can be sure of is that it is time to sow tomatoes, as far
off as a summer harvest seems.
Tomatoes
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.
5.
When you pot up, add some blood and bone and
sulphate of potash to the mix. Only pot up to tiny pots, then slightly bigger
and so on, and ONLY when they look too big for the pot they are in.
6.
In Cygnet, I plant mine out in late Nov or early
Dec. They should then be strong, dark green and flowering.
7.
Make sure you prepare the soil now, in your
garden, for planting out. Get all your supplies now, including this next
suggestion….
8.
I make 750mm rounds of sturdy, 100mm-square,
wire mesh, 900 – 1200 high. It comes in 30m lengths. Cut lengths of 2400mm and
you will get 12 rounds. Whites is the only brand I have found here. Chicken
wire is too flimsy for this job.
9.
I now have 2 x 30m rolls. It’s a big outlay, but
I put them around clusters of raspberries and any plants needing support. They
will last forever and never get tangled or squashed etc. Helpful to reduce
swearing in the garden!
10.
I plant my tomatoes 750mm apart and put a mesh
circle over each one, joined one to the next, for strength. I bang in one stake
at the edge of each, for more strength in our windy summers. In the centre,
with each tomato plant, I put a twirly, metal stake (from Shiploads). I keep
all the tomato growth within the circle. I have used this method forever and it
is foolproof. You will find dozens of uses for these circles, after the
tomatoes finish, I assure you.
Annual, biennial, perennial …. in the kitchen garden
Annual means grows to maturity and sets seed in one
year = lettuce, basil, tomatoes, pumpkins. These plants readily self-sow if you
allow the full life cycle to complete. Easy to save the seeds (but some will
cross).
Biennial means it takes 2 years for the whole life
cycle to complete = kale, sprouting broccoli, beetroot, celery. These will also
re-sow, given time. Easy to save the seeds (but some will cross).
Perennial has 2 meanings:
1.
Always visible (but may be deciduous), doesn’t
die down, lives for many years = fruit trees, currants, wasabi, herbs like
rosemary, bay etc. These are generally best propagated by cuttings or grafts.
2.
Grows, dies back to the ground then comes again
next season from the same roots = artichokes, asparagus, rhubarb, tarragon.
This should be labelled herbaceous perennial. These are best propagated by
division.
Curly Leaf
It is time to see that the early fungus that causes leaf
curl on peaches, nectarines and related fruit trees does not get a hold, by spraying
every nook and cranny of every branch, stem and bud with a copper spray. Peter
Cundall recommends Burgundy mix, which you can make yourself, because it does
not clog up the spray nozzle, like Bordeaux can.
Burgundy Mixture:
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 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.
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 as pea shoot microgreens |