Summer has drifted in and out, the wind has howled and
abated, rain has pelted down, then evaporated and our tomatoes are slowly
ripening. Interestingly, my tomato plants are much taller than ever before, and
the first tomatoes to ripen, quite early on, were the big, luscious Black from
Tula. The most productive this year has been Jaune Flamme, which I only decided
to grow at the last minute. It just goes to show that it is worth planting a
diverse range of tomatoes and everything else.
Cuttings
Autumn is an excellent time for taking cuttings. Cuttings in
autumn can be semi hardwood or hardwood, but not the floppy, green, very new
growth and not something that is in flower. Autumn cuttings are usually of
evergreen plants. Generally, only take cuttings of deciduous plants when they
have lost their leaves (in winter).
Cut with clean secateurs just under some leaves, remove all
the leaves from at least 2 growing nodes above the cut. Reduce the number of
leaves on the rest of the stem, all the way to the top. Slip the cutting into
the soil (pot or ground) and water thoroughly. I don’t bother with hormone
powder or anything.
I asked a couple of my gardenin friends how they prefer to strike
their cuttings.
Sally’s beautiful garden is grown almost entirely from
cuttings. Sally is a no-nonsense gardener and her plants must not be too fussy!
She chooses a spot in the ground that is damp, sheltered from wind and all but
a little easterly sun. The soil is friable, but not fertilised. Into that go
all her cuttings and there they stay until they shoot new leaves. Then they are
transplanted to their garden site. She rarely uses pots at all.
Nick prefers to put his cuttings into medium size pots, 10
cuttings to a pot. The mix he uses varies according to the difficulty of
getting the cuttings to strike. Azaleas are tricky, geraniums are easy.
Generally it contains something water holding like coconut fibre, something
that drains, like sharp sand, plus some basic potting mix. They are kept somewhere
near the back door, out of wind and sun, so they can be kept damp and cared
for.
I generally take cuttings only when I am pruning. I have a
bucket of water near me and nestle them in there while I complete the pruning.
Oh dear…. sometimes they stay in that bucket, or in a jar in the kitchen for a
couple of weeks. Ideally, I would remove them from the water on the same day I
cut them and put them in pots, similar to Nick’s method. However, I usually
poke a few taller bamboo sticks in the pot and, after watering well, I cover
the whole thing with a plastic bag, with a rubber band around the pot to hold
it on. I am likely to ignore them for at least a couple of months then I check
to see how they are going and replace the bag again until they shoot new
leaves. Then I remove the bag, leave them a little longer before transplanting
to individual pots.
Alliums
Onions, garlic, shallots, potato onions, walking onions,
leeks, elephant garlic, chives and garlic chives are all alliums and have been
grown for thousands of years, in many parts of the world. Alliums all have day
length requirements, some preferring shortening days, some lengthening days,
some a little more flexible. In autumn we sow and plant those that prefer or
will tolerate shortening days to get them started, then lengthening days to
finish off (towards next summer). These include garlic, shallots, potato
onions, elephant garlic and walking onions. I have talked about growing garlic
previously, in many of these garden guides so now it is the turn for the other
alliums that suitable to plant now.
I went to the Koonya Garlic Festival last time it was on and
heard an excellent talk by Tino, all about alliums and got totally enthused.
So, last autumn I planted potato onions that I got from a friend. It was a
roaring success. Each one produced 10 or more small onions, up to 20! They shot
quickly, grew strong stems all winter then bulbed up during spring but took
ages to dry off, which is when they are ready to harvest. I harvested in
January. They are great for pickling or throwing in a baking dish or stew. I
spoke to Tino at the Spring Bay Sunflower Festival in Feb. and he said you can
plant the potato onions in spring too, to save on garden space….. but I am
going to plant them in autumn again because it was so successful.
Steve Solomon suggests, in his book “Growing Vegetables
South of Australia” putting shallots (and late garlic varieties) in the fridge
for a month, starting early to mid March, before planting out in April, as this
breaks their dormancy so readying them into faster sprouting once planted out
and gives them plenty of shortening days to grow a good set of leaves before
they start bulbing up in spring. I am going to do this for my potato onions
because I harvested so late.
Give all alliums a friable, fertile soil with good drainage,
adding lime, if necessary, to about neutral or slightly alkaline, but
definitely not acidic. Peter Cundall uses fire ash in place of lime and digs in
old sheep manure and biochar.
Look for potato onions, elephant garlic and other alliums at
markets plus online and our Crop Swap Cygnet and Surrounds facebook page.
Seeds to sow
in March
|
Plant out now
|
|
Beetroot Salsify Burdock Tas. swede Carrot Parsnip Spinach Broad beans Daikon radish Asian vegetables Coriander, pennyroyal, cress Seeds to harvest in
March
Tomatoes Orach Fennel Lettuce Sunflowers Calendula |
Good sized European brassicas Spring onions Chives Elephant garlic, potato onions Lettuce Spinach Celery Silver beet ______________________ *If you would like to learn about saving seeds, join us at
the Cygnet Seed Library every second Sunday, 2pm at the old CBA, 17 Mary
Street. Details on facebook.* _______________________ Cygnet Autumn Garden Market is on March 27th 12
– 4pm at The Cannery. Fundraiser for refugees moving to the Huon. Talks,
stalls, food, coffee. See you there. |
