How is your vegetable garden looking? So many people have planted vegetables this autumn. If your planning has been thorough, the garden will now be full of vegetables for winter use. Spinach, silverbeet, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and brussels sprouts, if nearing maturity, will benefit from a liquid feed of Ican Fast Food or similar so that the nutrients are immediately available. These vegetables are heavy feeders and a fertiliser application at this time will increase their size and maintain good health.
Slugs and snails are likely to be active on young seedlings; lay pellets to protect plants from attack.
Frost covers should be brought out of the shed and, on clear nights when the temperature looks set to drop below 4C, tender plants should be covered. The use of cloches at this time of year can greatly enhance growth rates. Any methods where soil temperature can be increased during these cooler months will increase growth. Planting lettuce cell plants on a small mound of compost or mulched with straw or even black plastic mounding, as for strawberry plantings, can help give a good winter lettuce crop.
The lower temperatures are needed by some plants to initiate flowering and fruiting, while other plants regulate their growth cycles based on the day and night length. So as the days lengthen in the coming weeks many trees, shrubs, perennials and bulbs will react in varying ways. Spring bulbs such as paper whites and early jonquils are flowering, while daffodils are starting to come through the soil for flowering in August and September. Crocus is always one of the earliest of the spring bulbs to flower. It is said that crocuses “herald the coming of spring” as they tend to flower around late July and August.
Gardening is very much about working with the seasons and we have created “traditional” planting times that help us to remember when to plant certain crops. So, just as many people will always plant tomato plants at Labour weekend, many will always plant garlic bulbs on the shortest day and harvest them on the longest. June is the main planting time for this frequently-used culinary favourite. The window for planting and harvesting is, in fact, a lot longer with plantings able to be made from April through into July.
This health-giving food has become extremely popular in recent years as cooking shows and the like have shown the wide range of culinary dishes in which garlic can be used.
Garlic is easy to grow. For many years it suffered very few pest or disease problems and its presence in your vegetable garden can actually help other vegetables, with it shown to be beneficial when grown near lettuce and cucumber plantings.
In recent years, some have had trouble with the fungal disease “rust”. A recently available product that looks promising in the treatment of this disease is Botryzen. This biogrow-certified organic fungicide is a natural fungus which colonises the leaf area, preventing pathogenic rotting fungi or bacteria from establishing.
Garlic is generally sold as bulbs which should be broken up into individual cloves for planting. Garlic cloves should be spaced 10cm apart and about 5cm deep. The soil should be loosened and dug over before planting. The soil should be fertile with good drainage. The addition of compost, blood and bone or potato food is advantageous.
Harvest is made in December or January when the tops start to fall over or brown off. At this time, they should be pulled from the soil and allowed to dry in a sunny, well-ventilated position for one or two weeks. After that they should be placed in a dark, dry, well-ventilated location where they will store for up to a year.
Shallots are planted in a similar manner and should be planted now.
Another vegetable crop that is excellent for healthy living and should be sown now is onions. The bulb of an onion develops in response to day length so, for best results, following the correct sowing and planting times is important. They are not difficult to grow and take up little room.
Before sowing, the ground should be well worked with all lumps of soil broken down and all weeds removed. Sprinkle the soil with general fertiliser and fork in. A shallow furrow should be made, and seeds planted at 6mm deep and covered with seed-raising mix or fine soil. Watch out for slugs and snails and protect seedlings with slug bait. They germinate within 10-14 days. Seeds and seedlings can be purchased from garden centres. Planted now, they will be ready for harvest in mid-summer.
For more gardening information visit www.springvalegardencentre.co.nz.
