It's the wet season!
Thu, 9 Feb 2012
Are you ready to venture out into the wet garden yet? Are the beds overgrown?
We had a slow start to Summer this year with relatively mild weather until the second week of January. Then the rain came...Quite heavy. And the showers are still hanging around so its humid, warm and more showers on the way.
By February we are getting a little tired of the humidity, the warm weather, the rain ...or any combination of these. But there is a silver lining - water is getting into the groundwater table, the rivers and creeks and our tanks and dams so that we can garden without to many restrictions during Autumn and winter.
The rain in January was far more then any garden could ever handle. The high intensity rain washed away soil in many areas and of course a lot of the nutrients. We need to replace the nutrients using an organic fertilizer like organic xtra or organic booster (available at WLS) and any compost (many types available) will be a fabulous addition. And keep the soil covered at all times to prevent soil loss. Here are some examples of different colours and looks that mulch can have.
Try to keep on top of the weeds - it pays off later. Keep the mulch up. With all the warmth and humidity it acts a little like a sheet compost and will build soil structure.
Time to get ready for Autumn planting!
I know that some people reduce their garden area during the hot, humid summer months. Mid-summer is not an easy time in the garden and there is still time to build your compost. Better late then never, but if you have some compost heaps going this is the time of year when they will compost at a rapid rate. I have a few heaps going ( heaps is not really the term as they are in square boxes about 1.2 m x 1.2 m and about the same height) and each will yield about 1/2 m3 of lovely compost. Harvest Comfrey and make a Compost Tea or add to the compost. It will produce a large amount of excellent biomass. Here are a couple of examples of compost bins...Timber can be purchased at WLS for your bins.
Clear your garden from any strong, persistent weeds. It is likely that they are seeding or close to seeding. Try to minimise the spread of seed as much as possible to reduce your work later. Take care to remove weeds from the edges of garden beds as these often will hang over the planting area or send roots to the fertile part of the garden. Place them in compost, give them to the chickens, just don't let them seed.
Spread compost ( it is actually better if the compost is not fully broken down) at a rate of say a bucket per square meter. Alternatively any aged manure will also do the job. You will find that when it comes to planting all the garden books talk about "aged" manure. The reason is simply that fresh manure is not real good for your seed or seedlings and indeed some manures may kill tender seedlings. By placing the manure NOW into your beds you will effectively "age" the manure.
When it is time to plant Peas your garden book will tell you that should apply Lime a few weeks before. Well, now is the time to do this so that the Lime , it will make the soil less acid ( it will "sweeten" the soil), can do it's bit. Repair old trellising and build some new ones ready for the Pea planting which is not far off.
Cover your application (compost, manure, lime etc) with a good layer of mulch. You can be quite generous - 10 cm thick is OK as there is still time for this mulch to settle and reduce in depth. This will increase the worm population considerably (and sadly, the snails too!) If you take the above steps you will find that when it is time to actually plant all these Autumn and Winter vegetables you will be ready.
Look after the plants still growing and producing in your garden. The Eggplants, Cucumbers, Beans, Capsicums - all the vegetables which produce pods and fruit - will benefit from a handful of compost and a sprinkling of Sulphate of Potash. Leafy vegetables like Lettuce and the Asian vegetables like Pack Choy and Tatsoi and Silver Beet will thank you for a very small, but weekly application of Blood and Bone or your liquid manure tea/tonic. Beetroot, Zucchini, Pumpkin are best left alone from now on until it is time to harvest. Pick the Pumpkin when they sound " hollow" when knocked and leave a few centimetres of stem. They will store better. Some people smear the whole Pumpkin with some edible oil - it is supposed to help extend storage time.
Happy Gardening!
ARMP#1077