| We are passing through the EQUINOX and so summer is really at its end and so we finish up the last of the harvesting, but the emphasis is really on getting PREPARED FOR WINTER and you may want to think about the following.
- Check the condition of your plant FLEECES. Even though winter veggies are cold tolerant, you really do to have some protection in place for those very cold nights. I keep old bits of hesian, bubble wrap, newspaper and cardboard in an old rubbish bin as well as a few bricks and rocks close to the veggie beds edges, which you can use to keep the covering weighed down. You want to keep an eye on the weather forecast as it is not necessary to cover your plants every night, but rather when you know it is going to be a frosty night and if the temperature is going to drop close to freezing. Obviously every property is slightly different and this protection becomes more important if you have an exposed garden or are in a low lying area.
- Your summer compost pile is ready to be dug in and with the good rain that Gauteng has had this summer, do it before the night temperatures drop. I do not dig it in but rather pile it on the top of the soil and allow the earthworms to do it for me. It is called the NO TILL method and admittedly does take a little getting used to, as there is something virtuous about digging over the soil and making it all neat and tidy, but once you see the results of simply applying your compost to the top of the soil you will be a quick convert to this forward thinking method of soil preparation.
- Maintain your wooden or bamboo OBELISKS for the winter climbing veggies such as PEAS. You may need to replace some poles and redo the wire or string work. Your summer crop of beans may still be cropping and so you may want to get an obelisk going in a pot, plant your peas into the pot, and at least get them going. When the beans are finally pulled out you can carefully transplant the whole pot into the middle of your permanent obelisk and they will take off very quickly.
- Do remember the very practical idea of sinking a plastic pot into the centre of your obelisk to act as a water reservoir. It is simply the most efficient way of getting the water down to the roots and cuts out on loss to evaporation from the top of the soil.
- Give all your seed trays and propagation pots a good scrub and disinfect them, ready for your winter sowings. A weak solution of Jeyes Fluid in a bucket of water (1 Table spoon of Jeyes to 5 litres of water) makes a good dipping tank.
- Young seedlings are also prone to CUTWORM, and nothing is more devastating as having them all neatly chomped off in the morning. Polystyrene cups turned upside down and gently placed over the seedling will help to protect them, but remember seedlings grown from your own seeds, in your own garden are always tougher than those grown in a heated green house of a commercial nursery.
- Your WINTER COMPOST HEAP will be overflowing with the autumn falling leaves, and should you be heading to a farm for Easter, save some space in the boot, on the return trip, for a bag or two of fresh manure, which will be a fantastic addition to the heap. A good idea is to pay reluctant children to collect the leaves and remember that if your heap fills up you can always spread the leaves directly onto your garden beds. This mulch insulates the soil against winter cold and keeps the soil nice and moist.
So with the chores out of the way lets move on to what to plant. The list remains pretty much the same as for March, except for the fact that you do need to start sowing if you want to plant out the first young plants by the end of April. Think of the following. CABBAGES, LETTUCE, BROCOLI, CAULIFLOWER, PEAS, CHINESE GREENS, CORIANDER,ROCKET, BROAD BEANS, BEET, CHICORY,PROPER SPINACH and CELERY.
Looking back over the last summer, I will make a note at how good a TREE TOMATO is to have in the summer veggie garden. They are in full fruit at the moment and if you have a tree in your garden you may want to strike a few cuttings for next summer. They are frost tender and so by the end of April you will need to have wrapped up their stems as a protective measure for the winter months.
Looking forward I will buy more QUINCE trees and plant them as a loose hedge around a swimming pool, their bushy sticky branches will make a protective barrier and provide a wonderful crop of fruit in the autumn months. Quince preserve, a thick slice of chunky farm bread and a wedge of hard mature cheddar cheese is a lunch straight out of heaven.
Jane Griffiths, book on growing organic veggies in an urban environment is going to be launched next Tuesday, the 31st March 2009, at Exclusive Books at the Hyde Park Shopping Centre. Her web site is www.janesdeliciousgarden.com
I would also like to commend the TREES FOR AFRICA organisation who programme of distributing trees to underprivileged areas really does work. I have seen them in action and am really impressed. You can visit their site at www.trees.org.za
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In the last week I have received a number of questions relating to BUTTERNUTS, GEMS, SQUASH and PUMPKINS. All of these vegetables take the entire summer to mature in that you plant them out in late spring, they grow like triffids in the first half of summer and just when you think that they not produce anything but green leaves, they start to deliver their crop. Like the leaves, the fruit develops quickly but they are slow to ripen, needing the last six weeks of a hot summer to turn them from green to either a tan, orange, red , yellow and in the case of gems, black colour. However as you watch this progress the leaves suddenly start going off in that they either develop mildew, get rust and black spot, are attacked by red spider or simply dry off. This sends us into a panic and think that we have to spray. What I do is inspect the plants regularly, removing the leaves that are badly affected and throwing them away. If, due to wet cool weather, the mildew on the leaves is really bad I will make up a very weak solution of Jeyes Fluid (one tea spoon of Jeyes to a 10litre watering can of water) and drench the leaves with this solution. Remember all of these plants are sensitive to cold and with the cooling nights and shortening days the plants naturally start to defoliate their leaves, and so by regularly removing some of the leaves you do help stop the plants from visually looking really bad. At this time of the year I also pick off all the flowers so that all the energy going into the ripening process and the making of baby plants which will not mature. Although having said that young green butternuts are totally divine to eat. They are more like a patty pan or zucchini but are tasty and a different veggie to dish up to your long suffering family. By the end of March or the beginning of April you can harvest your crop, ensuring that you leave about 10cm of the stem is still attached to the fruit, and store them in a dry place.
