Produce Swappers Gardening Tips December 2020
After a wet winter and spring we are still seeing lots of ups and downs in terms of daily temperatures, which is slowing down the progress of many summer veggies. The moist conditions early in spring have led to the proliferation of insect pests this year such as aphids, scale and whiteflies. Birds and predatory insects will be starting to control them as the weather warms so unless your plants are badly infested you might find that you can relax a bit and let them take care of things from now on. Whitefly will generally peter out as we move into summer but you can assist by ensuring that you are only watering the soil, not the leaves of your plants- watering the leaves creates humid conditions loved by whitefly and various fungal diseases. Bad infestations of whitefly can also indicate that your plants are not getting enough sun and are producing sappy, soft growth as a result.
Pear and cherry slug is out early this year and is having a good munch on the foliage of pear, cherry and even some plum trees. If you have one of these trees that is looking damaged then look closely and you’ll likely find little slug-like larvae on the leaves. There are a few good organic options for these pests – dust either garden lime, flour (yep just baking flour) or wood ash over the leaves to dehydrate and kill them, or there are also organic bacterial sprays available that can be very effective if sprayed now. For a great article, click here.
It’s time now to net fruit trees and berries. Those Malmsbury cockatoos are moving in, and, while it’s nice to share, they have plenty of cherry plums and wild fruit trees to keep them busy this year so get your nets or bags over your fruit early to make sure you get a good harvest. The cockies wont wait until they are ripe! Wildlife-friendly netting is essential – the fine ‘insect mesh’ is what is required these days to ensure that birds, bats and reptiles don’t get accidentally snared in the more open, traditional fruit netting. For more info, see SGA’s article
Plant now (Transplant seedlings): Basil, Brussels sprouts (you have to get them in early to establish before autumn/winter in order to get nice tight sprouts), corn, cucumbers and gherkins, climbing spinach/Malabar spinach, kale, lettuce, leeks, pumpkin (it’s late for pumpkins but butternuts mature in a shorter time as do bush pumpkins like Golden Nugget so they are good varieties to plant now), silverbeet, spring onion, tomato (it’s late so best to plant determinate/bush varieties or cherry types), zucchinis and button squash
Sow now: Beans – Bush/dwarf varieties, beetroot, carrots, corn, cucumber, parsnips, pumpkin, rocket, silverbeet and rainbow chard, spring onion, sunflowers
Companion flowers for the summer veggie garden: Alyssum, African marigolds (tagetes sp), cosmos, annual salvias, zinnias *plus, of course, any flowering veggies or annual herbs left to go to seed – parsley, carrot, lettuce, dill and assorted brassicas will be loved by all kinds of insects so if you can leave some to go wild then all the better!
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Happy gardening!