December Produce Swappers Gardening Tips
IN THE GARDEN
TOMATO CARE: Spring-planted tomatoes should be looking strong and healthy with the (little) bit of warm weather we've had lately. Tomatoes are pretty susceptible to a range of fungal and bacterial issues as well as some pests but usually don't show symptoms until they begin to produce their fruit in earnest. After this point you will often see the beginnings of any problems as the plant prioritises fruit, and therefore seed, production at the expense of overall plant health. There are a few simple ways to minimise disease in your tomato plants though and it's good to be proactive and get into it now even though they will likely be looking healthy and invincible right now:
1. Fungal and bacterial diseases both spread via water droplets and if they are present in the soil then splashback from watering can easily infect new plants. A layer of mulch around the base of the plants can help to form a barrier to prevent this and also, on climbing (indeterminate) varieties, you can remove foliage from the bottom 30cm of the plant to reduce the likelihood of bacteria or fungal spores splashing up onto the lower leaves of the plant.
2. Apply Sulphate of Potash once your tomato plants are flowering. Potash provides the macronutrient potassium which supports the production of flowers and fruit set. Another important function of potassium is to strengthen the cell walls of the plant itself, improving it's ability to resist fungal infection.
3. Prune your tomatoes to improve airflow, structure and fruiting. Tomato pruning can seem a bit daunting but it really is pretty simple and involves selecting between 1-3 main stems and then pinching out the lateral shoots that grow from the base of the leaves on those stems. I usually train my climbing varieties to have three leaders and pinch out other side shoots but different gardeners have different tactics. If you are unsure about the anatomy of tomato plants here is a great explanation by Angus Stewart to show you exactly where and how to pinch out and prune.
4. This is perhaps the most important one of all: resist the temptation to water the foliage of your plants. This is a good rule to follow in general - but especially for anything that is prone to fungal diseases like our good friends the summer tomato. Train yourself to direct that hose down to the roots of the plants, or even better set up a dripper system. This helps to reduce the chances of fungal spores or bacterial spreading onto and between plants and will also avoid the excess humidity that is favoured by fungus.
SUMMER SALAD GREENS: Lettuces and other greens love plenty of water so situating them somewhere close to the house, or a tap, or beside a path that you walk each day (to and from the chickens for example) can be a good strategy to ensure that you don't forget them. Drying out is a trigger for bolting to seed and lettuces in particular will quickly become bitter as the centres rise up towards the formation of seed heads. Although this year looks to be pretty mild thanks to La Nina I find that summer lettuce and salad greens love a bit of shelter from summer sun. It's easy to set up a simple cloche using insect mesh (very fine bird netting) and polypipe to form hoops to provide just enough shade to keep them lush and happy. Another option is to use four stakes at the corners of your greens bed and stretch the netting across to create a netted structure that way (see photo below)
NET FRUIT TREES - don't delay! Birds will get into fruit long before it is ripe enough to consider picking so now is an excellent time to net most stone fruit and pomes such as apples and pears. 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 (which, incidentally, is now illegal in Victoria). For more info, see SGA’s article
Before netting, do a little summer prune to take out any diseased/damaged/dead wood and any branches that are crowding out the middle of the tree. You can also thin fruit now which will reduce the chance of limbs snapping under the weight of too much fruit and will improve the size and quality of the fruit that you leave. There is some evidence that thinning fruit trees that typically have a biennial bearing pattern (apricots are a classic example of this, with them typically producing a bumper crop one year and the next year often producing very little) can help to even out their cropping so that you get a better harvest in their 'off' year.
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), 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 if you really want to give pumpkins a try), silverbeet, spring onion, tomato (it’s late so best to plant determinate/bush varieties or cherry types, and only as advanced seedlings), zucchinis and button squash
Sow now: Beans – Bush/dwarf varieties, beetroot, carrots, 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!
