January Produce Swappers Gardening Tips
IN THE GARDEN:
MULCHING: A thick layer of mulch (with a gap around the stems of your plants) not only helps to slow evaporation but also insulates the topsoil against extreme temperatures. This is not only important for plants’ feeder roots but also the moisture and stable temperatures allow earthworms and microorganisms to colonise the top layer of soil, adding nutrients, aerating and improving soil structure as they go. Make sure that you give the garden a very thorough soaking before mulching as mulch can unfortunately also create a barrier to water penetration from rain or hand watering if it and the soil underneath are too dry.
As I’ve mentioned before, although any mulch will be beneficial it is best to use straw-based mulches around annuals and wood or bark chips around perennial trees and shrubs. Field trials have shown that straw mulches support a greater percentage of beneficial bacteria which is preferred by annual species such as veggies, while wood-based mulches support a higher overall percentage of fungi which is also the preference for woody plants. This all makes total sense when you think that what would be breaking down in those environments naturally would be largely the dead limbs from woody plants in forests and the annual plants and grasses themselves in disturbed soil or open areas without trees – but anyway it’s good to keep in mind.
SUMMER PRUNING of fruit trees can continue. If you are unsure about when and why to prune different fruit trees there is a basic run down here courtesy of Pip permaculture magazine:
PUMPKINS: Now that the summer heat is here pumpkins and other cucurbits (cucumbers, zucchini, melons,etc) should be starting to really bulk up and will be growing fast. There are a couple of things that you can do to increase the number of pumpkins that you end up harvesting: The first thing is to take out the growing tip of each main stem. That means taking off the top 10cms or so from those stems that are radiating out from your plant. This triggers flowering and reproduction as the plant gets a message that something is, basically, starting to eat it. This is a handy trick for some of the larger growing pumpkin varieties as they can otherwise take their sweet time to get fruiting and as a result some pumpkins may end up still unripe by the time our first frost rolls around. We have a short growing season here so we have to get fruit happening as soon as possible. The second, but most important tip, is hand pollination. Pumpkins produce both male and female flowers on the same plant. If you have a look you will notice that some flowers have a long thin stem (male) while others have a shorter stem with a bulge beneath the flower (female). This bulge is the immature pumpkin, waiting to be pollinated. There are other differences too (stamen, stigma, etc) but this is the easiest way to ID which is which. Once you have both male and female flowers open on the vine you can pick the male flower off, peel its petals back and then take the pollen-loaded stamen and brush it onto the stigma of any open female flowers, like this.
Each year I get my kids and my nieces to do this to one female pumpkin flower. We then hang a label next to that flower with their name on it and they get to watch their very own pumpkin grow over the season. Pumpkin soup made with ‘your’ pumpkin is pretty exciting!
Hand pollination can also really help corn, which relies on wind pollination as opposed to insect pollinators. This is why it is generally recommended that you plant a large block of corn instead of planting it in rows. If you have planted a small amount of corn then this is especially important as you may not have enough pollen swirling around to get to everything and might end up with patchy cobs with missing kernels*, or less cobs all together. To hand pollinate corn you should first watch out for the development of the tassels (these look like grass seed heads) at the top of the plant and the silks, which are the fine strands that appear at the top of the immature cobs (ears) of corn lower down on the plant. You can test that the tassel is shedding pollen by first shaking it gently into the palm of your hand. If there is pollen shaking out of it you can remove the whole thing and use it a bit like a duster and take it to the silks. Alternatively you can shake out the pollen into a wide shallow bowl and then either use your hands or a paintbrush to dust it onto the silks. The advantage of this method is that the tassels mature from the top down so you can revisit them a few times to get more pollen if you don’t completely remove them.
*Each individual silk on an ear of corn is connected to one kernel in the cob.
Hand pollination of both pumpkins and corn should ideally be done in the morning
Sow now: Beetroot, carrot, lettuce, Asian greens, radishes, rocket, silverbeet, spinach (will need morning sun only – or shadecloth over the top), spring onion, turnips
Plant now (as seedlings): Leeks, celery, lettuce, silverbeet, Asian greens including mizuna, mustard, pak choi, tatsoi (these can tolerate sun and heat only if watered consistently), parsley, silverbeet and rainbow chard, perpetual spinach, brassicas such as broccoli, cabbage, kale and cauliflower will establish well in the heat and will then mature as the weather cools down in the autumn (protect from cabbage moth with insect netting).
*January/February is a fantastic time to get a crop of carrots in as you can then harvest them as needed in autumn and early winter. It’s a bit like having a garden pantry. If you are wanting to sow a crop now then keeping the seed moist during germination is especially important and can be tricky during Summer so refer back to my carrot guide from the September newsletter here.
