March Produce Swappers Gardening Tips
IN THE GARDEN:
Don't panic and pull out your tomato plants! A few people have mentioned lately that they are going to pull out their tomatoes and make green tomato chutney with the fruit. Unless you really love green tomato chutney (in which case this is a perfect plan so feel free to follow through) there's still plenty of time to let your tomatoes ripen in the garden before we get our first frosts. In the next newsletter we'll talk about some other ways to ripen them too.
March/ April is an excellent time to direct sow green manure crops. Green manure mixes often use legumes with grains and cereals in combination and can be a fantastic low-input way to improve the fertility and structure of soils. If you have had any soil-borne diseases or pests such as root nematodes in the past couple of seasons then a green manure crop of mustard can also be useful as a natural soil fumigant. Green manure mixes are available online through seed suppliers and often at nurseries. Ensure that whatever mix you use, you slash it and turn it into the soil before it flowers or starts to produce seed heads. At this stage in the growth cycle plants begin to use up stored nutrients so it’s important to interrupt this and instead cycle those nutrients and biomass back into the soil. Once you have cut down the mulch you can either dig it through the soil or cover it with a straw based mulch to minimise the loss of nitrogen as the material breaks down.
Care for fruit trees:
Fruit trees can be given a light application of organic fertiliser in autumn* If we have a warmish, dry period then you can still 'summer' prune fruit trees taking out the three 'D's - dead, diseased or damaged wood, and any branches that are crossing in the middle of the tree to improve ventilation.
*NOTE: any time that you apply fertiliser to any tree or garden plant it is important to water the fertiliser in, even during wet weather. This is doubly true for citrus and other surface rooting plants that can easily burn if they come into contact with fertiliser when their root system is dry or the fertiliser is not diluted by the application of water. Infact, if i can I will always give a watering can or bucket full of water after cutting plants back, major weeding around their rootzone, topdressing with compost, etc- so I end up watering after any major garden action and I find it to be a helpful general rule in order to avoid shock to my plants and garden.
Apples, pears and quinces will respond well to an application of dolomite lime around their dripline in autumn to provide calcium and magnesium for the following growing season. Gather and remove fallen fruit to help to control pests such as codling moth. Ensure that the rootzone below each fruit tree is kept free of grass as much as possible and lightly top dress with compost and a wood/bark-based mulch.
It's a good time now to make Comfrey Tea for fruit trees and perennials. You can cut comfrey plants to the ground to make a brew and they should be lush and abundant right now after our recent rains. Herb guru Penny Woodward has written this excellent article about comfrey which includes a couple of recipes for comfrey tea.
SOW NOW (direct): Beetroot, broad beans, lettuce, carrots, Asian greens, parsnip, radish, rocket, spinach, turnips, swedes, spring onions.
*We are at the very start of garlic planting time with some early varieties ready to go in now. Garlic can be planted from now until June but my preference is to get cloves planted some time in April, with Anzac day in late April serving as my uh-oh moment if I haven’t yet planted! For some excellent advice on all things garlic here is an article by Kirsten from Milkwood permaculture.
PLANT NOW (As seedlings): Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, kohlrabi, celery, silverbeet and rainbow chard, spinach, perpetual spinach, Asian greens including pak choi, tatsoi, mustard greens and mizuna, leeks, onions, spring onions, parsley
Flowers to plant now: Nigella (Love in a mist), calendula (French marigold), cornflowers, snapdragons, pansies and violas, borage, poppies
A note on veggie gardening in Malmsbury’s cold climate – It’s important in a climate like ours to try to get as much of your winter garden in while the weather is still warm, or at least mild, as we generally go through several months where the garden will stagnate and not much growth will occur. You might find that if you have planted ‘winter’ vegetables in late autumn and they are still smallish by the time winter hits that they will stay that way until spring and then suddenly bolt to seed once we get the first ups and downs of spring temperatures. It’s better to get things in early and let them establish BEFORE the winter doldrums. So, if you haven't turned some beds over to cold season veggies yet then get planting as soon as you can!
Happy gardening!
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