JANUARY - PREPARE, PLANT and HARVEST
Time to harvest...
Regularly harvest quick producing crops.
Courgettes, cucumbers, gherkins, beans, peas all need checking and picking on a daily basis. This will keep your veges young and sweet and stop them getting too big! It will also encourage plants to keep on producing for many more weeks.
Garlic and onions can be lifted now and laid out to dry.
Harvest new potatoes as flowering finishes.
Collect herbs for drying or making pesto and freezing.
Plant successional crops of quick growing summer veges such as lettuce, beetroot, radishes, silver beet, bok choy.
Plant Winter vege now...
Planting as soon as possible is important for the key Winter vegetables – brussel sprouts, leeks, cauliflowers, to get maximum size on the plants while we’re in warm temperatures/optimum growth.
If you’re unsure of the best leek planting technique just ask one of us when you’re next instore.
Time to sow...
Basil, beetroot, bok choy, carrots, Chinese cabbages, chives, coriander, kohlrabi, leeks, peas, radishes, rocket, silverbeet, spring onions, swedes and turnips.
Time to feed...
Keep on feeding the summer garden. Liquid feed around tomatoes, peppers and other fruiting vegetable plants (courgettes, cucumbers etc), with Yates Thrive Liquid Tomato Food or Burnet's Tom-A-Rite Liquid Tomato Food.
Give leafy veges like lettuce, silverbeet, a side dressing of sulphate of ammonia to kick them along.
Continue to water regularly, especially if the summer is dry. Remember a good deep watering around the roots of the plants 2-3 times per week is more beneficial than a daily light sprinkling. Adding compost and other organic material to the soil helps retain moisture as well as conditioning the soil.
Time to Control...
White butterflies and caterpillars
Control white butterfly caterpillars with Yates Success Ultra spray or bug netting.
Check fruit trees for brown rot and blackspot and spray with Yates Fungus Fighter if these are prevalent.
Late Blight
At this time of the year, late blight can occur during cooler wet conditions. It can be quite aggressive and difficult to treat once established, so it is best to prevent infection by spraying with FreeFlo Copper now.
Be on the lookout for blight infected leaves that quickly shrivel and die as well as dark, greasy lesions on stems, and brown spots on fruit. To manage, remove infected leaves, improved air circulation and if necessary, remove the whole plant to avoid the pathogens spreading.
Powdery Mildew
Cucurbits (courgettes, cucumbers, pumpkin, watermelons) are prone to powdery mildew at this time of the year too. Spraying these with either FreeFlo Copper or Super Sulphur will also prevent infection.
