JANUARY - BREATHE IN, BREATHE OUT!
Christmas is over, the mother-in-law has given the garden her approval, so now you can potter round and enjoy the efforts you put into the garden through Spring.
TIME TO HARVEST...
Tomatoes should be producing well by now.
Tip: the smaller-fruit varieties like Sweet 100 ripen much quicker than the larger fruit so choose your varieties accordingly. Plus lettuces, peas, courgettes (check the plants regularly as courgettes are clever at hiding away & morphing into marrows almost overnight), beans, beetroot, spinach, and all herbs. Pick beans regularly to promote further flowering/fruiting.
Tip 2: herbs keep producing well if they’re fed & picked regularly, watermelons are ripe when you tap them & they echo with a hollow sound
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.
TIME TO PLANT...
lettuces approx. every 2 weeks as salads are top of the menu right now so ensure a regular supply.
Got gaps? Plant fast-growing varieties like rocket & radishes while slower vegetables get established.
Plant a second batch of courgettes if the first one is looking a bit the worse for wear with mildew etc.
Tumbling tomatoes are great on corners of raised beds.
Also time to look ahead to next season – plant brussel sprouts early this month to get tall stems with plenty of sprouts, and leeks & celery also need to go in now. Intercropping (planting shallow-rooted plants like lettuces next to deeper-rooted plants like carrots & parsnips improves soil aeration & drainage. Leguminous plants like beans & peas fix atmospheric nitrogen into the soil so intercrop alongside tomatoes, sweetcorn etc to make use of the nitrogen
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...
lettuces if you’re growing them from seed, radishes, dwarf beans, carrots, parsnips for Winter, rocket, coriander.
Got some packets of vegetable seeds left with only a few seeds in each? Put them in a jar, shake well to mix them up and sow into seed trays or shallow garden rows for a mesclun mix – parsley, spinach, beetroot, rocket, kale, mustards, mizuna all work well. Snip off for gourmet salad greens when the plants are still small.
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 PROTECT...
brassicas (cabbages, broccoli etc) from white butterflies, either with Mavrik or Success (both safe on edibles) or putting bug netting over them – easy to set up with a few stakes (wooden, fibereglass etc) and the netting still lets plenty of sun through; make sure you secure it right to the ground. Protect lettuces from slugs, and beans from mites (you’ll see discoloured leaves). Marigolds keep pests away and can be planted in the greenhouse to protect tomatoes from whitefly etc. Sweet basil also keeps insect pests at bay. Protect courgettes from mildew with Copper or Super Sulphur (both safe for edibles).
TIME TO CONTROL...
The growth on tomatoes – remove yellowing leaves at base of plants (can also be a sign of nutrient deficiency); taking off some of the interior & excess foliage allows more light in for fruit ripening, plus more air movement for less disease
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.
