With some lovely warming weather with us now, it is time to get more vegies in the ground.
By now hopefully you have sowed most of your summer vegetable seeds and raised some beautifully strong seedlings to transfer to your beds. If you aren’t sowing this year, get out to your local nursery and buy some ready-made ones. The soil temperature is on the up and it is time to plant all your babies in their place and watch them flourish. With the exception of capsicums and chillies, pretty much everything can be planted now, including your tomatoes.
There may still be a late frosty spring morning or two around the corner so keep an ear on the weather reports and protect your new sensitive plants — in particular your cucumbers, pumpkin, tomatoes, potatoes and strawberries. Any sign from the weather station and you can cover up these plants with old sheets or blankets and spread a thick layer of straw mulch around to make sure the soil is well covered.
If you are still growing some broccoli, cabbage or rocket, which I suggest you should be, the little pesky cabbage white butterfly will be hanging around a bit now. You can protect the beds from this pest by making a simple tunnel covered in netting. There are many ways to do this, either using materials you have lying around at home or purchasing ready-made. Essentially, though, you will need to use a number of hoops to create a supportive frame, which the netting is then draped over, pulled tight and fastened to the garden bed or soil.
While we’re on the subject, those who prefer netting their fruit trees rather than sharing with the ‘locals’ will be getting ready soon as the stone-fruit season bears down on us again. In order to prevent the annual distortion of new growth that so many gardeners experience, and to reduce the time and anguish in removing those nets later in the season, consider erecting hoops a good 500-1000mm above the existing foliage. It’s well worth the effort.
May the season be long and fruitful, with just enough rain.
HAPPY GARDENING!
Drew Cooper, Edible Gardens
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