6. Good Organic Gardening - November-December 2016 AvxHome.in

GARDEN CALENDAR | Late spring
Things to do in
November
Late spring means hotter weather and increased sunshine. The garden
should be growing strongly, covering bare ground with lush green
By Jennifer Stackhouse
Vegetables
COOL & TEMPERATE
By late spring, soils are warming and seeds
are germinating, especially in the vegie patch.
In warmer zones, early plantings of tomatoes
may already be flowering and forming fruit
for a Christmas harvest. In cooler zones, if all
threat of frost has passed, it’s safe to plant
out summer crops such as tomato, capsicum,
eggplant, cucumber and zucchini. Continue
to shelter these new plantings from any late
cold weather. Corn, too, can be planted now,
sowing seeds or planting seedlings in blocks
to aid pollination, as corn is wind-pollinated.
Position corn to shelter smaller vegetables
from hot summer winds. Also plant herbs
in the garden or in containers. Liquid feed
leafy crops every seven to 10 days for
strong growth and keep plants well watered,
especially if temperatures suddenly peak.
TROPICAL
Planting leafy greens in raised garden beds,
troughs or other containers keeps their
roots in well-drained conditions through
the wet season ahead. Use a free-draining
potting mix. Keep herbs disease-free by
growing them in containers that can be
moved into a bright and airy but sheltered
spot to protect them from heavy rains.
Despite these precautions, watch for
powdery mildew, a fungal disease that
produces a white, powdery coating over the
foliage and stems of many plants. A milk
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spray made from diluted full-cream milk
(use at a ratio of one-part milk to nine-parts
water) can keep mildew at bay if applied
before mildew appears. It’s also a good time
to plant starch crops such as sweet potato
and taro as well as vegetables such as okra,
snake beans and winged beans that tolerate
humidity and grow well over summer. Also
plant capsicum and chilli.
Fruit
COOL & TEMPERATE
Ragged, skeletonised leaves on pear, cherry,
hawthorn and related trees are the work of
the pear and cherry slug. Look for the small,
slug-like insects on foliage. Dust leaves with
ash or powder to keep these pests away. The
insects can also be squashed or sprayed with
a pyrethrum spray (don’t spray while bees are
around — wait until early evening). Passionfruit
vines may be flowering, but often fruit is
slow to form. Hand-pollinating flowers can
encourage fruit formation. Regularly fertilise
these hungry vines to keep them flowering
and growing strongly. Apply pelletised chook
manure, compost or other organic fertiliser to
flowers and fruit. Prune trees that have fruited,
including mulberry and loquat.
TROPICAL
Watch for aphids, caterpillars and
grasshoppers on flushes of new growth
after rain. Squashing these pests gives
quick control. Grasshoppers are easiest to
catch in the cool of the morning so, where
grasshoppers are a pest, take an earlymorning
garden stroll. Fertilise pawpaw, citrus
and avocado using compost or a fertiliser for
fruiting plants. Plant rosella seeds now. The
plants are attractive and the fruit makes great
jam or a therapeutic herbal tea. Prune fruit
trees after harvest.
Compost & soil
COOL & TEMPERATE
Keep on top of weeds by regularly pulling
them from the soil and replenishing mulches.
Add green weeds that are seed free to the
compost heap along with spent crops such
as peas. To avoid spreading persistent weeds
such as tradescantia, soak them in a bucket
of water for at least a week until they start
to break down. The resulting liquid can be
used as liquid feed while the decomposing
vegetation, which should no longer be able to
regrow, can be added to the compost heap.
Weeds can also be fed to chooks to enrich
their diets. In bushfire-prone areas, replace
organic mulch with pebbles or gravel, or plant
living mulches such as succulents or sterile
agapanthus varieties that can slow the spread
of fires and may reduce spot fires occurring
during a fire storm.
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TROPICAL
Regularly remove weeds and cover bare earth
with organic mulch to deter weedy regrowth
and to protect the soil from heat and heavy
rain. Seed-free weeds and those that don’t
regrow can also be laid back on top of the
soil to decompose. This returns nutrients
to the soil where the weed extracted it. Use
up compost from existing heaps by digging
it into garden soil or by spreading as mulch
over the soil surface. Using up compost also
makes room for more prunings, spent plants
and weeds as summer growth matures. As
you prune and tidy the garden, chop up
woody or long pieces to add to the compost
pile and hasten their breakdown.
78 | Good Organic Gardening