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

GARDEN CALENDAR | Early summer
Things to do in
December
The longer, warmer days of summer mean strong growth, flowers and
lots of ripening crops. It’s also time to think about shade and watering
By Jennifer Stackhouse
Vegetables
COOL & TEMPERATE
Develop the habit of inspecting the vegie
garden once or twice a day through summer.
Look for pests and weeds that need control
and crops that are ready to harvest. Take the
hose or watering can to give plants a drink. If
a hot day is forecast, water plants early in the
morning and, if it’s going to get really hot, cover
new plants and leafy crops with some sort of
shade as protection against the heat. Move
containers into a sheltered position. Young and
leaf crops become stressed in the heat and
fruit and leaves are at a high risk of burning.
A piece of shadecloth spread over plants can
help crops survive a hot day without loss.
Remove the cover at night. New plantings now
keep harvests coming through summer. Dwarf
beans give a quick crop and are easy to sow
and grow. Also sow seeds or plant seedlings of
tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants and beetroot
now to extend the harvest through summer.
TROPICAL
Make the most of warm, wet conditions by
growing edible and productive climbers
such as cucumber, snake beans and Ceylon
spinach. Train these climbing crops over
a support such as a tripod so they shade
heat-sensitive and leafy crops such as lettuce.
Also plant cassava, taro and melons, which
can cover the soil and help keep it cool. Pick
vegies, especially cucumbers and zucchinis,
while they are small as they quickly become
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over-mature. Feed oversized cucumbers and
zucchinis to the chooks. Cherry tomatoes
have better heat and pest tolerance than
large-fruited varieties so are more suitable for
growing through summer.
Fruit trees
COOL & TEMPERATE
Thin apples while they are small so individual
fruit are bigger and ripen more evenly, even
if the crop is reduced. Simply remove several
small apples in each cluster to give the others
room to grow. Water citrus and keep the
ground around trees weed free. Check citrus
trees for stink bugs. Squash those clustering
on the trunk or remove bugs from foliage or
branches using long-handled tongs. Wear
sunglasses to protect your eyes from the
liquid they squirt when they are disturbed.
The bugs also drop down from the branch
when they are disturbed. Catch and drown
bugs in a bucket of soapy water to prevent
them returning to the tree (mature adults
have wings and can fly to other trees).
TROPICAL
Fertilise passionfruit and keep vines well
watered to encourage lots of flowers and
abundant crops. Apply water and fertiliser
along the root system, allowing it to soak
in thoroughly. Also, fertilise banana and
avocado trees. Summer brings a wealth of
fruit to harvest, including mango, pineapple
and pawpaw. Boxes of home-grown fruit and
vegetables make welcome gifts for those
without gardens, or turn excess produce
into jams or chutneys. To protect fruit from
birds, bats and other fruit-lovers, use birdsafe
knitted netting or shadecloth. Check the
netting frequently to release any captured
animals or birds. Prune trees to reduce their
height as this makes it easier to cover them
with protective netting.
Compost & soil
COOL & TEMPERATE
Use homemade compost or aged manure as
mulch to feed the soil and plants and watch
your whole garden take on a new lease of life.
Move worm farms into a cool location during
summer. On hot days, cover the worm home
with a damp sack to keep its inhabitants cool.
If it continues to be hot and dry, the compost
heap may need added moisture to keep it
composting. Decomposition slows when the
heap begins to dry out. If the heap looks dry,
damp it down with a spray of water from the
hose. Layers of grass clippings and green
weeds spread over the heap help increase
temperatures for hotter and faster composting.
TROPICAL
Heavy rains and storms leach nutrients
from the soil. Combat this by keeping soils
mulched or covered with a leafy crop such as
sweet potato. Apply slow-release fertiliser and
compost around productive plants to replace
lost nutrients. Where weeds are thriving,
keep them mown or hoed. Hand-pulled
green weeds can be added to the compost
or soaked in water to make a weed tea, which
can be used as a liquid feed for potted plants.
Add the residue to the compost heap. Edible
weeds can also be fed to the chooks.
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