PRODUCE GARDENHINTS AND TIPS FOR SUMMER IN YOUR

Here are some commonly grown vegies that will enjoy the warmer weather.

TOMATOES

Soil Preparation

Compost or cow manure or mushroom compost; add also pelletised animal manure concentrate; garden lime if the soil has not been limed in the past 2 years, or gypsum if it has. (2 weeks between fertiliser addition and lime). Rock dust addition is also beneficial.

Seed/Seedling

Sow SEEDS in punnets or Jiffy Pellets in August or September and keep them warm to aid germination. Transplant seedlings into pots after germination and take care of until planting in the prepared soil or large pots in mid-late October or early November. The soil must be warm before planting. Add a pinch of potash to each plant and water in well. Hammer in stakes or supports at planting time. Avoid excessive fertilising with nitrogen, such as blood and bone.

Other notes

■ Green tomatoes need warmth to develop into ripe red fruits. Hot direct sunlight may scald the tomatoes, developing into sunburnt patches, so avoid excessive pruning of leaves.

■ Blossom end rot occurs with uneven watering so never let the soil dry out around the tomatoes. Adding lime (or calcium) to the soil will help with the water uptake by the plants.

■ Potash will strengthen the plants, making them more disease-resistant and promoting flowering. Add a teaspoon per plant and water it in well, every 6 weeks.

■ For best results, tomatoes need 6-8 direct hours of sunshine.

BASIL

Soil Preparation

Compost or cow manure or mushroom compost; add also blood and bone.

Seed/Seedling

Sow SEEDS in clumps in biodegradable pots in October or November and provide heat for germination. Transplant into the ground when they have several leaves and protect them from slugs, snails and earwigs. Keep them covered if the night time temperatures are still cold.

Other notes

■ Promote leafy growth by applying blood’n’bone or other organic-based liquid fertiliser fortnightly. ■ Pinch out leggy growth to a set of leaves below to encourage more leaves. ■ Pinch out any flowering tips as they occur, to prolong the life of the basil.

HUME CITY COUNCIL

ZUCCHINI, PUMPKINS, CUCUMBERS

Soil Preparation

Compost or cow manure or mushroom compost; add also pelletised animal manure concentrate; garden lime if the soil has not been limed in the past 2 years. (2 weeks between fertiliser addition and lime). Rock dust addition is also beneficial.

Seed/Seedling

Direct sow SEEDS in October to December in mounds, spaced at least 50-100cm apart. Or sow into biodegradable newspaper pots in October/November and transplant into the ground when they have 2 sets of true leaves. Add a pinch of potash to each plant and water in well. Liquid feed regularly though avoid excessive fertilising with nitrogen.

Other notes

■ Are you getting flowers but no fruit development? You need to encourage bees to your patch or do the fertilising yourself. Learn to recognise which is the female of the flowers and which is the male.

■ Train the pumpkin and cucumbers to grow vertically to save space and help against powdery mildew. You will need to support the developing pumpkins if they are growing vertically, eg using some pantyhose as a “hammock” tied to your support.

■ Pumpkins tend to get out of control and grow like crazy, so cut off the long trailing stem to force side growth and more flowers.

■ Don’t let zucchini grow to enormous sizes! The fruit will grow quickly even before your very eyes, so pick when you see them ready.

■ Cucumbers need lots of water in order to remain sweet, so don’t skimp on water.

EGGPLANTS, CAPSICUM, CHILLI

Soil Preparation

Compost &/or cow manure or mushroom compost; add also pelletised animal manure concentrate; garden lime if the soil has not been limed in the past 2 years, or gypsum if it has. (2 weeks between fertiliser addition and lime). Rock dust is also beneficial.

Seed/Seedling

Sow SEEDS in September to October and keep warm to aid germination. Transplant into pots and take care of in a sheltered and warm outdoor space until planting the advanced SEEDLING in the prepared soil or large pot late November or early December. Add a pinch of potash to each plant and water in well. Hammer in stakes or supports at planting time for eggplants. Avoid excessive fertilising with nitrogen.

Other notes

■ Be patient! These will be the last of the summer vegies to develop as they need consistently warmer temperatures and a longer growing period.

■ Eggplant varieties that are easiest to grow and crop better are the long thin ones, sometimes known as Lebanese eggplants.

■ Don’t let the eggplants get stressed by lack of nutrients or water as they will go straight to seed, which is characterised by yellow skins on the fruit (and very bitter fruit).

CARROTS

Soil Preparation

Add compost to soil and loosen the soil to at least a garden fork depth. Remove any stones. Do not fertilise the soil.

Seed/Seedling

Sow SEEDS direct in the garden bed from late September to March. Sow into moist soil and don’t allow to dry out until germinated or the seed will die. Also, don’t cover the seeds with too much soil (only to 2-3mm deep).

Other notes

■ If you have shallow, clay-based soils, use carrots, such as the Chantenay varieties, or the Roly-Poly round carrots, which do not need deep soils to develop well.

■ Fertilised soils will encourage top green growth and only small carrots, so no on-going fertilising is necessary. ■ Misshapen carrots occur if the roots are damaged at any stage; or if there are stones in the soil, forcing the root to

grow sideways; or if the soil is too fertile. Still edible though!

BEANS

Soil Preparation

Compost &/or cow manure: 2 buckets per square metre. Add garden lime if the soil has not been limed in the past 2 years. (2 weeks between fertiliser addition and lime).

Seed/Seedling

Sow seeds direct in the soil anytime from late September to December. Make sure the soil is moist before but do not water again until you see the young seedlings emerging. Hammer in supports for climbing beans at planting time. Avoid excessive fertilising with nitrogen.

Other notes

■ Keep picking! The more you pick, the more the plants will need to produce in order to set seed, so force them to keep flowering by not allowing the seeds within the pods to develop.

■ Plant both climbing and dwarf beans at the same time (but in separate spots). They will crop at different times. Or plant one set of dwarf beans and then another once the first lot have started to flower. You can do this as late as January.

■ Runner beans (such as Scarlet Runner) do best in areas with cooler summers. Flowers fail to set pods if the temperature is consistently too high.

SWEETCORN

Soil Preparation

Spread a 50mm layer of well-rotted sheep or cow manure. Add two handfuls of pelletised organic fertiliser per square metre. Water deeply and leave to settle for a few days before sowing seed.

Seed/Seedling

Sow SEEDS direct from late September to January. Make sure the soil is moist before but do not water again until you see the young seedlings emerging. Once seedlings are 20cm tall, apply a light feeding mulch (straw-based), laced with sheep manure and blood and bone. Increase watering and apply a weak organic liquid feed weekly. Can also plant from seedling.

Other notes

■ Keep water up to it to help the developing corn. Knowing when to pick the cobs is the most difficult part of growing this deliciously sweet crop. Before picking, peel back the tops of the sheath and see how coloured the kernels are. Pierce a kernel and see if the juice runs milky. If so, the cob should be ready to eat.

■ Mice like to eat the corn before it germinates so use empty toilet rolls to germinate it away you’re your garden beds before planting in the ground.

■ Plant in blocks rather than rows to aid pollination of the tassels to the silks.

BEETROOT

Soil Preparation

Add compost to soil and loosen the soil to at least a garden fork depth. Do not fertilise the soil.

Seed/Seedling

Sow SEEDS direct in the garden bed from late September to March. Each seed casing contains 2-3 seeds so separate the seedlings carefully or thin them out after they germinate.

Other notes

■ Soak seeds overnight before planting to help water to penetrate the corky exterior. ■ Fertilised soils will encourage top green growth and only tiny beetroots, so no on-going fertilising is necessary.

Sometimes boron is needed if the beetroots fail to develop at all.

POTATOES

Soil Preparation

Spread liberal amounts of compost and manure into the soil. Dig a trench 10-20cm deep and 30cm wide. Line trench with pelletised organic fertiliser and then cover with some soil.

Seed/Seedling

Sow direct from late July to November using certified seed potatoes. Encourage the potatoes to sprout before planting by exposing them to light. Lay the potatoes, shoots up, 30cm apart. Cover with 10cm of soil and water with liquid seaweed. As shoots emerge, cover with soil from either side of the trench. Repeat several times during the first 4-6 weeks of growth.

Other notes

■ Keep water up for adequate tuber formation. ■ Potato plants are frost sensitive, so cover your plants with newspaper on nights when frosts are expected. ■ Wait for flowering and then the die back of the plants before harvesting. After flowering you can “bandicoot” under

the surface and lift new potatoes to eat immediately. Leave others underground longer to harden their skins for long keeping.

■ Store in a darkened place to stop your harvest re-sprouting. Check periodically and if they are sprouting, break them off to help the potatoes keep longer.

■ (See http://www.mygreengarden.com.au/chooks/towering-spuds/ for instructions on growing spuds vertically)

LETTUCES

Soil Preparation

Compost or cow manure or mushroom compost; add also blood and bone.

Seed/Seedling

Sow SEEDS direct in the garden bed from September to May. Or sow in punnets and transplant once the seedlings have 2 true leaves.

Other notes

■ The easiest lettuces to grow are the leafy varieties, such as cos, buttercrunch, looseleaf and frilly types. With these you can harvest leaf by leaf and they will continue to grow, as long as you leave the centre intact. The icebergs are more difficult and need to be harvested all at once.

■ Any stress at all leaves the lettuces very unhappy and will punish you by going all bitter on you. Once this has happened, you cannot retrieve the lettuce so take it out and start again. Stress occurs if they are allowed to dry out at all, or if it is too hot or too cold.

■ Keep them growing fast for best sweetness by regular liquid feeds with organic fertilisers, such as homemade worm tea. Make sure you wash the lettuces well before consuming.

■ Keep them shaded in hot weather, or grow them in morning sun only. ■ Keep an ongoing supply by having several punnets germinating while you have some growing in the ground. Lettuce

seed packets are very generous and much more economical than buying punnet after punnet. ■ Being shallow-rooted, they are ideal for shallow container growing in a rich potting mix, but don’t let them dry out!

Prepared by Maria Ciavarella from My Green Garden for Hume City Council’s Live Green program. Visit mygreengarden.com.au and hume.vic.gov.au/livegreen or call 9205 2200