When summer crops up
The Age
Saturday November 21, 2009
A few measures can help your vegie patch thrive in the heat, writes David Adams. SUMMER has come early, with record-breaking temperatures for this time of the year. While your vegetable garden may already be showing signs of stress, it's not too late to take some action to help deliver a bumper crop.Experts say the key to a flourishing vegetable garden is good soil and year-round soil care. Talei Kenyon of the Digger's Club, a mail-order nursery, garden club and heirloom plant specialist, says that while people should already have mulched to keep the direct sun away from the soil and to stop it turning to dust, it's not too late to do so now."If your soil is poor now and you haven't done anything, I'd be running out and buying some sort of organic compost; you can buy mixtures of mushroom compost or lucerne hay with manure through it," she says. "I'd be digging that into the soil and working it through. And ... I'd be wetting the soil, mulching over the top and then praying for some rain."Even if you're content not to grow any vegetables during summer, leaving the vegie patch untouched is not a good option. "If you just let the soil sit there now for the whole of the summer ahead, it's really going to degrade very quickly, so you should now attempt to work on it and build some structure back into it," Ms Kenyon says.Provided you're taking measures to ensure the soil is prepared, experts say it's not too late to plant some summer vegetables, which can include anything from tomatoes to beetroots, capsicums to carrots.The principal of Kitchen Farmer, Simon Gilfillan, whose business creates custom-designed vegetable gardens starting from about $1200, says even though vegetables can be planted year-round, keep an eye on the weather when doing so."A classic is rocket; you can plant rocket pretty much all the way through summer," he says. "But I've had a few cases where rocket has been planted and it's got four or five hot days and it's gone straight to seed. So you do need to be careful."This means not only keeping an eye on the weekly forecast €” and looking for cooler days €” but also choosing the right time of day to plant."Don't plant your vegetables at four o'clock in the afternoon, when it's the hottest point," Mr Gilfillan notes. "You need to wait until there's a cooler period. It gives the vegies a fighting chance."All vegetables, particularly those above the ground, such as tomatoes, capsicums and eggplants, will need regular watering through summer. Some root vegetables €” such as potatoes and carrots €” may require less watering if covered well with mulch.Providing the vegetables €” particularly leafy varieties such as lettuces €” with some shade may also help."Vegetables love sunlight but you need to compromise in the summer months," Mr Gilfillan says. "It's good if you can get an area to plant your vegetables where maybe in the later afternoon some shade falls and gives them a bit of protection."Planting under or near a fruit tree may be an option. Another is to put shadecloth over the patch late in the day.Pots are a good option if you don't have a lot of space or don't want to tend a large patch over summer. But you must be diligent about watering plants in pots and they will require extra feeding."Tomatoes are hungry plants €” think how rapidly they grow and the beautiful, luscious fruit they produce €” so they will require nutrients from the soil," Ms Kenyon says.–diggers.com.au–kitchenfarmer.com.au
© 2009 The Age
