Weekend tips for the garden
BEAT THE WASPS
If your apple trees still have fruit decorating their branches, now’s a good time to harvest it, as wasps are on the ran-tan.
The sweet sugars that develop late in the season are irresistible to these stripey stingers and they are taking advantage of the bounty of unpicked or fallen fruit to build up the strength of their colonies, which is something we don’t want to encourage.
Already this year the newest pest on the scene, the giant willow aphid ( Tuberolachnus salignus), has given the wasps a huge helping hand by creating and depositing a copious supply of honeydew as a result of sucking on the sap of the country’s willows. Many willows have died as a result of these infestations and the wasps have thrived by feasting on this new source of highenergy food.
Perhaps a combination of collecting fruit from the orchard and heavily pruning any willows that are infested with these big grey aphids will help curb the rise and rise of the wasps.
PLANT PEACH PITS
Make a final attempt to find, collect, clean and plant as many peach and nectarine pits as you think you and your friends can handle. Fallen soft-fruit, wrinkled and mushy, are the perfect vehicle for the pits that contain the germ of the parent trees and you can create an orchard with just this simple act.
Pits from your favourite peach will grow into trees that produce your favourite peach, or at least something satisfyingly similar.
Apples, being pipfruit, don’t behave in the same way and throw up usually inferior versions of their mixed parentage, so don’t bother trying to grow a splendour apple from a splendour pip – it’s going to be a much less splendid experience for you.
Peaches and their nectarine cousins, on the other hand, keep close to the qualities of their sires and are tremendously easy to sprout and grow. I sow mine as I come across them, either by eating the sweet flesh that surround them or by peeling away the dried or squishy flesh from those I find lying under trees I spot while travelling.
As soon as they emerge, I’ll pot them up into mid-sized containers and begin to feed them at regular intervals in order to get them to a size where they can be planted out in autumn in the spots they will grow to maturity.
So successful was my nectarinegrowing last spring, that I’ve filled my whole garden with young trees and know that I’ll have to do plenty of thinning as the trees get larger. That’s no problem though and it will give me a chance to select the most healthy and those with the best form.
MORE SILVERBEET
Silverbeet is an easy-to-grow green that pretty much looks after itself. Plant in a warm spot into fertile (but not waterlogged) soil. Sprinkle a dash of lime to encourage healthy growth. ‘Ford Hook Giant’ from Kings Seeds has crinkly leaves with white veins and broad white stems and is one of my favourites as it doesn’t get reduced to mush when cooked.
Space seedlings well apart to leave room for them to spread out. Silverbeet grows well in pots too; just don’t crowd them in too closely or you’ll be forever watering them! When harvesting, simply twist single stems, and turn downward until they snap off. Information courtesy of
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