Vege patch to-do list
Robert Guyton’s guide to planting and sowing in harmony with the lunar cycle.
This month’s moon calendar, and edible crops to sow and tend now.
Heading away for the festive season?
Then as soon as you can, get seedlings still in trays in to their permanent homes – be it in a pot or in the ground – so they have a chance to get established and survive your absence later in the month. Transplant at dusk or on a misty and overcast day, and rig up a shelter for newly planted seedlings with shade cloth, newspaper or cardboard to protect them from the hot sun over their first few days. Stake and tie tall and top-heavy tomatoes, eggplants and capsicums using something flexible like stretchy cotton or old stockings (wire or plastic twine tends to cut into the stem and doesn’t flex in the wind). Stake or tie up tall flowers, such as delphiniums and gladioli, too. Ideally get and stay on top of weeds this month, but if you don’t have the time to weed properly I don’t judge! But just snipping off seedheads will help stop them colonising your whole garden while you are away. Water deeply and often this month, and if you get a good fall of rain then lay a mulch of compost, bagged mulch, leaf mould, pea straw or aged manure to trap that moisture in the soil (if it doesn’t rain, lay mulch after you irrigate). Then finally if you can’t ask a neighbour to water (or even if you can!), then ask Santa for a timer and a sprinkler or soaker hose to keep things alive while you are away.
Plants in pots dry out extremely fast.
It takes as little as a day in full sun for the soil in a pot to become bone dry. Small pots and black pots (which heat up more quickly) are particularly vulnerable. Many potting mixes can become hydrophobic – or actually start to repel water – if they dry out completely. So even if you are home for the holidays move outdoor plants in pots into partial shade, water deeply, mulch heavily and sit pots in saucers to act as water reservoirs.
Sow prolific crops successively.
Beans and courgettes produce in such abundance that the plants you put in a couple of months ago can exhaust themselves fairly early in the new year. Sow another round of both now so you have new plants coming on as you pull the old tired ones out. You can also sow basil, beetroot, cucumbers, carrots, lettuce and other salad greens, radishes (give them semi-shade, as they are prone to bolting if under heat stress) silverbeet, spinach and sweetcorn. And if it’s possible to even think about winter crops this side of Christmas, you can plant seedlings of cabbages, cauliflower and broccoli (and brussels sprouts too down South), but protect them from white cabbage butterfly with a physical barrier such as a net or chicken wire.