SURE, it’s been warm and the temptation is to go out in the garden and start bunging in all those summer favourites. But please wait, we know Mother Nature likes to hurt you, and some plants just do better when planted later.
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l Don’t plant your tomatoes. You’ll see them everywhere, tempting you with their soft leaves and small flowers full of promise. Those plants though have been grown somewhere far, far from Orange and once you shovel them into the soil the roots will go cold, the plant will become stunted and when it finally does warm up, it will be leggy and horrible, much like me.
A good guide is to drop your daks and sit on the bare ground. If the roma’s turn into cherry tomatoes, it’s too cold to plant. I like to wait until mid-November at the earliest. Not because that’s when the soil is warm, it’s when the peas are high enough to screen the neighbours.
l Don’t go wasting money. Whenever I see people holding punnets of peas, beans, zucchini, pumpkin or corn in their hands I want to smack them down and admonish them for being silly little duffers, but I don’t because I like to encourage people to garden, and if you must plant punnets, you must be rich.
l Don’t plant shop standards. The green grocer is full of fruit and vegetables that we all know and love, but why plant them in the garden because when everything’s in season, they’re cheap anyway.
Do some research and plant some odd-ball varieties of tomatoes, either heritage or new varieties, plant grey zucchini, small eggplants, crazy lettuce, different varieties of beans, some for eating fresh, some for the dried beans. Experiment, you may just find something really exciting.
l Don’t forget the spuds. Potatoes are delicious. You know they are. Mashed, fried, baked, mashed then fried, they’re just so good and so much better when they still taste of the earth.
Try potato towers if space is an issue or find a corner of the garden and go for the no dig method. Just give them a go and forget about the carbs, you’re in the garden getting exercise, a plate of chips is your reward.
l Don’t forget to share. Home gardening is full of boom and bust cycles. If you’re on good terms with your neighbours, why not share the burden and plant different varieties and swap some produce?
If you’re not on good terms, just watch their patch and when they’re out ... no, don’t do that.
l Don’t forget to experiment. Try something like the three sisters to grow corn, beans and pumpkin together, make your own liquid fertiliser, grow some beans up a makeshift tower made of scrap or try some advanced grafting techniques.
Just have a go because although nature can be cruel, it can also be extremely generous and forgiving.