That’s a wrap folks! Summer has departed

Now for the autumn that has had a few lovely summery moments, way better than our imaginary summer. Yes, I am moaning and I do feel ripped off.

Despite the summer crazies, it’s been a great year for apples, pears and peaches, plus a few plums. My apricots struggled again with the late frost snowfall we received. Everything has had a two-week ripening lag and I have some late peaches that are still ripening. Another week of good weather will get them over the line I’m hoping.

It sounds like folks have had a mixed summer growing season. Many tomatoes did well early in the season then turned all spindly in the second half. This was definitely not the season for outside heat loving crops. Think tomatoes, pumpkins, corn, zucchini. These crops have thrived in the Mediterranean microclimate that a tunnel or glass house gives us. These crops have generally been flops outside. That is unless you’ve planted them in a backyard with a mediterranean-like microclimate. Features like schist walls or large boulders heat up an outside garden space, and we need protection from those cooling southerly winds we’ve had heaps of.

Autumn can take a turn to the super cold any time.

So, this is your last chance Charlie moment to get some leafy greens in the garden. Any tunnel house/glass houses, I have just ripped out the tomatoes etc giving the bed a schiff of compost and I’m getting those seedlings in as you read this. It’s probably too late to direct sow seed; I would be planting seedlings only at this stage. If you have plants with green tomatoes still on, still pull them out, leaving the tomatoes on the vine and store in a sunny warm place. The green tomatoes will ripen on the vine over time.

Crops I’m planting right now wishing I’d planted them a few weeks ago are… cos lettuce, spring onions, mizuna, spinach, perpetual spinach and kales. I think I will flip a coin and sow radishes and Daikon radishes from seed either in a tunnel/glass house or in a cold frame or under frost cloth outside.

Everything I’m planting or sowing’s success will depend on the weather over the next weeks and how quickly we flip into a winter cycle. Anything that struggles to get going will come away late winter and start feeding you early spring when the veggie garden is often at its least productive. You can mimic a tunnel/glass house with a plastic cover over some hoops. Or take a look at a traditional ‘cold frame’ design that you could build with an old window frame. A great system for growing winter greens.

Top jobs this month:

1. As a bed becomes free and isn’t destined for anything, sow a green manure. If you follow me you’ll know I’m a big fan of broad beans for their amazing nitrogen fixing abilities. Sow more than you think. One way is to prep the bed, place all the broad bean seeds down on the soil and cover with 2-5cm of compost. Firm down. Don’t forget the bird net. Or you can use frost cloth. Anything really that keeps the birds at bay. Grow them all winter long.
2. Look at getting your garlic planted early this year. Large cloves give you large bulbs. I like to be super generous when planting garlic cloves. Presoak in seaweed for 24 hours and chuck one to two handfuls of quality compost or vermicast in each hole. They will thank you. Mulch well and cover with some netting to stop those birds.
3. Get ready to make some easy compost. An abundance of leaves mixed with some manure. It doesn’t get any easier. Fill up a bay alternating 20cm layers of leaves with five centimetre layers of manure. The leaves will really compact down. So don’t be surprised how much you will use. Add some water as you go. You can even chuck a bokashi bucket load in the middle of the pile. In six months you will have an amazing compost to use. I would do this in a wooden pallet compost bay or a black compost bin. Fill up to the very top.
4. Mineralise all your beds with a quality rock mineral product and lime. Remember you’re a miner. The soil needs some help replenishing its supplies. Adding minerals and lime to your veggie beds is a must do once a year. Applying compost in the autumn is a winner too. I like to do both at the same time.
5. Not composting yet, turn all your kitchen scraps into a top fertiliser for the garden using the bokashi buckets. Get along to your local council office on Gorge road. Special price just for you. This system will turn you into a rock star gardener.
6. Spend a week watering your compost heap every day. Its been a dryish six weeks and compost piles are bone dry. There’s no compositing happening without moisture. Then grab some old black plastic and put a cover on it to keep the moisture in.

Happy gardening and composting!