In between baskets of harvest, take a moment to think to the future.
We’ve really enjoyed the five days of summer we did get this season. It’s been a tricky season, bringing late fruiting, delayed harvests, and more than a little frustration for gardeners.
Veggie patch
Are your vegetables and fruit ready for harvest? If most of your tomatoes are still green, keep a close eye on them and watch for signs of blossom-end rot and bird damage. Gaggles of blackbirds and the loud screeching of cockatoos are often a good sign that fruit is coming on and close to ripening.
Pumpkins and squash are developing well, and with the recent bout of wet-ish weather we’ve had, it’s a good idea to start placing protection beneath the fruit to prevent rot. Planks of plywood, bricks, rocks, or old pavers can all be used to support and protect burgeoning pumpkins.
While it may be hard to picture a cold winter’s day, harvesting essential vegetables in June and July begins with planting in late summer and early autumn. When planting out in mid- to late February, choose warming vegetables you’ll reach for in the cooler months, such as spinach, carrots, cauliflower, cabbage, and leeks.
Stone fruit and berry harvests are at their peak. Peaches, plums, nectarines, and berries such as blueberries and raspberries should be picked when fully ripe. Regular harvesting encourages continued production, while leaving fruit on the plant too long can attract birds and insects or lead to rot in the summer heat.
Wild blackberries are slowly coming on. If you choose to forage, contact your local council to confirm the area you’re harvesting from hasn’t been sprayed with harmful chemicals.
General maintenance
Take a walk around the garden and look for empty spaces that could use a pop of colour. Even if some plants are showing the strain of late summer, there’s still plenty to enjoy. Each open spot is an opportunity to check the soil and prepare for the next wave of autumn planting. Think sweet peas, pansies, violas, snapdragons, cyclamen, nerines, and autumn crocus.
February is also a great month to start planning for spring-flowering bulbs. While bulbs are typically planted in autumn (March–May), now is the time to prepare garden beds with plenty of organic matter, such as compost and well-rotted manure, and to design a continuous display of flowers that will last the season.
Fruit trees that have finished flowering and fruiting can be lightly pruned now to remove dead or crowded branches. Cherries and apricots benefit from a late-summer prune, while apples and pears are best pruned during winter dormancy.
Deterring grazing wildlife
“Skippy-proof” plants are only truly reliable once fully established (typically three years from planting) and when there’s plenty of natural food in the bush. While we recommend planting shrubs and flowers that deter wildlife, wallabies and pademelons will often happily munch on lavender. Different mobs have different tastes, so a skippy-proof plant in one area may not work in another. The most reliable way to protect your plants is with exclusion fencing or netting. Using rabbit wire, with the addition of rabbit netting buried up to 150mm into the ground, has been shown to be an effective control against rabbits, wallabies and possums.
Pests
Cabbage moth, cabbage white butterflies, whitefly, pear and cherry slugs, aphids, and scale are some of the cheeky pests that are rampant this time of year. We’ve also been getting a lot more calls this season for advice on getting rid of earwigs. For strategies on eradicating garden pests, check out our article on integrated pest management.
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What to plant now |
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Sow direct |
Broccoli, burdock, carrot, cauliflower, chard, choy sum, coriander, daikon, dill, endive, fennel, garlic chives, kai lan, kang kong, kale, kohlrabi, oregano, pak choy, radish, rocket, salsify, shallots, silverbeet, spinach, spring onion, swede, turnip, wombok cabbage |
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Plant |
Beetroot, cabbage, cauliflower, chives, garlic chives, kale, lettuce, mustard greens, parsley, oregano, rosemary, sage, thyme, wombok cabbage |
