The weather is cooling rapidly and the leaves are changing colour. As they fall, they create a carpet under the trees for the kids to play in. More importantly, they cover the weeds so that I can’t see them. The summer winds are dissipating, and cool crisp mornings give way to still sunny days. The winter vegetables are up and thriving.
A sense of calm is finally descending across the property
It’s my favourite time of the year in my garden – mostly because I can afford to take the time to stop and enjoy it. Usually there’s also a bit of downtime in January, when the grass, hedges and weeds suffer a drought-induced dormancy and the summer crops haven’t yet required a frantic flurry of harvesting and preserving. But this year was different. The well-above-average rainfall in late December and January meant that there was no respite. It feels like I’ve been struggling to keep up with the garden and all its tribulations since early spring. So this year more than ever, I’m looking forward to the calm of May and June.
It’s my downtime. I’ll reflect on the season just gone and plan the next summer crops. It also gives me the chance to embrace my creativity. With a clear head I’ll be writing like crazy. I’ll look forward to new creations in the shed – maybe I’ll weld a new sculpture, or finally build that roadside produce stall that I’ve been meaning to get around to. It’s also a chance to sit by the fire and read books. Bliss!
The brakes are on for my fruit fly outbreak
The cool weather is great news for my efforts to curb the Queensland fruit fly outbreak in my orchard. Being from a more sub-tropical climate they hate the cold weather and it hampers their proliferation.
However, I’m still finding plenty of larvae in my fruit. I recently discovered them for the first time in my apples. Until then, I’d only found them in the Beurre Hardy pear and plenty of different nashi varieties. They definitely love nashi pears.
Because they arrived in my orchard quite late in the season, they’ve done relatively little damage to the ripening fruit. However, I’ve still been quite vigilant with my fruit inspections. It’s been a gentle introduction to this much dreaded pest and I’m going to be well prepared with a surveillance trapping program in spring. I’ll also have a full arsenal of control methods to hand for when they return.
I’m quickly learning a lot about Queensland fruit fly and I am looking forward to sharing my experience with you in a future post. It is such a complicated and often overwhelming topic but I’ll do my best to distil it into something inspiring and informative for you.
Late season orchard fruit are where it’s at
The best keeping fruit are the late season varieties. The added bonus is that I reckon they are some of the best tasting as well.
The late apples are delicious – my favourite variety is Fuji. I love the sweet crispness and they are just coming into season.
Do you want to grow a feature tree in your garden that is also edible? You can’t go wrong with a persimmon.
The mature trees have a wonderful shape and look stunning when they lose their leaves but are still covered in the orange fruit hanging from the branch tips.
My three persimmon trees are still quite young and small. But this year I’m getting a taste for what the future might hold, and I’m quite excited.
Of the three trees, two produced some fruit. Hyakumo had just one solitary fruit (delicious), but there are about 20 fruit on my Nightingale persimmon. We’ve only eaten one so far from this tree and unfortunately the kids love them, so I’ll have to share.
For all these reasons and more, persimmons are my favourite type of fruit tree.
Come along to my backyards orchard workshop on June 15 to learn more about growing all sorts of different fruit trees, including persimmons.
Winter abundance not far away
While the summer crops are coming to a screaming halt, the winter crops are just ramping up. The first harvest of broccoli is not very far away.
Harvesting brassicas is a bit of a balancing act. The longer you leave the broccoli or cauliflower head, the bigger it becomes, but only to a point. Once the florets begin to separate and open, then time for picking is running out.
Don’t let the overall size of the head be your guide for picking brassicas. It’s the individual florets you want to pay attention to. Stressed seedlings often result in small flower heads. Planting stressed brassica seedlings is number 6 in my list of top ten gardening mistakes.
Read part 31 of the Vegetable Patch from Scratch series to learn more about harvesting brassicas and all sorts of other vegetables.
I’ve nailed the art of growing cabbages and it’s all thanks to you
I now spend the majority of my working week on writing – writing blogs and guides, writing the monthly newsletter and writing social media posts. There’s also the photography and all the uploading and formatting to be done.
I’m constantly sharing advice and experience to help you to grow more of your own food, more successfully.
You get to learn from my mistakes, share in my highs (first persimmon harvest) and my lows (I’m looking at you, nay, glaring at you, darned Queensland fruit fly) and hopefully glean some titbits of gardening gold.
However, this learning is not just a one-way street. You see, I learn from my readers in the process. And when you share your observations with me, no matter how insignificant they might seem to you, it sometimes enables me to see patterns emerge.
When I ask for advice, or solicit answers to a question, you enthusiastically jump in and share your experience and opinions. I love it.
Sometimes the insights you provide are game changing, like the sweet corn cooking hack that Bart shared earlier in the year.
Another game changer was from a social media post that I wrote about cabbages back in December. The problem was that in my five years of gardening here in Kyneton, I’d never been able to reliably grow a decent crop of cabbages. They tended to bolt early, split or just amount to nothing. I’d pick the occasional winner, but that was a rarity. So I put out the call: What am I doing wrong?
I received plenty of advice on that post. I thought variety selection may have been the issue and you eagerly shared your preferred varieties. But then, out of the blue, on the same post on Instagram came a comment from Sunny Slopes Homestead:
“My advice is much greater spacing. They need a lot of space if you want big heads, heaps! Planting too close together gives smaller heads and stresses their root zone. I start my seed in January.”
This comment was the spark of insight that I needed. Of course! The cabbages are too cramped. They need more room.
So this year, I increased the inter-row and intra-row spacing for the cabbages. They have much more room.
For most vegetables the spacing is not that important, but for cabbages, apparently it is.
Thank you for your eagerness to share in this growing community. I’m truly grateful for all the time and effort that my readers put into supporting this online community we have created together.
Questions and answers
A fortnight ago I sent out my first ever Q and A post (read it here). It proved to be a very popular format so I’ll be making it a monthly feature. Since then, my recent post about my tiny yet overly productive Beurre Bosc pear has inspired some great questions about fruit tree management. Keep the questions coming and I’ll have the next Q and A post ready for you soon. However, before you send through your questions, please review these guidelines to help speed the process up and ensure I can be as helpful as possible with my answer.
Looking to delve deeper into a topic? Good news! I’ve just announced some new workshops for the second half of the year:
Seasonality and Timing (July 20): Each season affects your garden differently. Plan your vegetable crops better for greater success.
Espalier Workshop (Aug 9): Learn how to create these spectacular works of art that are also incredibly productive.
The Art of Compost (Aug 24): Understand the science behind composting and start creating your own “gardening gold” in this perennially favourite class.
Ecological Succession (Sept 21): There are some great solutions to weed problems that don’t involve chemicals. Come and find out all about them and how to plant low- maintenance and productive edible forest gardens.
Irrigation, Rainwater Tanks and Sunlight (Nov 9): Explore how you can design and install your own irrigation system and save thousands.
You can see all my upcoming events and book tickets via my ticketing website.
What to plant in May
As we move towards winter, our planting options start to lessen. For readers in warm-temperate climates, like Melbourne, there's still time to get some late brassicas and garlic planted. It’s important to remember that garlic, onions and leeks take a long time to reach maturity, and are not harvested until well into summer. So, avoid planting them in a space that you’ve earmarked for planting out in spring, or you’ll find your patch becomes double booked!
I have written a very detailed planting guide for autumn. It has plenty of advice on selecting seedlings to plant and how to grow them. Below is a concise guide to some of the things you could consider planting this month.
You can start a herb garden during most months of the year. Try growing the following and save yourself a heap of money you’d otherwise spend on those over-packaged bunches of herbs at the supermarket:
Thyme
Sage
Parsley
Mint
Rosemary
Coriander
Chives
Oregano
Spring onions
Most of the leafy greens will handle the cold weather in the garden at the moment. Growers in cool climates like Central Victoria’s may want to start with large, established seedlings to help overcome cool soil temperatures.
Lettuce
Spinach
Rocket
Endive
Silverbeet
Mustard greens
Celery
Chervil
The following root vegetables can be planted in May:
Radishes
Parsnips
Onions
Garlic
Leeks
Most fruiting plants are grown over the summer. The exceptions are the following which can be planted in May:
Broad beans
Peas
Winter brassica crops
There's still time to get some broccoli and cauliflower planted. I would avoid plants such as Brussels sprouts and cabbage. They won't have time to develop fully before summer arrives, and lengthening days make them bolt (set flower and go to seed).
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Kohlrabi
Kale
If you’re new to edible gardening, I suggest you read my Philosophy of Edible Gardening before starting a project. It might save you a bit of time and frustration by steering you away from preventable crop failures.
The Vegetable Patch from Scratch series is popular with both novice and seasoned gardeners alike. It covers everything you might want to know about growing vegetables.
Good luck and happy gardening!
Duncan