The wind began to whirl, but it was delicious, it was warm. It carried flower petals, dandelion seeds and the promise of rain.
Spring has come, there is no time to catch your breath, the gardening marathon begins.
Like bright, juicy drops of rain raspberries start to slowly ripen, then in a matter of days become a deluge of fruit. Strawberries too are ripening and all at once everything that was quietly growing over the cool months bursts into flower, even those things you’d rather not like broccoli, coriander and celery, but the chickens are please for these sweet offerings.
We’re getting our first hot days, climbing towards 30 degrees and with the first appearances of the predator insects we know we are safe at least for a few months until the more annoying flies and mosquitoes start plaguing us.
It’s our last chance to get the garden bed ready before the tomatoes get planted out in High Summer. Mulching, weeding, pruning and after that planting out some companions to lend some shelter when it starts to get really hot.
weeding
If vegetable seeds are slow to germinate, so are the weed seeds. If you didn’t do it last month this is a great time to pull out those pesky grasses and nutrient hungry fiends and mulch heavily to prevent them from springing up again. Soon with added sunlight and water they can get out of control.
Some “weeds” I leave, like dandelions which are edible and are a good companion for tomatoes as they exude a little something that helps the fruit ripen. Clover is a nitrogen fixer, absorbing nitrogen from the air and putting it back into the soil. There is no use pulling out something that is useful and leaving bare soil for something nastier to take root, better to leave it until you have a seedling in hand to replace it with.
pruning
The herb border around my garden bed has really sprung into life this season. Mint has sent out runners like a web through the garden bed and the Feverfew has grown enormous. True Spring is a great time to take cuttings and divide up your herb border, keeping it under control and if you can’t use those new plants there will be enough time for them to get over the trauma to be gifted at Christmas.
pest control
Everything is sending out juicy, sweet shoots that snails can’t resist. It’s not hot enough for them to retreat and all it takes is a storm for them to pop up under every leaf. They must be controlled before you plant out your seedlings. A week of beer traps and night time torch hunts with your work boots on will; keep them in check.
A strong smelling herb border with spiky leaves will mean less placed for them to hide during the day, these include Winter Savory and Thyme. I have learnt to my horror that edible violas are about the worst thing to grow on your garden edge, the tender, multitudes of leaves and flowers beautifully cascading over the edges the perfect snail mansion and nursery. I am trimming and pulling these out straight away!
mulching
The weather is still quite variable hot and dry one day, freezing and rainy the next, a good thick layer of mulch around the base of all your plants will help keep a balance of warm and damp to prevent your plants going into shock.
Remember snails like to hide in mulch so keep it fine and check each night for the slimey sneaks. More about mulching in my next post!
These two months are when you should really try and sow EVERYTHING you want to occupy you garden until Spring comes again next year, even things like silverbeet that you can plant later can be planted now and kept going all year with dedicated picking, watering and mulching.
This is the time to get the seedlings well established as High Summer will
knock tiny plants to the ground with its sizzling sun and bruising winds.
By Christmas there should be no bare earth in your garden beds, your plants crowded with little soldiers selflessly shading their neighbour and being shaded in return.
Afterall this is not meek and mild Europe where things can flutter in gentle summer breezes, spaced out rows, kissed by fairies and the like. In Australia, if snails don’t go down the line chomping up your progeny then our unfiltered, ozone depleted rays of suns will finish off the job. Plus won’t it be so much more relaxing knowing that your garden can be left for a week or two over Christmas, planting finished and resilient enough to take a few 40C days. (Hopefully you have a nice neighbour check in every 10 days or so)
planning
It’s hard to not be overwhelmed after a long winter of lethargy. I like to organise the seeds I’m going to plant for the season into glass jars with seed tags made out of plastic milk bottles. Clear plastic is hard to read and cardboard crumples with water, so I’ve found milk bottles best. The glass jars make it easy to see the seed labels and keep them dry if left outside on the propagation table.
I use to be precious with my seeds, sowing only a few at a time, but with a shoebox full of expiring packets, I’ve learnt is far easy to sow an entire packet at a time and save the fresh seeds for the next year.
