Garden Matters

Summer is upon us and even tho it is cool and damp at the moment, we will have lots of HOT weather to come!!! With this in mind, we need to prepare our garden for the onslaught, mainly for healthy plants and to SAVE WATER!!!! Water is so precious, I was brought up on a farm and our bath warm watered my small flower garden! (The start of my green fingers!) A rainwater tank provided for my Dad's vegie garden, and we had the best vegies and fruit, tho I could never understand how Dad knew I pinched the peas!!! (I should have picked up the shells!!!) Preparing a new garden bed is really important, as healthy plants will do without water much longer. Dig in lots of compost, or if you haven't any, buy some good soil improver/conditioner. Add animal manures, e.g. sheep, horse, cow, etc! My favourite is sheep poo, dug in when I'm planting and I also mulch with it, approx. 5-10cm. This needs to be replaced periodically, as it breaks down and is absorbed into the soil. Also, when planting perennials, shrubs or trees, mix a small amount of water crystals in the bottom of the hole, as this will encourage water retention and moisture at the roots. Water crystals are also great in pots and especially hanging baskets, as these tend to dry out very quickly! Other mulches are available and another of my favourites is pea-straw, tho people complain of peas growing! Simple, just pull them up and drop them back onto the mulch. Horse manure is great too, even tho you get a few weeds. Whatever you have available, PLEASE MULCH!!!! as it is so necessary! Take care when buying commercial ones, spend extra and buy a good quality mix, as a lot of cheap ones have too much bark in them, absorbing the moisture thus stopping it getting down to the roots. I had a friend in Northam, who could not understand why her roses where dying during the hot summer, so we pulled back the mulch and the area around the roots was so dry!!! (The mulch she bought would of been alright on a road verge to supress weeds!!) Water plants deeply twice a week, to encourage roots to go down, as light watering only encourages shallow root systems, which dry out quickly and are easily blown over in strong winds!

VEGIE GARDEN - Hopefully, you have got all your summer vegies in but if not, don't despair, it's not too late!! Plant a few tomatoes, capsicum etc!! I find there are too many melons, cues, etc. in a punnet, so just pop a couple of seeds in, and in this weather, they will be up in a week!! Don't forget, water crystals and mulch!! Also, don't forget to plant HERBS, as these are great in salads. Love basil!!

Christmas is just around the corner, with this being my last newsletter for the year, so take care on the road, have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Erika McManus from Erika's - look for the Red Van at the Market)

Erika's vegies