Mid Winter Musings
It’s usually around mid winter that folks start to make plans to move north, but they would miss the blossoms of spring, and spring is not that far away. Infact we might be set for an early spring, what is your microclimate telling you?
Conditions
It’s been an interesting Winter thus far. The lack of sun in June really slowed the grow of late planted veggies and stressed solar systems around the district. Regardless, I was still planting into June, as I always do.
There has been no dam freezing yet, it takes a long -9C to achieve this. So far this year -4C is the lowest experienced in my garden. The June frosts were long, lasting 12 hours, but the July frosts have only happened for a few hours before sunlight. Historical records show low temps but not for how long it lasted. Pay attention and take note about what is happening in your Microclimate, it is the key to your gardening success. It’ll pay dividends every season.
Garden beds
I’ve been doing some experiments with my garden bed preparation. I’ve mentioned my No Weed Veggie Bed that I’ve been growing in for a very long time with great success. As an act of convenience I prepped some beds without my usual treatment. I used straight compost instead, topped with sugarcane mulch.
These beds are lacking in nutrient at the end of their 2nd year compared to my usual preparations. Beetroot and Carrot is struggling to get a grow on. Onions are faring better, and Parsnips doing ok. I usually get good growth from my roots at the end of the second year, but this season I’m disappointed. This experiment shows me there is no substitute for manure based compost. I will return to refreshing garden beds with my full treatment.
In the Garden
Spinach
Spinach has been a top performer this winter. Delivering leafy greens in 5 weeks. The Spinach and Lettuce in the photo was planted into a brand new bed at the start of June. This is a demonstration to show that planting into June can be successful in our Unpredictable Highland Climate. The spinach has been heavily picked, lettuce less so.
Brassicas
I planted out Cauliflower in succession every 2 weeks from mid May. I would have started in Feb/March if my Summer garden wasn’t still thriving. I’ll have more space next year so I should be able to avoid this space mistake and start planting earlier. I could be eating Caulis now, 90 days after planting.
Sprouting Broccoli was planted at the start of June and is growing on. I have Sprouting Broccoli in another part of the garden that is providing heads to eat. It has been stumped for 2 years and is still providing. Don’t remove your brassicas, stump them, and harvest again.
Storing Onions
My chosen red variety usually take around 200 days to produce a full bulb. They are edible after around 90 days albeit with a reduced bulb. I planted these back in early spring with my tomatoes, 290 days ago. They have provided plenty of effortless tucker.
I like to store my onions in the garden and harvest when I need one. Conventional thinking would have them all harvested at once, but a bulk harvest requires space, and the right conditions to store them successfully, so I leave them in the ground.
The onions remaining in the garden started to divide in late autumn/early winter. So far it looks like there may be 5-7 new onions where there was one left in the ground. I love to lose an onion or two in the garden.
Celery
If you can keep the water up to it, Celery is fantastic in winter. Plenty of sugars to beat the cold and no chlorophyll flavour from excess sun exposure, make for the tastiest celery you will ever eat. A stick a day will keep the doctor away, and there is plenty for soup and stock.
Sunshine
The difference between a dismal winter and a great one is down to the hours of actual sunshine. Sunshine makes the plants grow. It warms the earth, and it warms the human who stands in it. It’s one of the reasons I love living in the foothills of The Great Dividing Range.
Sunsets over Mt Palerang are spectacular in winter and have kept me amazed since my first winter here. Sunsets glowing colours through cloud masses that appear to form above the mountain. I miss them a lot.
In recent years the sunsets are not as reliably spectacular. No longer worth the walk to the top of the hill to witness in its panoramic glory. Some days, a lacklustre vision is offered through the haze instead. A haze that forms most afternoons. It really takes the punch out of the setting sun, but most days sunsets are not really visible.
The lack of sun in June really stunted early growth, but July sun has provided great growth. Even the Lucerne is growing in the middle of the gardens. Let us see what August brings. Wind. That’s what August will bring.
Soil temps in my garden are currently 9C for older beds and 10C for fresh beds measured at 10am. Warm feet enable growth in winter vegetables and keeps them ready to take advantage of any sunshine that reaches them. What is your soil temp?
Stay Awesome
The Gordon Gnohm