“Let your soil
keep its clothes on”
Robyn Guyton,
“Nature abhors a
vacuum, just as I abhor the vacuum cleaner”
Lynda
Hallinan
December
in the back yard vegetable garden is an exciting time. Everything you sow or
plant will be enjoying the warm conditions and growing with great vigour. Get
the kids outside helping especially once school has finished for the year –
entice them with self-harvested peas and strawberries. If you got your new
potatoes in early enough you should be starting to harvest them as well – even
if you just reach in and pull enough from the soil to have for Christmas
dinner. Early potatoes can be harvested once the flowers are fully open. Main
crop ones take longer to mature and are harvested once the foliage has died
down. They will store over winter
whereas early salad potatoes will not.
Keep
moisture up to your garden and the weeds down. This is the month when your
weeds can get away on you and compete with your food crops. I hope you enjoyed the quotes
above from a couple of great New Zealand gardeners. Both remind us that bare ground is not the norm in nature so
cover your bare ground in the garden with mulch, companion plants or green
crops. Give the garden a good soak then mulch with whatever you have at hand –
even grass clipping will work.
Planting companion plants or green cover crops in any gaps will prevent
weeds, increase the good insects in your garden and look very pretty as
well. Then if you go away on
holiday you won’t need to worry that you will come back to a shriveled weedy
garden. If you do go away arrange
for someone to pop by once or twice
to soak the ground if needed and pick the crops which of course will be
ready just while you are away!
Jobs for this Month
Sow:
Beans, green leafy vegetables such as lettuces, spinach and winter
brassicas.. Winter root crops such as carrots, parsnips, beetroot, Swedes, turnips (for the southerners)
can go in now. Need well worked
friable soil for the carrots, parsnip and beetroot. They have a tap root that
needs to go straight down into the soil. Avoid fresh animal manure too as that
tends to cause conditions such as club root.
Plant: Cabbage, Cauli, corn, celery, leeks,
lettuces, spinach, courgettes, pumpkins, capsicums, chillies, tomatoes,
(hothouse or in the north) Corn can still go in for warmer gardens.
Stake: Beans and peas. Dwarf beans and peas are
a good idea for those starting out as they don’t require a frame like the
others. They will benefit however from having twiggy sticks poked into the
ground around them for support. This means they can put energy into fruiting
rather than trying to stay upright.
Cultivate: Thin beetroot to 15 cm apart. Mound up
main crop potatoes. Mulch along rows well with straw or whatever you have
available. Liquid manure green and
fruiting crops such as courgettes, tomatoes, corn, pumpkin etc but as it gets closer to harvest hold off on
roots and tubers like garlic, onions and potatoes. They will need to be dry for
harvesting.
Harvest: Garlic – traditionally starts on the
longest day (21st Dec). If you planted it around the shortest day or
earlier it may be ready so if it looks close, stop watering now. Pick peas and beans regularly to keep
them producing. Asparagus: usually finish harvesting around mid-December to
allow spears to grow out and store food for following season. Weed, mulch and
leave to grow.
Eat: Lots of lettuces, herbs, spinach,
potatoes, asparagus, beans, peas,
strawberries and other soft fruits.
Most
of all have a lovely Christmas and hopefully your dinner will include some home
grown produce!
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