Like all keen gardeners we want to get off to an early start for the new season and with the day light hours increasing daily we can see the plants in our gardens starting to respond and grow after being nearly dormant during the winter.
In fact a couple of weeks ago I planted some silverbeet seedlings in a small raised garden that gets a good amount of direct sunlight most of the day.
They have recently shown nice new growth and doubled their size so that is encouraging.
The worst problem at this time is soil temperatures and that factor also reduces growth and creates a problem to germinate seeds in open ground.
Years ago I used to use number 8 wire making hoops and over them lay clear plastic film to try and warm the soil quicker and improve the seedlings growth from the shelter provided.
Didn’t really work very well as the soil was too wet and a lot of condensation would build up on the plastic and that quickly leads to fungus diseases.
I later came to realise that grass clippings generate a lot of heat as they are initially breaking down so I started using this free source of heat and have been writing about it in the past.
For instance this year one of my raised gardens which is about 1200x 1200mm but only about 300mm high, sitting on tar seal with weedmat over the tar seal and getting direct sunlight most of the day.
I grew sweet corn in it which was harvested towards the end of summer which I left standing to dry the tall stalks.
Recently I cut them off at ground level with my loppers and then laid them on the top of the growing medium because there is no point in wasting the material by throwing out.
Also by leaving the roots intact in the growing medium means they will rot down and also supply more goodness to the soil life for future plants.
Then as I had mucked out the hen house I applied a thick layer of chicken manure over the dry corn foliage to feed the next crop and speed up the break down of the corn stalks.
My next crop is going to be carrots so I have to sow seeds (only way you can grow proper carrots as they don’t transplant unless they are those funny small round carrots).
If I apply my favourite purchased brand of compost over the top of the manure and broadcast the carrot seeds I will likely have some germinate but possible some seeds in the wet cold compost are likely to rot.
The answer is get the lawn mower out with a catcher on and when place a thick layer of fresh clippings over the chock manure.
Over that I will spread about 50mm of compost. Now for the minerals I will add a good dusting of Wallys Calcium and Health, which is a fast acting Garden Lime that has magnesium, selenium, boron, phosphate, sulphur and potash incorporated with the lime.
This will enhance the soil life while making your vegetables and fruit healthier and giving your body those valuable elements when you eat the produce.
Also a sprinkling of BioPhos which is great additive for root crops and some Ocean Solids for all the minerals from the Ocean.
Then a sprinkling of Wallys Unlocking Your Soil for more minerals and to increase the electricity in the soil.
Now another layer of compost of 50mm or more and ready to sow my carrot seeds.
The seeds are sprinkled over the area and those close to each other are separated to give each plant sufficient room to develop without competition.
Then a good spray of Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL) to wet the seeds after which a light scuffling of the growing medium to cover the seeds.
I like to put crop cover over the seedling bed to prevent birds or cats from disrupting my efforts.
This can either be laid lightly on the growing medium or with a raised garden over the garden and down the sides so it is above the growing area helping to create a micro climate.
A regular light watering to keep the bed moist and with the advantage of the heat from the grass clippings, breaking down , you should see green sprouts about a week to two weeks after planting.
Later on you can thin the crop to give each carrot ample room to mature.
I suggest also something I have done at times in the past is to leave a couple of carrots to go to seed.
Then when the seeds mature they will drop naturally to the soil or you can broadcast them by hand.
If you do that you will have the best carrots to harvest in the future. Your own seed from a mother plant which has adapted its DNA to your soil and climate.
It pays to re-fertilizer the bed before you allow the seeds to drop or broadcast.
Now for two problems that I have not found good answers for.
Curly leaf on stone fruit is a difficult one to prevent, some years you do everything under the sun and end up still with lots of damaged leaves, sometimes you do nothing and the tree is fairly clean and that is mainly due to a drier spring.
The problem is simply this: the tree needs energy from the sun to hold the fruit that have set so they don’t drop and lose the crop.
How about doing the old ambulance at the bottom of the cliff.
That means once you have a show of young leaves and the flowers are pollinated with set fruit, use Liquid Sunshine with MBL sprayed often over the leaves and even watered into the drip line of the tree.
This gives extra carbs the tree does not need to generate from the sunlight.
This should help hold the crop until the damaged curly leaves have dropped and the new clean leaves appear after which a few more sprays of Liquid Sunshine over the new leaves to be sure, to be sure.
Liquid Sunshine is simple a tablespoon of molasses dissolved in a litre of hot water and 10 mils of MBL added. Spray that over the foliage as often as you can during that critical period of holding the crop.
Likewise with garlic rust. Gardeners that used the Liquid Sunshine on their garlic foliage after the leaves were affected with the rust were able to get reasonable sized bulbs for their efforts.
I would start before the first sign of rust and even now would be a good time to spray the garlic leaves with that every few days.
Leaves treated with Liquid Sunshine grow bigger than normal which means like having a bigger solar panel the plant can get more energy from the available sunlight.
Watering some into the soil and even to the point of sprinkling some raw sugar on the soil to wash down to the roots can make a difference as well.
My other suggestion is to spray the garlic leaves with Vaporgard which puts a film over the leaves surface which means the rust spores cant get to leaf surface to set up shop.
If you do that and want to also use the liquid sunshine you need to add a little Raingard to the spray so that the two films emerge and allow the carbs through to the leaves.
All good fun in beating the problems so we end up with good harvests.
Image credit: Markus Spiske
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