Gardening – Enjoying the bounty

By Andrew Steens

New Year has always been a time for reflection and planning. In the veggie garden this is no different; at this time of year, your garden should be in peak production and the results of all your preparation and hard work will now be apparent. Take a bit of time out, perhaps with a celebratory cider or gin in hand (they are, after all, products of a garden), and have a look at what has worked and what hasn’t.

In my garden, a good crop of shallots was lifted earlier than last year, as were the garlic. I learnt last year that leaving them later to get bigger bulbs results in too much rotting from the inevitable downpours over the Christmas/New Year period. Likewise, lifting the early spuds by the end of November meant they avoided infestation from the dreaded tomato psyllid, which otherwise makes the spuds develop stained flesh and a muddy taste once they’re cooked.

On the other hand, planting a crop of dwarf butter beans too early was a disaster. Just because the seedlings are available in garden centres from the start of spring doesn’t mean they should go in, no matter how much you are wishing that summer is almost here. These plants have remained stunted, producing a couple of handfuls of beans, while the plants that went in nearly two months later in mid-November are twice the size already and will have a bountiful crop. The traditional Labour weekend planting time would have been a safer option. However, as I still want beans as early as possible, I’ll need to plan ahead and get some cloches set up next spring for these and any other summer crops such as early tomatoes, corn, capsicum, eggplants and courgettes.

Sometimes, the improvements needed are very small, but make life much easier; my asparagus fern once again are sprawled over the path and the bed next to them. I’ve tried tying them back with string, but that’s an exercise in frustration as they either break off or refuse to be contained. I’ve now hammered in waratah stakes at each corner so once this crop of fern has died off, I’ll run wires around the bed so the ferns can be tucked back in as they grow.

Over-production hasn’t been such an issue this year. I’ve finally learnt to restrain myself to planting one courgette and no more than two each of cucumbers, chillies, eggplant, pumpkin and capsicums. Otherwise, I spend most of the summer trying to find ways to bake, BBQ, bottle, blend or bestow the bounty. We’ve still got enough lettuces to feed a warren of rabbits and the spinach is running to seed faster than I can make green smoothies, but at least these don’t represent such an investment of time and energy to produce as the other crops, and better too much than not enough. Another crop I can never get enough of is tomatoes. There are just so many delicious ways of using this crop and when you’ve finally had enough, making soup for the freezer uses up the rest. A hearty bowl of tomato soup fragrant with basil on a cold winter’s evening is a redolent reminder of summers past.