Gardening – Winter work out

At this time of year, some of the urgency has come off the list of tasks in the garden. Everything tends to slow down in the cooler weather, including me! But there are still several jobs that can need attention.

Now is the time to start pruning citrus. Winter and early spring are the best time to do this as lemon tree borer is less active. As each tree is harvested, I trim off any excess growth from the sides to keep the trees from getting too big. A couple of big branches get removed from the top-centre, this helps get light and air into the tree. A good way to visualize this is to think of the preferred tree shape being like a doughnut. The skirts are also lifted, with a quick tidy around the bottom. Fruit should be kept 30cm or so from the ground to reduce fruit rots.

The asparagus bed can be cleared of fronds, with a generous helping of fertiliser added (animal manures are ideal for this crop), then mulched thickly to prevent weed growth over winter. The strawberry bed can be treated the same way, with any old leaves removed, runners taken off and replanted, and the ground fertilised and mulched ready for spring growth.

Now is also the time to get garlic, onions and shallots planted. In this region, we seem to suffer badly from onion rust, which can decimate these crops. This year, I’m going to try covering the crop with plastic from early spring and only watering via the soil to try and reduce the incidence of the disease. Spacing the bulbs further apart at planting is also reputed to help, as this increases air flow through the crop, but as we’re a bit short on space, maybe next year!

Lettuce and spinach can be planted right through winter, but you may need to throw frost cloth over them if we get a hard frost. Keep an eye on the weather forecasts; a low of 4C will mean a light frost, any lower than this and we’re in for a fair bit of white. Likewise, potatoes in this region can often be grown right through, with the help of frost cloth. A big advantage of growing spuds at this time of year is that the dreaded psyllid is not around. These subtropical pests are not active in the cold.

Carrots and beets can also be planted throughout the season in our region; they hold up well in the cooler soil once mature and are full of nutrients to keep the family healthy. Another excellent crop to grow over winter is peas. Angela plants a few snow peas, standard peas and sugar snap peas every month or so, ensuring a constant supply of these delicious morsels. Fresh peas are so yummy and at $40/kg in the shops for imported snow peas, this is a no-brainer.

And then of course there are the brassicas; so easy to grow and so nutritious – broccoli, cabbage (red and green), Chinese cabbage (pak choi and bok choi) and cauliflower are all in and growing well. Remember to feed these crops heavily with a high nitrogen fertiliser when they are still in the leafy stage, this will produce much larger and juicer crops.
So, much as it is tempting to stay indoors over winter, get your daily dose of vitamin D and exercise with an hour or so of gardening each day.

Andrew Steens