Summer

Woo!

We had a ripper of a week here at VGG. We have been trying out all sorts of unorthodox things just to see how they work. So until 2 of my big-plan items are ready for telling you about, here is a list of our trials and errors..

Flowers in the vege beds

Most haven’t even flowered yet, and I love them. I put sweet peas up along the back, and they are now flowering profusely. I put cosmos seedlings in any spare spot- of which there were quite a few, because I thought that they would flower before some of the veges would get too big, and there are things like onions, which leave huge gaps between rows, and garlic, which is harvested midsummer and hasn’t been replaced by anything yet. So if I saw a gap, I put in a cosmos, they are hiding all number of sins.

Also, check out the freaky cauliflower I let go to seed. I wanted heaps of brassica seeds for microgreens so am patiently waiting for it to flower and go to seed.

What’s more, when they flower, I will get a real show, and this is the first time I have put any real effort into growing flowers in my own garden- it is really rewarding and nice.

The cosmos planted a little earlier- so much less fluffy!

Previously I would have thought that adding annual flowers to my vege bed would increase competition and decrease yield, but it doesn’t seem to be doing anything of the sort! A tick of approval for me, and I am working on some ideas for next year with this knowledge…

Cutting back agapanthus with a weedeater

Well, thank Finn for this one- we had to cut some agapanthus off a path, and it’s one of those few times that we couldn’t remove it or at least dig it- Finn said he reckoned it would be faster than using a hedgetrimmer. I mean, it is true- agapanthus is mostly long, soft leaves that are easily shredded, and hedge trimmers are better at cutting twiggy things that are upright… so let’s give it a go.

It took about a third of the time- maybe 3 minutes max- to cut this right back.

It was so messy and gross, you guys.

I had to tidy the cuts up a bit, to make it look vaguely decent, and the biggest part was cleaning up the mess- it always is- but in this situation the mess was all over me as well. My face, my arms, and of course I was wearing shorts due to the heat. I think it took me 20 mins to clean up the mess. Is this less time than carefully using shears and dropping the leaves directly into bags?… yes, but only just. At the same time, just around the corner we have about 20m of agapanthus to do the same with (it sits behind the garden beds and removing it would involve about $300k worth of retaining to be built, so it stays for now)- so I think the more agapanthus you have to whack back, the more time you will save. My vote is this is a good (if sticky and gross) new tactic.

A bit of a garden to do list

I know it is dull, but anything you particularly want to eat in Winter needs to be planted in the next little while- with the exception of brassicas (cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage etc). Brassicas don’t like a substantial weather change during their growing season so hold off on them. If you are really keen, you could sow seed now and keep them in as cool of a place as possible, but in this weather I personally don’t have the energy- the amount of babying they would need is phenomenal.

Parsnips and carrots are well sown now, though- the trick here is to soak the ground, make a little long line about 2cm deep, sprinkle the seeds in and gently tip the soil back in to fill the groove. Then soak again and put a plank of wood on top. Carrots and parsnips need constant moisture to grow, and I think the pressure helps too. Check on them every few days and when most of the seeds have germinated, you can remove the plank.

It’s time to get aggressive with your other vegetables, unless you can predict that the weather will still be hot and sunny in 3 months, start cutting the flowers and new shoots off your tomatoes and curcubits (cucumber, pumpkin, kamokamo). They are diverting energy from the plant into growing new vegetables that are unlikely to grow large enough to eat. You can cut your pumpkin vines back to the pumpkins- reclaim huge chunks of your garden where they have gone wild.

I’m also getting aggressive with my flowers- deadheading flowers stimulates new growth, and more flowers, but some are getting a bit ‘done,’ and I know that cutting them back now will let them have a spurt of growth before Autumn/Winter. So I have started cutting things back, hard, that I want to look nice in Winter. This includes-

• Azaleas

• Jasmines and vines

• Daisies

• Dianthus

• Camellia

I’m also cutting back, because it is time-

• Plums and stone fruit that are done fruiting. This is the best time to cut them back.

• Hydrangeas- some people are having a hard time with their hydrangeas. I will cover them a bit more in the paid section tomorrow, but the tl;dr is that if they aren’t flowering now, and are getting huge, cut them back for next year. If they are flowering but it’s a bit of a bum season I’d recommend cutting shoots right back when deadheading, because many of them flower on older wood, and you may have just cut them back too late last year. This is NOT the annual pruning time, if they are flowering well.

• Abutilon- this forever flowering shrub becomes extremely leggy and tree-like- it is best to cut it back while you have other nice things to look at, because it will not stop flowering for you. You will cut flowers off regardless, so pick a time that other nice things are around.

I’m also also looking at things that are bugging me- hedges that aren’t the right shape, bushy things growing over paths, and cutting them back hard. Sometimes cutting plants back in Winter is a bummer, because they are really bare and miserable till late Spring, so cutting them back now means they will still be bushy and pretty in Winter.

Pretty much, if it is about done flowering or fruiting, now is the time to cut back.

That is, if you have any time at all after weeding! Have a great week everyone :)