🍑 Food Garden Group newsletter - January 2022 🍑
We like to grow what we eat
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Welcome to the Food Garden Group's January 2022 newsletter with info about the FGG events that took place since the last newsletter, what is planned for coming months, how the Golden Tomato award played out, what you can do in your food garden in October, and more.
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At the start of 2022 ....
Happy new year!
Everyone will agree that 2022 is going to be a challenging year. Will humanity begin to win the war against the evil COVID-empire? Or will we at the end of the year still be in the same precarious situation as we find ourselves in now? Will Russia invade the Ukraine? Will Simone T, after finishing second or third for quite a few years, finally win a Golden Tomato Award in 2022 (see below)?
We will all be challenged in 2022, no doubt about that, but if we stand together and fight them on the beaches, then our peas, cabbages, beans and tomatoes will survive and thrive! And that is all you can really ask for as a food gardener, don't you agree?
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The Golden Tomato award 2021
As I write this on 28 December I have not yet had one single ripe tomato in my hothouse or garden. It is clear that some Food Garden Group members are streets ahead of me, because the three yearly FGG tomato awards have all been taken out by now.
Gold was won by John P of Bridport with a tiny cherry tomato on 30 November!! That is amazing in the cold rainy Spring we had.
Silver was won by Simone T of Geilston Bay just one day later (oh, so close) with a Gold Nugget tomato. But hear this: Simone won Bronze in 2020, and Silver in 2018 and 2019, always with a Gold Nugget!
Bronze was won by Joan K of Rosetta on 3 December with a tomato variety called Alan's Choice.
Congratulations John, Simone and Joan! Your names will be added to the FGG Hall of Tomato Fame!
About his strategy in the 2021 Golden Tomato race John wrote:
I started this tomato on my balcony in Bridport from seed in July or August. I then kept it on my balcony in a small covered tray, getting morning sun when we had some. Then I transplanted it to a Shiploads self watering pot and gave it Sulphate of Potash. On warm days I carried it outside when it flowered (for the bees), bringing it back in, at night. Had to go away for a week, so put it outside. Came home to a ripe tomato!
Well done John!
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What are the FGG plans for coming months?
Until now COVID was something we heard about on the news. It was all happening elsewhere, not to our family, friend or acquaintenances. Well, today I heard for the first time of a local COVID case, and this was not via the news. Community transmission is now definitely with us, and that makes it real.
It is not clear yet what the effect will be of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race, Taste of Summer festival, the Ashes cricket match, new year's eve festivities, and other planned entertainment, but it is clear that community transmission will continue to increase.
The best strategy to avoid the highly contagious Omicron is to only mix with a tight circle of people who you trust to do the right thing. In the workplace this will be hard to achieve. Food garden visits and other face-to-face FGG activities do not fit in this scenario. They will resume when it begins to feel safe again to meet people in public. It might be a little while before that is the case!
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Looking for inspiration?
You don't need to wait for the next food garden visit to get inspired. All the food gardens that were covered on our FGG Extra blog in the past can be looked at again by you on your computer at any time you like! They might inspire you to do things in your own food garden. These blog posts are also a great way to learn new things. Here are some random examples of the wide variety of food gardens our members have:
Vivien and Mark's garden at Bellerive (October 2021)
Kate's garden at Cygnet (April 2021)
Cathy and Ward's garden at North Hobart (February 2021)
Ailsa's garden at Mornington (December 2020)
Judy and Mark's garden at Lindisfarne (November 2020)
Dirk and Pauline's garden at Howden (April 2020)
Jill and Ian's garden at Sandy Bay (February 2020)
Jennie's garden at Sandfly (October 2019)
Dozens more interesting food gardens were covered on the FGG Extra blog. Find them via the blog's index under Visit and In My Garden, or by clicking on Older Posts at the bottom of each page.
Did our group visit your food garden at some point in the past? Look back at how your garden looked at that time on the FGG Extra blog!
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In My Garden
Fifteen In My Garden posts were put on the FGG Extra blog during a period in 2020 when we could not visit any gardens in person. People loved them, and we even continued them for a little while when food garden visits began again.
Let's begin Series 2 of In My Garden!
The idea is that every month a Food Garden Group member take 10 photos in their food garden, adds some text to each photo, and sends it all to foodgardengroup@gmail.com. Nothing fancy, just add to each photo what you would say if someone visited your garden. Nothing else required!
In 2020 I started the ball rolling with ten photos in my garden. You can still find the result here.
I will do the first instalment of Series 2 of In My Garden in coming weeks.
If you would be happy to take part, please let me know by emailing foodgardengroup@gmail.com.
You will then be contacted to discuss when it will suit you to do this.
And guess what? You don’t have to live in the South of the state to take part. It would be great to learn what is happening in food gardens in the North and North-West!
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Last month's food garden visit
The rain came and went on a cool Saturday in early December when we met at Rosalie and Grant's place in South Hobart. And what an inspiring visit it was. We had visited Rosalie before, in a previous garden of hers in Sandfly. Then, as now, we were all amazed at the energy, creativity and sheer grit and determination Rosalie brings to her gardens.
For great photos and commentary (thank you, Pauline) see Visit to Rosalie's Garden.
A big thank you to Rosalie an Grant for inviting us to their beautiful garden and delighting us with a feast for the eyes on a somewhat chilly spring day. And also thanks to everyone who brought something to share on the Produce and Morning Tea table.
For great photos and commentary (thank you, Pauline) see Visit to Rosalie's Garden.
A big thank you to Rosalie an Grant for inviting us to their beautiful garden and delighting us with a feast for the eyes on a somewhat chilly spring day. And also thanks to everyone who brought something to share on the Produce and Morning Tea table.
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Bee 🐝 Update
In a recent FGG workshop participants joined experienced beekeepers Frank and Laura in an inspection of two well-established hives and two newly collected bee swarms. It was a fascinating afternoon that gave us a very good insight into what beekeeping is all about.
For more about this workshop and what is involved in getting started with beekeeping see the new blog post A Taste of Beekeeping.🍑
In a recent FGG workshop participants joined experienced beekeepers Frank and Laura in an inspection of two well-established hives and two newly collected bee swarms. It was a fascinating afternoon that gave us a very good insight into what beekeeping is all about.
For more about this workshop and what is involved in getting started with beekeeping see the new blog post A Taste of Beekeeping.
For more about this workshop and what is involved in getting started with beekeeping see the new blog post A Taste of Beekeeping.
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All about water
In recent weeks there have been a lot of posts on our Food Gardeners Tasmania Facebook page with photos of plants showing dead or browned-off leaves, with the question 'what is wrong with this plant?'.
The answer in many cases is water-related: lack of drainage after all the wet weather we had and which led to dead roots a few months later, or lack of water when a series of warm days led to plants stressing due to water evaporation, or burned leaves when irrigated in the middle of warm sunny days.
Checking your soil 5-10 centimetres below ground level is a good way to find out what is going on.
Tasmanians love having tomato plants in their food gardens, but our climate is really a bit marginal for them. The reason that tomato plants in enormous hot houses on the mainland do well is that they are in permanent between 20 and 30 degree conditions with regular watering, from below.
Maybe you need to improve your irrigation in your garden. Or maybe your irrigation system is fine, but you don't have the time to be physically out there every other day to water plants yourself. Or you often have had too much on and forget all about it.
The best time to irrigate is early in the morning when water on leaves will evaporate within a few hours before a hot sun can burn leaves. Irrigating from above in the evening means that leaves remain wet for much longer and that can give mildew an opportunity to take hold.
By the way, if you need to irrigate any time after 11 in the morning on a warm day, make sure that the first 30 seconds of irrigation water coming out of the hose is not directed at a plant, as that water can be quite hot, having been heated up in the hose for quite a few hours. Those first few litres of water can burn your plants and lead to brown leaves!
If irrigating early in the morning is just not a possibility for you, or it simply takes too much time out of your day, you might like to consider automating your irrigation.
The following blog posts on our Food Garden Group blog may be worth exploring:- Improving your Irrigation
- Automating your Irrigation
- How to build a wicking bed
- the Water section of blog post A Blank Canvas
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Things you can do in your food garden in January ....
The answer in many cases is water-related: lack of drainage after all the wet weather we had and which led to dead roots a few months later, or lack of water when a series of warm days led to plants stressing due to water evaporation, or burned leaves when irrigated in the middle of warm sunny days.
Checking your soil 5-10 centimetres below ground level is a good way to find out what is going on.
Tasmanians love having tomato plants in their food gardens, but our climate is really a bit marginal for them. The reason that tomato plants in enormous hot houses on the mainland do well is that they are in permanent between 20 and 30 degree conditions with regular watering, from below.
Maybe you need to improve your irrigation in your garden. Or maybe your irrigation system is fine, but you don't have the time to be physically out there every other day to water plants yourself. Or you often have had too much on and forget all about it.
The best time to irrigate is early in the morning when water on leaves will evaporate within a few hours before a hot sun can burn leaves. Irrigating from above in the evening means that leaves remain wet for much longer and that can give mildew an opportunity to take hold.
By the way, if you need to irrigate any time after 11 in the morning on a warm day, make sure that the first 30 seconds of irrigation water coming out of the hose is not directed at a plant, as that water can be quite hot, having been heated up in the hose for quite a few hours. Those first few litres of water can burn your plants and lead to brown leaves!
If irrigating early in the morning is just not a possibility for you, or it simply takes too much time out of your day, you might like to consider automating your irrigation.
The following blog posts on our Food Garden Group blog may be worth exploring:
- Improving your Irrigation
- Automating your Irrigation
- How to build a wicking bed
- the Water section of blog post A Blank Canvas
- Water regularly to make sure your soils don’t dry out
- Make sure your food garden is well mulched to conserve water
- Keep weeds at bay and don't allow them to go to seed
Vegetables- Sow in pots iceberg-type lettuce, loose-leaf lettuce, brassicas, leek, parsley, spring onions, salad onions, celery, Chinese cabbage and Asian greens
- Sow in your garden beans, spinach, chard, silverbeet, radish, carrot, parsnip, turnip, swede, beetroot
- Plant loose-leaf and iceberg-type lettuce, chard, spinach, silver beet, celery, parsley, late potatoes, ocas, leeks and onions (after adding some lime to the soil), brassicas (provide protection against caterpillars), tomatoes, capsicums, Brussels sprouts
- Minimise caterpillar damage to brassicas by manual removal, netting or spraying
- Put shade cloth over newly-planted seedlings to protect them from hot sun
- Put something under pumpkins that rest on the ground so they don’t rot
- Dig up potatoes and hill the ones that you are leaving for later
- Dig up all remaining garlic, allow to dry and store in cool, well ventilated spot
- Foliar-feed crops once a month with seaweed extract to maximise their health and growth
- Hand pollinate pumpkins, cucumbers and other cucurbits early in the morning
- Cut off tips of cucurbit vines that have two fruits so the fruits become larger
- Tie up or provide support for climbing crops such as beans and tomatoes
- Remove laterals on tomatoes and limit plants to 3 or 4 branches
- Remove flower-heads on rhubarb, so plants focus on forming leaves
- Sprinkle sulphate of potash once a month around vegetables that form fruits
- Control slugs and snails especially around beans
- Foliar-feed crops once a month with seaweed extract to maximise their health and growth
Fruit trees and berries (* = don't repeat if already done recently)
- Remove runners on strawberries if you think you won't need young plants next season
- Thin fruit on all fruit trees, so fruits become larger and branches don't break (*)
- Cover fruit trees with netting to avoid fruit-damage by birds
- Remove and destroy coddling moth infested fruit on apple, pear and quince trees
- Trap and kill coddling moths on apple, pear and quince trees
- Check existing coddling moth traps and replace and refresh where needed
- Apply bud grafts to all types of fruit trees in the second half of this month
- Water regularly to make sure your soils don’t dry out
- Make sure your food garden is well mulched to conserve water
- Keep weeds at bay and don't allow them to go to seed
Vegetables
- Sow in pots iceberg-type lettuce, loose-leaf lettuce, brassicas, leek, parsley, spring onions, salad onions, celery, Chinese cabbage and Asian greens
- Sow in your garden beans, spinach, chard, silverbeet, radish, carrot, parsnip, turnip, swede, beetroot
- Plant loose-leaf and iceberg-type lettuce, chard, spinach, silver beet, celery, parsley, late potatoes, ocas, leeks and onions (after adding some lime to the soil), brassicas (provide protection against caterpillars), tomatoes, capsicums, Brussels sprouts
- Minimise caterpillar damage to brassicas by manual removal, netting or spraying
- Put shade cloth over newly-planted seedlings to protect them from hot sun
- Put something under pumpkins that rest on the ground so they don’t rot
- Dig up potatoes and hill the ones that you are leaving for later
- Dig up all remaining garlic, allow to dry and store in cool, well ventilated spot
- Foliar-feed crops once a month with seaweed extract to maximise their health and growth
- Hand pollinate pumpkins, cucumbers and other cucurbits early in the morning
- Cut off tips of cucurbit vines that have two fruits so the fruits become larger
- Tie up or provide support for climbing crops such as beans and tomatoes
- Remove laterals on tomatoes and limit plants to 3 or 4 branches
- Remove flower-heads on rhubarb, so plants focus on forming leaves
- Sprinkle sulphate of potash once a month around vegetables that form fruits
- Control slugs and snails especially around beans
- Foliar-feed crops once a month with seaweed extract to maximise their health and growth
- Remove runners on strawberries if you think you won't need young plants next season
- Thin fruit on all fruit trees, so fruits become larger and branches don't break (*)
- Cover fruit trees with netting to avoid fruit-damage by birds
- Remove and destroy coddling moth infested fruit on apple, pear and quince trees
- Trap and kill coddling moths on apple, pear and quince trees
- Check existing coddling moth traps and replace and refresh where needed
- Apply bud grafts to all types of fruit trees in the second half of this month
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In My Garden - one more time
Might you be happy to take 10 (or so) photos in your garden and tell us about them?
That would be great!
Please let me know via foodgardengroup@gmail.com. You will then be contacted to discuss when this would suit you and Laura, Pauline or me. One of us will put it on the FGG Extra blog for you.
For more details see the text about In My Garden above.
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Happy food gardening,
Max Bee
Food Garden Group coordinator
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