🍅 Food Garden Group newsletter - January 2025 🍅
We like to grow what we eat
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Happy new year everyone! 2025 will be an unforgettable year! Strap yourself in, hold onto your seat ... and here we go .................
In this newsletter - What to do in your food garden in January, this month's Northern and Southern food garden visits, last month's visits in words and pictures, visits planned for coming months, taking care of your tomatoes, where to buy good veggie garden seeds, and more.
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| Tomato variety 'Dancing with Smurfs' |
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This month's Southern food garden visit
On Sunday 12 January at 10.30am you will be very welcome in Libby and Tim's garden at Glenorchy.
About their garden Libby and Tim wrote
When we moved to our home in Hobart's Northern suburbs, the only productive plant in our yard was a beautiful old Lemon tree (but what a producer!). Over the following five years, we've been slowly chipping away at our goal of making our garden an abundant oasis in the suburban surrounds.
We have very different gardening styles, which has resulted in each claiming their own domains. Libby has the backyard, which she has cultivated as a more traditional food garden, complete with raised garden beds, patterned brickwork, and a herb garden bordered by rectangular pots. Tim has claimed the front yard with his (barely) managed chaotic attempt at a fledgling food forest, complete with truckloads of woodchip, and the foreseeable challenge of the existing lawn regrowing.
We’ve faced the usual challenges: weeds, water, wildlife and time. Slugs and snails have been a persistent menace, in both the backyard and the front. Wallabies have also been a challenge in the front yard, munching leaf and branch alike. The past few very dry summers have left the garden looking pretty sad by the end of the season, but (so far) it has always bounced back bigger and better in the following spring.
We’re slowly continuing the progress we’ve made. We’re planting out more perennials in the front, with the aim of achieving a relatively robust edible ecosystem, with minimal maintenance required (dream on, Tim!). In the backyard, we’re gradually replacing the first-generation pallet-wood garden beds (which are one-by-one succumbing to the ravages of the elements) with wicking beds made from second-hand IBCs (intermediate bulk containers). We’re hoping these will have a much longer lifespan, and help to counter our long periods of dry weather in which we forget to water (oops!).
Libby is wanting chickens, partly to help control the slugs and snails, and partly just to have chickens. Tim is slowly coming around to the idea, but we’re yet to see how Charlie (the resident guard-beagle) will feel about the situation.
Our garden is a source of pride, joy, and relaxation, as well as discomfort, stress and frustration, often all at the same time. We’re looking forward to showing everyone around, sharing ideas, and getting advice from all the gardeners in the group, experienced and novice alike!
Contributions for morning tea and the produce table will be much appreciated!
Discussion topics: IBCs as wicking beds, fruit tree cross-pollination and duo-planting, haskap berries.
This Southern visit will be at Glenorchy, 10.30am on Sunday 12 January
If you would like to come please RSVP to foodgardengroup@gmail.com
When you RSVP please clearly state who you are RSVPing for and provide names if you want to bring others, so we can have a name sticker ready for every person.
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This month's Northern food garden visit
On Sunday 19 January at 10.30am you will be very welcome in Michael and Suzanne's garden at Kings Meadows.
About their garden Michael and Suzanne wrote:
When we moved here thirteen years ago there was no garden as such. The backyard had once had multiple sheds and gardens but now it was just a weedy lawn dissected by narrow concrete paths.
We removed some paths then planned the garden around the remainder. Michael built the raised garden beds and the edged beds, then the compost bins and erected the greenhouse. The espalier was built and planted with fruit trees followed by the raspberries. We grow quite a quantity of produce in a fairly small space.
The soil here was poor and very sandy so we have built it up with horse manure, compost and other goodies such as Glebe Gold. We are completely organic.
We have several fruit trees, the first we planted is in the front rock garden and is a persimmon which gives us much pleasure not only with the delicious fruit but also with the beautiful autumn colour of the leaves. In the backyard we have feijoas, a big fig tree, a damson plum, a greengage plum, a Stella cherry, a cherry guava, black and red currants, gooseberries, a raised strawberry bed, rhubarb and a lemon tree. The freezer is always full and we also bottle and preserve.
Because of health issues we haven’t planted a lot this summer but still seem to have enough to harvest, eat and give away. Any pests we have are mostly cabbage moth, whitefly and blackbirds. We have a Vegie Pod which is excellent for growing seedlings and smaller crops.
We hope that you enjoy and find inspiration from our garden.
Contributions for morning tea and the produce table will be much appreciated!
This Northern visit will be at King Meadows on Sunday 19 January at 10.30am
If you would like to come please RSVP to fggnorthtas@gmail.com
When you RSVP please clearly state who you are RSVPing for and provide names if you want to bring others, so we can have a name sticker ready for every person.
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Last month's food garden visits
On Sunday 1 December the Southern Food Garden Group visited Jennie and Russell's garden at Sandfly. For great photos and a tour around this garden go here.
On Sunday 8 December the Northern Food Garden Group visited Gareth and Tanya's garden at Kings Meadows. For great photos and a tour around this garden go here.
Many thanks to Denby (North) and Pauline (South) for writing up these food garden visits!
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Food garden visits planned for coming months
SouthSunday 16 February: Marian's garden at TaroonaSunday 23 March: Ailsa's garden at MorningtonSunday 13 April: Maria and Michel's garden at Ferntree
NorthSunday 23 February: Kate and Roy's garden at GrindelwaldSunday 16 March: David and Deb's garden at YoungtownSunday 13 April: Nicki's garden at Ravenswood
A big thank you to these FGG members for being happy to host a visit!
Please be aware: dates and gardens may change! Each visit will be advertised in this newsletter at the start of the month the visit is in. At that time you can RSVP, not before.
There is a maximum number of people that can attend each visit. To avoid disappointment please RSVP early in all cases.
A big thank you to these FGG members for being happy to host a visit!
Please be aware: dates and gardens may change! Each visit will be advertised in this newsletter at the start of the month the visit is in. At that time you can RSVP, not before.
There is a maximum number of people that can attend each visit. To avoid disappointment please RSVP early in all cases.
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Tasmanian seed companies in the spotlight
Find out where to buy reliable veggie garden seeds that are proven performers in Tasmania’s unique climate and soils. This is not an ad. It is my way of promoting local Tasmanian seed suppliers. You will find this new Food Garden Group post here.
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Pest-Control Quick Guide
This is the time of year that many veggie garden pests are most active, especially in a season like the one we are having, with regular rain fall and three types of weather every day.
The Pest-Control Quick-Guide on the Food Garden Group blog is there to help you identify and take action against the two dozen or so most common pests found in Tasmanian food gardens. It covers:
The blog post is there to assist you with pest problems. You will find it here.
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Tomato Care & Repair
Most tomato plants are like demanding prima donnas. Everything needs to perfect all the time, otherwise they will play up. Add to that Tasmania’s fickle climate and you find that even the most experienced food gardener struggles at times. Food Garden Group blog post Tomato Care & Repair might help you make things ‘just right’ for your tomato plants or improve things if the darlings tell you that they are not happy.
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Food garden activities suggested for January
- 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
- 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
Many of the topics mentioned above are discussed in posts on the Food Garden Group blog.
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Happy food gardening,
Max Bee
FGG coordinator
To subscribe to this newsletter go to https://fggtas.wordpress.com and follow the prompts
Lots of food gardening info can be found at https://foodgardengroup.blogspot.com/
For past food garden visits, recipes and past newsletters see https://fggextra.blogspot.com/
To join our Facebook page search for Food Gardeners Tasmania and apply for membership
The Food Garden Group is affiliated with Sustainable Living Tasmania
Max Bee
FGG coordinator
To subscribe to this newsletter go to https://fggtas.wordpress.com and follow the prompts
Lots of food gardening info can be found at https://foodgardengroup.blogspot.com/
For past food garden visits, recipes and past newsletters see https://fggextra.blogspot.com/
To join our Facebook page search for Food Gardeners Tasmania and apply for membership
The Food Garden Group is affiliated with Sustainable Living Tasmania
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