🍑 Food Garden Group newsletter - February 2026 🍑
We like to grow what we eat
________________________________________________________________________________
In this newsletter - How is your food garden shaping up this season, what to do in your food garden in February, this month's Northern and Southern food garden visits, last month's visits in words and pictures, all you need to know about processing and preserving, visits planned for coming months and more.
🍑
How is your food garden season shaping up?
A Northern Food Garden Group member told me the other day that she was hot and crazy-busy with watering, picking and preserving. That sounds like a successful food garden season to me!
In the South things are also looking up a lot. In our garden we have had so far this season a good broad bean, pea and potato harvest, an amazing crop of cauliflowers, a good raspberry, strawberry, red currant, peach, apricot and cucumber crop ..... and more is on the way.
Noticed I didn't mention tomatoes? Hopefully most of us will have a late but good crop of them before the season is over, but, eh, really, on the whole, we can't complain.
That is such a surprise after a far too long windy cool first half of the season. All's well that ends well (that's Shakespeare, apparently)!
🍑
This month's Southern food garden visit
On Sunday 22 February at 10.30am you will be very welcome in Mandy's garden at Howrah.
About her garden Mandy wrote
My previous property at Snug was a particularly special location which was always going to be impossible to top, but new locations bring new opportunities, so I’ve embraced this next stage of my life and taken on the full reno of a 1970 house and garden in Howrah – less than 2 blocks from where I grew up (full circle – who would have guessed!! LOL).
Purchased in mid-2022, the 550m2 block is obviously substantially smaller than the 1.5 acres I had previously, but I still wanted to create an integrated garden of natives, flowers, fruit and vegetables.
First I had to clear an entire backyard of concrete and pavers, remove a couple of mature trees and install drains to protect the house.
In designing the garden I’m keeping future needs/challenges in mind, such as climate change and my own mobility. I’ve been widening paths, creating windbreaks, adding shade trees, connecting the garden with the house and trialling a few different commercial wicking beds with a view to reducing water use and raising the height of the vegetable beds for easier access. And while the garden is in construction, I’ve also been experimenting with tree bags for berries and vegetables, with positive results.
Most of the block, including the nature strip is now planted out - water-hungry grass has been replaced with native and exotic gardens. The productive parts of the garden are more recent additions – fruit trees have been added progressively over the last couple of years and the main vegetable wicking beds are being installed this season.
I’m currently 4 years into a 10-year renovation plan, so it’s still very much a work in progress, but hopefully what’s been completed to date will be of interest to the group. Looking forward to welcoming you to my garden 😊.
Contributions for morning tea and the produce table will be much appreciated!
This Southern visit will be at Howrah, 10.30am on Sunday 22 February
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.
🍑
This month's Northern food garden visit
On Sunday 8 February at 10.30am you will be very welcome in John and Colleen's garden at Ravenswood.
About their garden John and Colleen wrote:
We moved up from Lachlan (Derwent Valley) 8 years ago to be closer to our 5 adult children. We found a large 1.25 acre flat block, nice house and a good shed within ten days of deciding to move.
The garden consisted of a lawn and a few iceberg roses. The first job was to rotary hoe a large piece of lawn to start a vegetable garden. The chook yard followed soon after, later planting some fruit trees and a couple of years later more vegetable beds were established.
The soil is heavy clay which grows great vegetables but the potatoes are struggling. The recent ongoing heavy winds have made things extra difficult for the potatoes this year. We used to grow 20 different varieties of potatoes in Lachlan but this has been reduced to 5 varieties in Launceston.
This year the seed potatoes were attacked by an insect that ate around the eye of the potatoes and the shoots weren't suitable for planting this season. We will show our new way of storing the seeds at the garden visit.
The main vegetables we grow are potatoes, carrots, sweet corn, cabbages, cauliflowers, broccoli, kale, green peas and broad beans. Fruit trees we have are plums, peaches, nectarines, apples and a huge productive apricot. We also have a purple grapevine, gooseberry, logan berries and some struggling raspberries.
Watering is done from the hose with no irrigation systems. The washing machine water is used for watering the apples. The apples require a lot of water to develop fully.
At 90 years of age John prefers to garden at ground level and has no trouble spending long periods working on his knees. While he is fit and healthy John will continue maintaining this garden.
We moved up from Lachlan (Derwent Valley) 8 years ago to be closer to our 5 adult children. We found a large 1.25 acre flat block, nice house and a good shed within ten days of deciding to move.
The garden consisted of a lawn and a few iceberg roses. The first job was to rotary hoe a large piece of lawn to start a vegetable garden. The chook yard followed soon after, later planting some fruit trees and a couple of years later more vegetable beds were established.
The soil is heavy clay which grows great vegetables but the potatoes are struggling. The recent ongoing heavy winds have made things extra difficult for the potatoes this year. We used to grow 20 different varieties of potatoes in Lachlan but this has been reduced to 5 varieties in Launceston.
This year the seed potatoes were attacked by an insect that ate around the eye of the potatoes and the shoots weren't suitable for planting this season. We will show our new way of storing the seeds at the garden visit.
The main vegetables we grow are potatoes, carrots, sweet corn, cabbages, cauliflowers, broccoli, kale, green peas and broad beans. Fruit trees we have are plums, peaches, nectarines, apples and a huge productive apricot. We also have a purple grapevine, gooseberry, logan berries and some struggling raspberries.
Watering is done from the hose with no irrigation systems. The washing machine water is used for watering the apples. The apples require a lot of water to develop fully.
At 90 years of age John prefers to garden at ground level and has no trouble spending long periods working on his knees. While he is fit and healthy John will continue maintaining this garden.
Contributions for morning tea and the produce table will be much appreciated!
This Northern visit will be at Ravenswood on Sunday 8 February 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.
🍑
Last month's food garden visits
On Sunday 18 January the Northern Food Garden Group visited Ken and Mylene's garden at St Leonards:
On Sunday 18 January northern gardeners enjoyed a visit to Ken and Mylene’s garden in St Leonards. The garden is relatively small, exceptionally tidy and highly productive and generated much interest.
You will find the article about this garden here.
On Sunday 18 January the Southern Food Garden Group visited Kellie and Nick's garden at Sandfly:
Visitors to Kellie and Nick's small farm in Sandfly, 15 minutes south of Hobart, might be tempted to a romantic view of hobby farming. The sweet faces of the Dorper sheep, the cute flocks of quail and chickens, the ducks and swans on the dam all contribute to an idyllic picture of farm life. But Kellie is quick to offer a reality check.
You will find the article about this garden here.
Thank you, Denby (North) and Ngaire (South), for writing up these food garden visits.
🍑
Food garden visits planned for coming months
South - Sunday 15 March: Fiona and Craig's garden at Mount NelsonSouth - Sunday 19 April: Kathy and Tom's garden at Tea Tree
North - Sunday 22 March: Peter and Pam's garden at LongfordNorth - Sunday 19 April: John and Venie's garden at Newnham
A big thank you to these FGG members for being happy to host a food garden 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 food garden 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.
🍑
Vale Margaret Williams
In early January Margaret Williams, a long-time member of the Food Garden Group, died unexpectedly after routine surgery.
Margaret was a very knowledgeable entomologist. She was keenly interested in science, growing food, bushwalking and travelling.
Margaret was always happy to help FGG members, either at food garden visits, or on our Facebook page, with information in relation to insects, pest control and food garden practices. She contributed towards a number of pest-control articles on the Food Garden Group blog.
Margaret will be much missed by the group.
🍑
Sick of watering your garden?
At this time of year it can become tedious and very time-consuming to have to water your garden (almost) every day. So how can you make this easier?
There are a number of Food Garden Group blog posts that will help you with this question:
Improving your Irrigation gives an overview of great low-tech methods and wicking beds, then discusses the pros and cons of overhead irrigation, drippers on poly-pipe, soaker hose, weeper hose and drip lines. You will find the article here.
How to Build a Wicking Bed provides step-by-step info about building your own wicking bed - a lot cheaper than buying a ready-made one. You will find the article here.
Automating your Irrigation shows how you can make an irrigation system that looks after your garden without your help and continues watering your garden when you are away from home. You will find the article here.
The best time to make changes to your irrigation is winter, when there a fewer crops in your garden because at that time of year there is space to put in place what will save you lots of time later in the season.
🍑
All you need to know about processing and preserving!
On our group's FGG Extra blog is a lot of info about processing and preserving. There is a wealth of information here based on our members' successful methods.
Preserving - You need to know this! is a short must-read for anyone who is new to preserving, because there is one thing you should NOT do. You will find it here.
Microwave Bottling is a blog post by FGG member Marg M. She explains that this method allows you to do a bottle or two at the time and that it is fast and healthy (no added sugar required, just fruit). You will find it here.
Preserving Your Harvest was written after a workshop in which FGG member Margie M. shared some of her extensive knowledge on pickling, acidity, dehydrating, water-bathing, Fowlers Vacola and pressure canning. You can find it here.
Fermenting and Microwave Bottling was the subject of another FGG workshop by FGG member and fermenting expert Jenny K. You will find it here.
Quick Methods for Preserving your Glut is for those who don't have much time, but do want to benefit from their food garden crops when the season is over. You will find it here.
Preserving olives, garlic, cumquats and capsicums are examples of other subjects covered on FGG Extra. A complete list of articles about processing and preserving can be found here.
🍑
Food garden activities suggested for February
- 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 loose-leaf lettuce, parsley, celery, Chinese cabbage, Asian greens, endive, leeks
- Sow in your garden radish, spinach, silverbeet, carrot, parsnip, turnip, swede, beetroot
- Plant loose-leaf lettuce, iceberg-type lettuce, parsley, celery, brassicas (provide protection against caterpillars), leek and onion (after adding some lime to the soil)
- Put shade cloth over newly-planted seedlings to protect them from the hot sun
- Dig up potatoes and hill the ones that you are leaving for later
- Hand pollinate pumpkins, cucumbers and other cucurbits early in the morning
- Foliar-feed crops once a month with seaweed extract to maximise their health and growth
- Cut off tips of cucurbit vines that have two fruits so the fruits become larger
- Put something under pumpkins that rest on the ground so that they don’t rot
- Minimise caterpillar damage to brassicas by manual removal, netting or spraying
- 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
- Collect seeds from heirloom varieties of crops you would like to grow again next season
- Sprinkle sulphate of potash once a month around vegetables that form fruits
- Put nets over apple and pear trees, if not already done
- Remove runners on strawberries and put in pots so you have 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 first half of this month
Many of the topics mentioned above are discussed in posts on the Food Garden Group blog.
For a list of suggested food garden activities for every month of the year see Food Garden Calendar on the Food Garden Group blog.
🍑
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
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.