The beginning of autumn and in the garden, it’s time to move on. Our pumpkins are ready for harvest. Vines are dried up and we start the storage process.
My buttercup plant was an absolute disappointment but the crowns compensated. This from only 2 or 3 crown plants and I’ve already given one away.
So for the best storage we recommend adding a small cup of baking soda to a bucket of water and rinsing each pumpkin with the alkaline solution, then setting them up somewhere in the sun to bake the skin hard. We have a spell of fine days coming up, so now’s a good time. Doesn’t matter if you get rain, just add a few more days to the week to 10 days you’ll leave them out for.
After this we’ll pack them away in a cool spot, preferably on straw or something soft as rot can start at the point of contact.
Then what to do with all the waste coming off your garden? Make a hot compost of course!
This pile has been gathering for a few months now, so it’s timely.
Our ingredients for the hot compost pile are grass clippings and either wood chips or soil, used coffee grounds, chicken manure, Morganics fertiliser, egg cartons, the remains of the garden crops (biomass) and plenty of water.
I usually do three sets of layers, so the first layer is grass clippings (ours are not super fresh, fresh is best) then a layer of biomass. As it’s so dry, now is a good time to water this layer. Then I add the activators – chicken manure, coffee grounds and Morganics. Then the egg cartons followed by our well-broken-down wood chips. Repeat twice more, watering well after the biomass layer. Water is key in the breaking-down process, particularly in the warm months. Make sure your base is wide enough to start with as otherwise it can become a bit unstable as you get higher.
I cover mine with black polythene to hasten the breakdown and keep it in place. It’s satisfying tidying things up, knowing you’re using nature’s resources to renew and regenerate the soil that hosts the next crops. It usually gets up to around 70 degrees Celsius after 3-4 days. It’s quite fun taking your meat thermometer out and testing it.
Now, the strawberry patch is putting out heaps of runners. I’ve got the kumara right next to it and the netting is all tangled up with the runners of both crops. I tried to patiently untangle it, but in the end thought it was a pointless task as the runners will eventually be cut off.
I planted new strawberry plants this year as the last lot just got too much fungal disease and that carried over to the new plants I made. So now I would be making new plants out of the nodes on the runners, except look how healthy these plants are.
Instead I’m going to leave these guys in and as well, I’m making just four new plants to fill in a couple of gaps I know are there. If you are making new plants, this is how we do it.
Fill your pots with potting mix and have some paper clips on hand. Simply press the node into the soil, partially undo the paper clip and use it to pin down the runner. As it’s so shallowly planted, the node can come out easily until it develops proper roots, so this just helps in the meantime. Give them a good water and soon you’ll see them taking off.
Rob has just harvested some of his kumara and they’re looking good.
We want to harvest earlier than we have in the past as last year mine all had skins that were too thick and they didn’t store. I planted mine a couple of weeks later than Rob did, so that’ll be my next job. Remember to harden them off in the sunshine before wrapping individually in paper for storage.
My onions will be going in a bit late this year. If your seedlings are starting to go a bit yellow at the tops but they’re not big enough for planting out, we suggest putting them in a spot in the garden, just straight out of the punnet ie all bunched up, to allow them a few more nutrients to grow on to planting-out size.
And finally, no bugs in our first feijoas! Big relief!
Happy gardening!
From Jan and Rob
4 Responses
Thanks for info about strawberries. I was given 4 plants and want to make more for next season. How long do you keep strawberries growing in the same place?
Kind regards
Hi Chris Depending on their health, they can be good for two to three years. Just remember when spring comes around to give them a good feed of something like chicken manure and/or a fish and seaweed solution to give them a boost for the new season. All the best 😊
Thanks heaps! I going to try the baking soda wash on the pumpkins this year as we lost a few last season due to rot. Also making biochar for the first time. Is this something you’ve made or used? Happy gardening 🙂
Hi Joy We haven’t used biochar, but we’re aware it’s becoming increasingly popular. Would be keen to hear your results 😊