Winter Garden Maintenance | Aplus Farms

"Crops are ripening and ready to harvest as warm days gradually get shorter and they slip into autumn."

The Vegetable Garden

• Plan a harvest supper to celebrate the garden's bounty as we go into autumn. 
• Cook pumpkin, tomato, squash, zucchini and beans to eat now or to preserve. 
• As crops ripen, leave some fruit to mature to collect seed.
• Open-pollinated varieties come true from seed and these are the best to grow to collect your own seed. 
• Select seed from the most productive or tastiest plantings with an eye out for ones that have performed well in your climate and conditions.

As plants reach maturity they begin to decline and may be affected by disease.

• Cucurbits are often attacked by powdery mildew as they reach the end of their lifespan.
• This fungal disease appears as a white powdery covering on leaves and stems. 
• Affected leaves die back and become withered. Remove the badly affected plants rather than attempting chemical control. 

After removing spent summer crops dig in compost or manure to prepare for plantings of lettuce, onion, parsnip, turnip, peas and broad beans. Also plant broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and kale for winter harvest.

As the heavy tropical rains and humidity ease, start planting dry-season crops, including herbs such as coriander, basil and parsley. Where conditions remain wet and humid, plant herbs into terracotta pots with good-quality potting mix. Porous terracotta aids drainage, which helps to reduce fungal diseases and keep root systems cool. 

Tomato Growing Season

• Now is a good time to plant tomatoes, which can be tricky to grow when it's extra hot and humid. 
• Also sow peas, potato tubers, kohlrabi, turnips and a crop of spring onions. 
• Space permitting, squeeze in extra crops of eggplant, cucumber and capsicum. 

Prepare Soil For Planting

• Prepare soil before replanting with compost and organic fertiliser, to reinvigorate the soil and replenish nutrients.
• Keep harvesting root and starch crops such as ginger and galangal roots, sweet potato, yam, cassava and water chestnut. 
• Cover areas left bare after harvest with a layer of mulch or compost to deter weed regrowth. 

Fruits To Grow In Garden

There's lots of fruit in the orchard: 

• Grapes, new-season apples and pears, figs, kiwifruit and feijoas. 
• Autumn-fruiting raspberries will also be ready now. 
• Maintain fruit fly baits and traps to protect soft fruits. 
• Passionfruit, too, are hitting their straps. 
• Keep grass mown around vines to easily spot fallen passionfruit.

Citrus Gardening

Citrus crops are beginning to ripen with mandarins coming in first. These thin-skinned fruits may be attacked by fruit fly, so maintain fruit fly baits and traps until after harvest for these crops, too. Unlike other citrus, mandarins don't store well on the tree, so must be harvested before they become puffy and overripe. 

Other citrus ripening now include cumquats, native limes, limes and lemons along with grapefruit. In climates with mild, frost-free winters, autumn is a good time to plant citrus, which perform best in well-drained soils in sunny, sheltered positions. In confined spaces select dwarf or multi-grafted citrus, which suit raised beds or large containers. 

Feed ever-hungry banana plants by spreading a rich mix of chicken manure and compost around them. Other fruiting plants such as avocado, mango and pawpaw can be treated with a potash-rich organic fertiliser. Keep the ground around fruit trees mown to control weeds and grasses.

Avocado, custard apple, melons, jaboticaba, citrus and macadamia nuts are all ready to harvest. One of the oddest-looking crops is dragon fruit, which is bright pink on the outside and white with black seeds inside. It's also ready to pick now. 

Dry conditions make this a good time to start new building projects such as constructing fruit cages to protect fruit crops from bats and birds. Construct a protective cage that's large enough to stand in. To keep plants within its confines choose dwarf varieties, as these are naturally compact and easier to prune and maintain. 

How To Prepare Soil For Planting

As summer crops are removed, chop up leafy stems to add to the compost. 

• Intersperse with lawn clippings and chicken manure. 
• If it's too dry, moisten lightly before adding to the heap. 
• Prepare soils and raised beds for replanting by digging in compost that's matured over summer.
• Using compost adds both nutrients and beneficial bacteria to the soil and raises the soil level, which may have become depleted with regular cropping. 
• Water also helps improve water-holding capacity. 

Preparing Soil For Planting

Plant advanced plants as well as seeds and seedlings as soils remain warm in autumn, giving time for seeds to germinate and roots to grow before the chill of winter. Where new crops aren't planned, add compost and manure then cover the enriched soil with mulch, ready for bare-rooted plants that are available from late autumn and into winter. 

Most soils in Australia are naturally acidic and benefit from the addition of lime in preparation for planting crops such as brassicas and onions, which prefer a neutral to slightly alkaline soil. Check soil pH before adding lime. 

Allow poultry to forage among fruit trees to clean up windfalls and reduce pests. Also recycle their litter into the garden by using it to top up or start a compost heap. Also include layers of well-chopped prunings, palm and fern fronds, spent vegetables and grass clippings.

Use the hose to add extra moisture to the layers if they are dry. During the heavy summer storms nutrients are leached from tropical soils. To keep gardens productive, regularly replenish lost nutrients by adding manure, compost and organic fertiliser such as blood and bone to the soil before new plantings.

Dig these materials through the soil then let it rest before planting. Where fresh manures are used, leave the soil for several weeks as uncomposted manure can cause root burn. Cover areas not earmarked for winter cropping with mulch, or sow a green manure crop to replenish soil nutrients when dug in later in the year.