Garden Journal Weekly, 19th October 2022
It's spring here in South Australia and we've had an unusually wet one, so we're seeing lots of green as everything bursts into vigorous growth. I fear it won't be long before everything is turning yellow as it bakes in the summer sun, though. Meanwhile I'll take a virtual visit to the northern hemisphere to see some warm autumn colours.
@flemingfarm reminds me that for many gardeners it's now time for the last of the harvesting and winding things down ready for winter. There are some gorgeous autumn colours on display there too.
Some more harvesting is happening at @cahlen's homestead, where in just 6 months the amaranth plants have grown taller than him! Harvesting certainly isn't a quick or simple process, but he found himself a clever "tool" to help.
Of course autumn is that time of year where the trees drop lots of goodness in the form of leaves and @amberyooper has not been letting that go to waste. It's been going into the shredder for mulch and by the time winter is over I expect it will be nicely breaking down and adding nutrients for the new season.
Of course harvesting also means cooking and preserving, so that's exactly what's been going on at @goldenoakfarm. Now I'm drooling, so I'm going to wrap things up here and go have my dinner, before I drool on my tablet, and I'll leave you with some more autumn colours.
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Also here in the southern hemisphere of South America @minismallholding , several hours apart from Australia's time zone, spring began almost exactly a month ago. Although so far it has been a strange spring. With little heat, little rain, relatively cool days and plants that have not yet finished exploding in all their green buds, shoots and flowers.
I have some fruit plants in which the flowers have already closed (navel orange tree, the well-known seedless navel oranges, a delight for the palate due to how sweet they are) and the first fruits are already beginning to be seen.
The rest of the garden and the orchard go in slow motion. They need rainwater and not risk water.
A warm hug and my congratulations to all organic growers. I have read some of your articles and many of your practices I also carry out. In other cases I have learned new things.
Until next time!
I've just finished taking the last of my navel oranges off the tree and it's in full flower ready for the next crop. So I think it's a little behind yours. I love the smell of the flowers! 😊 I've got plums and cherries starting to grow, though. Next to flower will be the apple tree.
This year I have had to do a fairly rigorous pruning of the citrus plants that I have in my garden (a navel orange, a common orange and a mandarin).
They had been heavily attacked by a plague that we call white cochineal and that attracts a lot to that type of small ants that roam all over the plant, without making an ant nest on the ground. And they attack the fruits.
I have talked about them in previous posts explaining all the work done. For this reason the foliage this year has been scarce but, at least, it is totally healthy and free of pests.
Once a week I continue spraying the plants with a spray that is a solution of potassium soap and neem oil, which has given me good results so far.
The oranges still look very small but I am satisfied with the amount, actually I thought the plant would give less. I think the flowers are over and there will be no more. We are going through a fairly long period of drought and irrigation water is not the same as rainwater.
The oranges ready for consumption will be ready for the month of May of next year approximately.
I'm glad you got the plague under control. It sounds worse than the scale I get on mine! I also need to trim mine a bit, but more because it's in the chicken run so I can't let it get too big.
Nothing is quite like rain water for plants, it's it? Most of our summer is irrigation from the mains and the plants never do as well.
Thanks for the mention!
You're always welcome. 🙂
It's always good to see what you are working on as the seasons go by.
I can say that it's really about to happen there now and those fallen leaves will serve as a fertilizer again for those trees to produce more greener and healthier leaves next season.
We're having rainy season here now, perfect for planting some fruit bearing trees.
What fruit trees will you be planting?
I'm loving the pictures and colours!
I love the autumn colours. A bit of visual warmth as the cold sets in.
I guess it helps that my two favourite colours are red and orange.