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Growing for Success | Frost fighters: get your garden winter ready
Larry Smith and the Riverside Gardens team talk all things pots, plants and pruning in their weekly gardening column.
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I was writing this week’s column on the morning of our first frost for the year, so I thought I would retreat indoors and write this under the heater over the counter in the shop.
Now it is three in the afternoon, and I am just getting started.
It seems that Goulburn Valley gardeners, both old and young, are a pretty tough breed and could not wait to get out and make the most of the beautiful sunny day that follows a crisp frosty morning.
You cannot blame them, though.
These frosty mornings are beautiful to be out and about in, just like the magical feeling of a sunrise on a still, foggy morning.
It is just a nice time of day.
With the prospect of many more frosty mornings in the coming weeks, it is time to make sure your garden is in the best position to handle them.
So here are a few simple steps you can take to give your plants their best chance of survival.
Plants that are stressed for water are a lot more susceptible to frost damage, so ensure you keep the water up to them.
Remember, though, that without the drying winds and hot days, they require a lot less water to keep them happy.
Adjust the watering duration and frequency to suit the weather.
In the Garden Centre, we turn off our main watering program and run a frost program where the rows of sprinklers come on just before dawn for a minute, then turn off and the next row starts.
This runs through continuously until about 8am, creating a little bit of air movement and moisture on the foliage.
It is quite stunning to see the results in the morning, with little frozen stalactites glistening in the sun hanging off everything.
Frost covers made from old sheets, tarps, or bits of hessian thrown over your most frost-sensitive plants work wonders.
The main thing is to remember to put them out on nights of predicted frost and to remove them again the next morning.
Antitranspirant sprays such as ‘Envy’ are used to reduce transpiration in plants (water loss through the foliage).
They work by putting a semi-permeable, biodegradable protective film over the leaves and stems, making them more drought-tolerant and less susceptible to sun scorch.
It can also increase the plant’s frost tolerance by about 4°C.
The last trick to keep in mind is the type of fertiliser that you use coming into frosty times.
You do not want to be encouraging heaps of soft tender new growth.
Look for a fertiliser such as Seamungus, which is a natural soil conditioner and plant tonic that can help promote hardier, more resilient plant growth.
Having said all that, what I was really wanting to talk about this week was bush tucker plants and unusual culinary plants.
Over the past few years, there has been a growing interest in this group of plants, and quite a good number of them grow well in our area.
We have been steadily increasing our range of these plants and now incorporate them in among our herb area.
These include indigenous culinary plants, curry leaf plants, guavas, unusual herbs and some berry plants.
Bush tucker plants such as midyim berries, lemon myrtle, native leek, native mint, native oregano, old man salt bush, muntries or emu apple, finger limes and Tasmanian mountain pepper all grow happily in our area.
They are all quite ornamental and can easily be incorporated into most gardens in the general planting scheme.
Kunzea pomifera, known as muntries, bear clusters of green berries that turn purplish/red and fragrant as they ripen.
The berries are about 1cm in diameter and crunchy in texture, with the flavour of a spicy apple.
They can be eaten raw by themselves, added to salads, made into jams, or added to meat dishes.
They contain up to four times more antioxidants than blueberries, and yet they are still very much neglected for their health benefits.
Kunzea pomifera is a dense ground-cover plant that grows in full sun to part shade.
Midyim berries grow on the Austromyrtus dulcis plant, which is a dense, bushy plant that does best in full sun or part shade.
They have small star-like white flowers in early summer that set blueberry-sized purple flecked white fruit.
The new growth is burgundy/bronze in colour, over a deep green older growth, making them quite a useful ornamental small shrub.
The berries are deliciously sweet with a similar flavour to blueberries.
Murraya koenigii is a large non-native shrub to 4m with decorative light green foliage, which is ideal in curries, vegetable dishes, chutneys and pickles.
This is the true curry leaf plant, as opposed to Helichrysum italicum, the fragrant curry plant which is a grey-leafed, small-growing perennial that is not used in cooking.
Although Murraya koenigii is frost tender, if it is given protection when young, it will become tolerant as it matures.
They can also be grown as an indoor plant where the leaves can be picked fresh and added straight to your dishes.
If you would like to discover more about this interesting range of plants, join Samantha Lewis from Life Regenerated and myself next Friday, May 30, as we take a stroll through the nursery, delving into the healing powers, health benefits and uses of herbs and culinary plants while enjoying a heartening herbal beverage.
Cheers to the new season.
Harvesting Winter Wellness
Come along to make new friends, try new things and improve your health.
Friday, May 30,10am to 11:30am.
Tickets $25 per person, which includes a $20 credit towards purchases on the day and a herbal beverage on arrival.
Growing For Success