Grant Douglas's Garden Diary

Week 46: Third week of November

The half an inch of rain in the weekend was most welcome, although a little bit more would have been even better! Still time to get in those long-term outside crops such as Tomatoes, Melons, but it is starting to get quite late - depends on what sort of Autumn we get.

The secret to good plant husbandry is avoiding plant stress. This statement comes about from a question someone asked me about why their Lettuces become bitter. Avoiding plant stress means providing all the plants optimal necessities of life. This covers everything from the appropriate levels of moisture and light to freedom from pests and diseases.

In the case of the bitter Lettuce, the most likely cause of the bitterness levels is a lack of moisture, which leads to a concentration of the milky sap (you'll see this when you cut the stem). Most plants need to be grown quickly, with correct nutrient, moisture and light levels and, of course, this can vary from plant variety to plant variety, and probably is too much information to include here. However, it is well worth looking into for individual crops.

The consequences of stressed plants are fairly obvious - poor growth (either stunted or over-vigorous), early bolting, unpleasant or tough eating or the prevelence of pests and diseases. All this makes it sound like growing vegetables is extremely difficult, but some knowledge and experience very quickly goes a long way to solving most problems.

Sowing or Planting this week:

Tomatoes, Peppers, Chillis, Egg Plant
Basil
Beetroot
Beans - Scarlet, Runner (Shiney Fardenlosa), Dwarf ,Butter
Cabbage (Red and Green)
Cauliflower (Frieda - Summer variety)
Celeriac (for transplanting or direct)
Cucumber/Gherkins (am trying Lebanese Cucumbers this year - short type with very tender skin)
Kohl Rabi
Kumaras
Leeks
Lettuce (Loose-leaf Fancy and Hearting (Webbs or Greatlakes)
Onions
Pepinos
Potatoes - keep a succession of plantings going
Pumpkin/Squash
Red Onions
Silverbeet and Perpetual Spinach
Spinach (New Zealand)
Spring Onions
Sweet Corn
Watermelon/Rockmelon
Yams
Zuchini

Sow Direct:

Carrots - I find Topweight a good early variety
Chinese Greens and Cabbage
Corn Salad
Corriander/Dill
Mescalin Mix
Parsnips
Rocket
Radish

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