by Wally Richards

WINTER BLUES

Winter is a slow time for many gardeners with only the most enthusiastic donning their woollies and gumboots to venture forth in all weather to potter.

On the bright side we are now close to the shortest day and though it will take a month or two to appreciate the extending daylight hours, there are still some nice sunny days to take advantage of and get a few gardening chores done.

Jobs to do at this time include sowing seeds for the coming season, spraying roses, deciduous fruit trees, vines and brambles with potassium permanganate to clean up fungus diseases laying dormant.

Potassium permanganate is an inexpensive product that will eliminate fungus diseases on plants, animals and humans the later being used for fungus toenail, athletic foot by soaking the affected part in a solution of Potassium permanganate and water in a suitable bowl.

Pruning of roses and fruit can be done any time now and after pruning ensure that major cuts, such as the removal of branches, have the fresh cuts sealed.

A good inexpensive seal is to mix Wallys Liquid Copper with petroleum jelly or acrylic paint and spread over the cuts. Small cuts can be sealed with a spray of Liquid Copper and Raingard.

Do this to prevent diseases or rots from entering the plant before it scars-up in self protection.

NOTE This is most important, only do pruning of roses and fruit trees on a sunny day when the conditions are dry.

In cool, damp conditions the dreaded disease ‘Silver Leaf’ can enter the wounds and over time likely kill the plant.

Weeding is always part of gardening and weeds removed at this time certainly reduce the amount of weeding needed later on.

For those that don’t mind using glyphosate weed killers (Roundup etc) make sure you add a good dose of Nitrogen such as dissolved sulphate of ammonia or urea to the spray to encourage growth so the weeds die. (Glyphosate works on growth, zero growth, no kill). Raingard will also improve the results.

For those that don’t want to use a herbicide then you could use ammonium sulphamate (Compost Accelerator) at 200 grams per litre of water on a sunny day when the ground is on the dry side.

Ammonium sulphamate composts weeds where they are growing without any harmful affects to soil life.

On days when the weather does not permit outdoor gardening, then one can use this time to plan for the coming season. Seeds of any varieties can be started to be sown indoors for later hardening off and planting out.

If you like to grow the likes of carrots, parsnips, onions etc that need spacing then you can prepare these for later sowing.

Using paper towels cut into strips about 4-inches (10 cm) wide, paste the strips with wall paper paste (it contains a fungicide) and space the seeds at the right distance apart.

Place two seeds near to each other in case of failures; if both germinate later on, then you can nip off one.

Place another strip over the seeds on the first strip and allow the paste to dry. Name the strips for the type of seed. Strips can then be rolled up and placed in a sealed glass jar and stored in the fridge for later planting out (this gives seeds a cold winter and helps in germination.)

Flowering plants direct sown such as lobelia and wildflowers can be done in a similar manner, but using the likes of a whole sheet of paper towel pasted.

Fine seeds need to be dribbled across very carefully to get an even distribution.

Alternatively, mix the seed with icing sugar to make it easier, and you will get sweeter flowers (smile). Place another sheet over the first to hold seeds secure.

When it comes to planting, you just prepare the area, lay your seed sheets on the ground and lightly cover with sieved soil or compost and moisten. The paper breaks down, the seeds germinate, with better spacing. Little things like this during spare time, saves lots of time later on.

Planning your new season gardens will also assist you later on. Draw up scale diagrams of vegetable and flower gardens, make a list of the plants you wish to grow, check the room they need, their heights when mature and allowing for north sun, place the plants into your paper diagram gardens.

It’s fun and can allow one to make maximum use of the areas to the best advantage.

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HEALTHY FOOD CROPS

Nowadays most of us are aware of chemicals in our food chain and many gardeners have reverted back to the practice of growing at least some of the vegetables and fruit that their households require.

With health in mind the same gardeners are either making their own compost or alternatively buying bags of compost from their garden centre. Making your own compost is not difficult but making good compost that has lots of elements in it, is more difficult.

Real staunch organic gardeners go to great lengths to get as much goodness into their compost as possible, even growing plants such as comfrey etc to compost. Our most readily available green material is often lawn clippings which on their own do not make good compost. Animal manure is a key ingredient.

In days gone by when everyone had chooks, one had an ample supply of good chook manure, which I believe is still one of the best for general composting. Pig and horse manure also rate highly on my list if available from stables or piggeries.

Add to this kitchen scraps and a mix of leaves, trimmings, weeds that have not gone to seed along with some grass clippings. Newspaper, wood ash, sweepings, sawdust, old wool socks all add to the goodness of compost.

No matter how hard one tries, there are essential elements such as selenium and zinc that you will have great difficulty in getting into your compost. Yet these elements are vital to our health as they aid our immune system and greatly reduce the possibility of some diseases such as cancer.

In farming a good amount of work has been done in regards to selenium deficiencies — selenium is an essential element in the diet of animals and has a variety of roles. It is an anti-oxidant that works in conjunction with vitamin E to prevent and repair cell damage in the body, is involved in immune function and is necessary for growth and fertility.

A deficiency can cause white muscle disease (WMD) in lambs and weaners, scouring, ill thrift and lowered wool production in weaners and hoggets and in some cases infertility in ewes.

Likewise work is been done in regards to selenium deficiencies in humans. I have read where asthma sufferer’s conditions have improved markedly from having selenium in their food chain.

A point to bear in mind here is that inorganic selenium such as found in pills is expensive and the body will only take a small amount of the selenium — the rest is wasted.

On the other hand organic selenium (that which is in the food we eat) the body takes and stores for future needs. As our soils in most areas are totally deficient in selenium we need to put this essential element into our soil.

Wallys Calcium and Health contains selenium and can be used in your vegetable gardens for the pH benefits of a alkaline soil.

Also Wallys Ocean Solids containing 114 minerals and elements from the oceans should also be applied for all the minerals and elements.

Root crops such as potatoes, onions, carrots, radishes etc will take up more elements from the soil for consumption than leaf crops.

To sum up; for a healthy garden, use only composts and natural (organic) plant foods, avoid all chemical fertilisers and sprays, stimulate the beneficial soil life with Mycorrcin Plus and spray the plants regularly with Magic Botanic Liquid.

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