Summer Climate Garden 2021
What’s A Climate Garden
You can create a climate-friendly garden in your back yard, balcony or even roadside burm simply by nurturing your patch of soil in a way that is as eco-friendly as possible. This means no yucky pesticides, or fertilisers and trying to get as many nutrients in your soil as possible, naturally. Good climate gardens have a whole heap of micro-organisms living within the soil - it’s these organisms that help our plants grow, photosynthesise and pull carbon out of the atmosphere (where we have too much of it) and into the ground (where it belongs), in turn cooling our climate.
It sounds technical right? But it’s really not. All we’re talking about here is growing vegetables and perennials in a natural way, even better if we’re boosting our soil with top-quality compost. Compost breaks down food and garden waste to create a super-jacked soil-food that increases the health of our gardens and allows soil and plants to pull even more carbon from the atmosphere. There’s also the added benefit of growing food locally. Not only is it better for you when there’s no nasties involved but you save on carbon miles (walking into the garden to pull a carrot, versus driving to the supermarket… you get the gist) which is also amazing for our planet.
Start composting at home, or check out Sharewaste to find some compost near you.
Planting Into Summer
Now the soil is warmer and the chance of frosts have gone, its the perfect time to be planting for summer - especially if you started some plants from seed during Spring. If you are starting with your own seed (i.e in a greenhouse or on a windowsill) make sure your pots are clean and sterilised, or weed your soil in preparation. For many of the below vege you can purchase seedlings to give them a good kickstart we would recommend starting them indoors somewhere warm until you have seedlings ready to plant, you’ll avoid hungry slugs and this will give you more time for the last winter frosts to pass.
November / December Planting
Greens - lots of greens! (Lettuces, spinach, kale, rocket, cress, mizuna, gem lettuces, red salad, sorrel) Choose the cooler areas of the garden for your greens, though spinach and kale seem to not mind the sunnier spots.
Hot tip: You can plant greens all year round, but be aware they grow very fast in the summer so you have to catch them before they go to seed to enjoy a continuous harvest.
Strawberries - You can plant seedlings now! They are perennial though they only fruit in summer. Be mindful that they love to spread out so ensure they have enough space when planting. You can get ‘early season’ and ‘late season’ strawberries (it will say on the packet if growing from seed) and it’s ideal to plant a combo of both. Cover them with cloth to protect them from the birds.
Tomatoes - Now frosts have gone you can transplant your seedlings. Tomatoes love warm soil and some shelter from the wind. An ideal fruit to succession-plant, you could get some in now, then plant every couple of weeks so you have a staggered harvest until around April/May. Tomatoes don’t like wet feet so watch your watering and around 6-8 hours of sun is ideal.
Don’t forget to stake them and add some compost to your soil when planting.
A hot tip: plant them alongside some Basil. Not only is basil and tomato a match made in culinary heaven but basil shields the soil and stops it from drying out. We don't like bare soil, and tomatoes don't offer a lot of cover, so basil is a great ally.
If your eager for your tomatoes to grow fast - start with cherry tomato varieties.
Capsicum - are very similar to tomatoes in terms of what they like. You can plant seedlings now, and we’d recommend you do as they take a really long time to grow (so does eggplant which could go in now). If you hit mid-December you're a bit too late. Slugs will run rampant.
Brassicas - Broccoli and cauliflower can be planted all year round, though we’d recommend getting these in via seedling to give them a head-start and some growth before the white butterfly season is in full swing come Jan. Cover them during summer to avoid white butterfly demolition.
Peas and Beans - You can now start to direct-seed your peas and beans, though if you want to give them a head-start you could plant from seedling, the benefit of seedlings is that there are so many slugs at this time of year (seedlings have more leaves for the slugs to eat) Some for the slugs, some for you.
Climbing beans need something to climb. A-frame style is good as they'll go up and over. These guys like well-drained soil as they are prone to rot, and they love lots of sun - around 6-8 hours per day.
Spring Onions - A great one for succession planting (plant a few every 2 weeks) so you have spring onion ready to harvest all summer long. Watch they don’t go to seed!
Chilli - If you started your chilli peppers indoors early spring (jelapeno and habanero varieties are good ones to start with) you can transplant them now, or pick up some seedlings. Once outside they like tonnes of sun & to be protected from the wind. Don’t forget to stake them up as they grow.
Courgette - If your soil is warm enough you could plant these now via direct-seeding as they are relatively hardy plants and germinate well. Make sure you don’t plant too many close together, otherwise you’ll find they may get powdery mildew. About 1/2 a metre between plants is a good rule of thumb. They like a lot of airflow and you could be eating tasty zucchini approximately 12 weeks from planting, depending on the variety.
Potatoes - Now’s the time to start chitting! What’s chitting? It’s when you gather your old potatoes that are growing little knobbly bits (yep, you know the ones) and use them to grow more potatoes however you have to wait until there is absolutely no chance of frost before planting. For now, simply gather your old potatoes, sit them in a cool, dark place for 2 weeks at least or until they start sprouting and looking a bit funky. If one potato has multiple sprouts you can cut each one off and plant as one seed - cut the bits off, then let them heal and dry out. Once they’re ready you can pop them in soil, cover them and wait until leaves start to come out of the soil, then you can start to mound the soil around the potatoes - the more soil you have, the more potatoes you'll get.
You can also direct-seed potatoes now as the soil should be warm enough.
Onions - A pantry staple! These guys take a while to grow (up to 200 days) so you’re setting up for the long haul. Ideally start them in a greenhouse or indoors on a windowsill until they are ready to transplant. Once transplanted keep a close eye on them and make sure you’re managing weeding in the area.
Pumpkin, squash & watermelon - can be started indoors now, and then planted after frosts leave. When transplanting make sure you have enough space in your garden as they will spread as far as you let them. Hot tip: You can trim the vines and trim the ends and they are edible! The bigger you let them get the more fruit you will receive. One plant will get quite a few watermelons/ pumpkins. They like sunny, well drained, warm soil - this is why you sometimes see pumpkins growing out of compost.
Carrots & Radish - These guys like to be planted together. Carrots will grow a little slower (approx 2.5 months) though radish will protect the carrots from the birds, and when you harvest your radish you can keep track of where your carrots are.
Corn - If you have a bigger space in your garden for corn then now’s the time to go for it! Corn plants well with pumpkin, squash, watermelon and climbing beans (as the beans will climb up the corn) this is called the “3 sisters guild”.
These herbs can grow all year round:
Mint + Rosemary
Sage, Oregono, Thyme
Basil if you’re in a hot place - they like the heat
Coriander could still go in now, though it may not be doing too well come Jan.
Hot Tips
Harvesting lettuce: Cut a triangle (or harvest outer leaves - keep getting new growth) and make sure you harvest before the plant is too big so it’s not tough. Lettuce heads the size of your palm are a good guide! Nice n’ juicy!
Soil temperatures need to be at least 18C for most warm weather crops to thrive. A soil thermometer will give an accurate reading but if the soil feels warm to your touch it's likely warm enough to plant. They will also fail if there is any frost so depending on your region waiting till later in the month may be wise.
Water your seedlings very very well before transplanting and water the soil where you'll planting really well before putting the seedlings in. Transplant shock - where the seedlings die back, wilt or become stunted - can be preventing by thorough watering. Choose a cooler time of day to transplant or an overcast day, this will help to reduce the stress on the plants.
Ideal Conditions
Most Summer crops need a bit of sun, good airflow and protection from the wind as well as a soil temperature of at least 15 degrees. Remember to cover your soil where you can! If you’re planting above-ground crops, see if you can pair these with leafy, shady veges that will shade your soil and stop it from drying out.
Green Thumb Scale
3/5. Summer crops require a moderate-high level of maintenance, check on them regularly and if you can, harvest throughout the season to encourage more growth - especially greens! Your carrots and potatoes are low-maintenance veges - get them in early and watch them grow until they’re ready to harvest.
When To Harvest
Many of these crops grow above ground so you should be able to notice when there is enough to harvest, if you can, harvest throughout the season to encourage more fruiting. A few of these spring/summer crops take some time before they’re ready to harvest. For germination and harvest times it’s always best to check your seed packet as it will depend on the variety.