LFC News January 27 2021

Jan 262021
 

Thanks to all the people who have contributed to this week’s newsletter: Angelo Eliades, Anjana Mukherji, Clare Quinlan, Deb Graham, James Petty, Lee Hirsh, Megan Goodman, Mick Sheard, Robin Gale-Baker and Susan Arnold.

Robin’s veggie growing tip of the month

In general usage, the phrase ‘going to seed’ means ‘to deteriorate’. It is derived from the natural act of annual and bi-annual plants going to seed at the end of their life. Once a plant has lived out its lifecycle, it tries to perpetuate itself by producing seeds and these fall to the ground or are wind blown or transported underfoot by animals to another location. A certain number of these seeds will germinate, ensuring the plant’s survival.

There is a second reason, however, that plants ‘go to’ or ‘run to’ seed or ‘bolt’ and that is stress.

Stress can be caused by a number of things:

  • Lack of moisture in the soil.
  • Extreme weather especially hot weather.
  • Planting out of season or too early.
  • Unsuitable soil.
  • Disease.

The rest of this article focuses on the first three inter-related factors above, namely lack of moisture in the soil, hot weather and planting at the wrong time.

Chronic lack of soil moisture will mean that no amount of watering in hot weather will be sufficient to hydrate plants. The soil will have become hydrophobic (water repellent) and the roots of the plants will have been stunted by insufficient water. Already, you will have unhealthy plants. If your soil has been kept moist, and you significantly ‘up’ your watering during extreme heat, your plants should be fine but plants are often under-watered during summer, especially during periods of high temperatures, or they are watered after the heat, when they have already wilted. It is essential that beds are hydrated for a number of days before heat waves and, during heat waves, watered deeply each evening.

The combination of lack of water and of hot weather in general (and hot weather extremes in particular) leads plants to ‘believe’ that they are dying. They therefore try to reproduce, and ‘bolt’ rather than producing or maintaining an edible part. Hearting vegetables (such as brassicas (cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli) and lettuce) will split, pushing up a flower which will produce seeds. Stem vegetables (including celery, celeriac and kohlrabi) and bulbs (such as onions) will produce hard, woody stems. Root vegetables will transform their juicy roots to a woody ones.

Note that, whilst you can save the seeds produced by a plant when it bolts, there are usually fewer seeds than when that plant flowers at the end of its lifecycle.

To prevent bolting, prepare your soil well, incorporating compost for water retention, hydrate the soil through generous, deep watering from the time you plant out, shade the plant from the hot sun with a shade structure or a piece of old sheet or fabric draped over the garden bed, or even set up a beach umbrella. If you can keep plants cool, especially their roots, they will continue to grow healthily. Shade also helps prevent the soil drying out.

A further factor that you can control is when you plant your seeds or seedlings. Before the advent of climate changes, Spring (September, October, November) was warm, Summer (December, January, February) was hot and Autumn (March, April, May) was cool. These days, March and April can be very hot so it is worth delaying the planting of autumn crops till late April or early May or later if it is still hot. Have your seedlings ready in pots and, the moment the weather breaks, plant them out. Remember that autumn and winter crops are cool-weather crops so planting them in hot weather is self defeating.

Read more of Robin’s articles about growing techniques.

Meg’s garden this month

[Meg, who contributed weekly articles to this newsletter during the pandemic, is back and will be writing monthly articles for us during 2021. No longer ‘Meg’s social isolation week’, but now ‘Meg’s garden this month’. Thanks, Meg!]

Under the sharp gaze of some king parrots in the gum trees, Guy and I discussed a monthly contribution to the newsletter this year to reflect the seasons in the garden. I had just been provided with a tour of Guy’s acre garden with its various garden ‘rooms’ and large areas devoted to edibles. The view of the 5m high banana trees was relished despite misty rain and the beds of ripe perennial tree chillies were a highlight in contrast to my chillies and capsicums that are struggling to grow in this cool wet summer. Like mine, Guy’s tomatoes hang green on the vine, but are close to ripening. We agreed that the usual summer vegetables are slow this year and I’m sure that, like us, many of you are still anticipating the summer tomato harvest.

In my garden, the wet summer has also brought fungal problems to my stone fruit trees. The apricots have been able to avoid it, but I have had to pick them a little under-ripe (they do ripen after picking). Those affected get cut up and frozen for jam making. The dwarf beans have never produced so well and daily picking is needed. My zucchinis and cucumbers are also doing well compared to last year and, after a few days away, I have a large cluster of over-sized ones on display on the kitchen bench.

Zucchini and pine nut salad

2 green and 2 yellow zucchinis (or whatever you have), very thinly sliced lengthways into ribbons
1 teaspoon finely chopped tarragon or other herb (e.g. savoury)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
¼ cup pine nuts
Shaved parmesan cheese to serve

Lightly toast the pine nuts in a frypan.

Mix together the herbs, olive oil, vinegar and salt and pepper in a jar to make a dressing.

Place the zucchini on a serving platter/bowl and toss with dressing. Leave for 10-15 mins until the zucchini starts to soften.

Sprinkle over with the pine nuts and and parmesan.

Read more of Meg’s recipes.

Yes – you did know – tiny white bugs

Last week, Susan Arnold wrote in asking for advice about her veggies being covered in tiny white bugs with wings. Several of you have replied and there is broad agreement that the bugs in question are whitefly:

Susan (replying to her own question): “I have done some investigating myself and the bugs I have are whitefly. I have found that vegetable oil combined with dishwasher liquid diluted with warm water in a spray bottle works a treat. I have sprayed my beans, tomatoes, zucchinis and cucumbers and the bugs are now mostly (95%) dead. The plants remain lush and healthy days later.”

Angelo Eliades: “Tiny white flying insects that swarm when you spray then with water sound exactly like whitefly. They are tiny moths and can be controlled with eco-oil, neem oil or horticultural soap. Horticultural oils should never be used when the temperatures may reach 30 degC or more, as the leaves will burn, and that sounds like what might have happened with Susan. On really hot days, just hose the bugs off with a moderate pressure spray to reduce their numbers.”

Clare Quinlan: “It sounds like whitefly. A vacuum cleaner can be great to sucking the majority off. Constantly disturbing them is great to, but can get exhausting and boring standing there all day disturbing tiny creatures from eating their dinners. Garlic spray and eco can work but only if it gets on the actual fly apparently. I aim to leave whitefly up to beneficial insects like ladybugs and lacewings. I also leave my fennel to go to flower which creates a ladybug nursery where their numbers grow over summer.”

Anjana Mukherji: “Try 1 litre of tap water 2 drops of washing liquid soap and 4/5 drops of Neem oil. Shake well and spray.”

James Petty: “I have had similar problems. They fed on my tomatoes, zucchini, pumpkin, eggplants, jerusalem artichoke (stems and leaves), rocket, parsley, coriander, rosemary, carrots, parsnip, potatoes, cornflowers, and everlasting daisies. They killed several potato plants and (I suspect but don’t know) were the vector for a virus in my tomatoes. I initially assumed that they were whitefly, except that they weren’t white. However, after I sent them a photo, Museums Victoria IDed them as probably vegetable leafhopper (Austroasca viridigrisea). Here is AusVeg guide to the vegetable leafhopper.

“As for treatment, they resisted everything I tried: horticultural oil, neem, coffee spray – nothing worked. The most effective was a combination of vacuuming (daily) and ‘puffing’ diatomaceous earth all over the plants (leaves, stem, underside leaves). However, this took a long time and the puffing is also likely to impact beneficial bugs like predators and pollinators. And within a week, the hoppers were back to full numbers anyway. I have resigned myself to their presence and tried to reduce their habitat. They seem to love rosemary so I pruned it back to a stump.”

More on Queensland Fruit Fly

Pam Jenkins has written in to suggest that you read this report from Horticulture Innovation Australia. Pam adds “it looks like there may be some hope in integrating kaolin with exclusion netting especially for the home gardener … Kaolin looks like a great alternative to the previous regimes of cover spraying with toxic chemicals. It is going to affect pest insects that inject eggs, suck or chew on fruit and, so far, my reading suggests that it has little impact on beneficial insects and bees unless it is sprayed directly on to them. It has the added bonus of reflecting sunlight so helps prevent sunburn and slows evaporation from leaves in really hot weather. I also read that it doesn’t affect photosynthesis but I haven’t had it on leaves long enough to confirm that for myself.”

Dark Horse Cafe, Wine & Produce in Watsons Creek

Here’s a question for your next trivia night: what suburb in North East Melbourne has the smallest population and what is that population? Answer: Watsons Creek, with a population of just 51. Historically, Watsons Creek has actually been quite well known, at least in some circles, because of its antiques shop on the road from Kangaroo Ground to Yarra Glen. A few years ago, that antique shop closed and was replaced by Dark Horse Cafe, Wine & Produce which, as the name suggests, is both a cafe and a produce store, both of which are open Wednesday to Sunday. There is also an art gallery with local art next door.

Of particular relevance to this newsletter, the produce store sells quite a lot of local produce, including from
Buttermans Track (St Andrews); Coldstream Brewery; House of Gingerbread (Warrandyte); Kings of Kangaroo Ground; Napoleone Brewery & Ciderhouse (Coldstream); Rob Dolan Wines (Warrandyte South); Warrandyte Berry Farm (Warrandyte South); and Yarra Valley Gourmet Foods (Seville). Read their Local Food Directory page. Welcome Sharon and colleagues!

News about local food organisations – Imbue Distillery

Imbue Distillery have opened a tasting room and boutique bottleshop in Ivanhoe. It is called Wander North and is at 13/149 Upper Heidelberg Road, Ivanhoe. It is open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, each midday-8pm.

Local food organisations in the news – 2020 Northern Business Achievement Awards

The 2020 Northern Business Achievement Awards were recently announced and they include four food organisations from North East Melbourne:

  • Blue Pear Pantry from North Warrandyte (Best Start-Up or Microbusiness).
  • Floridia Cheese from Thomastown (Business of the Year).
  • Moon Rabbit cafe from Preston (Philanthropy and Community Service Award).
  • Mocopan Coffee from Preston (Workplace Diversity Award).

What seeds to plant in February

Here is a list (see the planting guide for more detail):

Warm season veggies

Beans
Sweetcorn

Cool season veggies

Broccoli
Brussels sprouts
Cauliflower

Leafy greens

Lettuce
Mustard greens
Silverbeet

Roots

Beetroot
Carrot
Onion
Potato
Radish

Other

Chives
Fennel
Leeks
Parsley

In principle, you can start planting some of the brassicas (broccoli, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower) but perhaps it would be better to wait until March.

Every newsletter needs a good picture

Korean ChangKi Chung composes, and then photographs, stacks of food.

Which link was clicked most times in the last newsletter?

The most popular link was the DIVRS urban food program page asking for volunteers.

Proverb (or phrase) of the month

Pie in the sky Meaning: something good that is very unlikely to happen.. This phrase was coined by someone called Joe Hill in 1911 in a song entitled The Preacher and the Slave, which was a parody of the hymn Sweet By-and-By. The full phrase was “you’ll get pie in the sky when you die” and was Hill’s criticism of the Salvation Army’s philosophy of salvation of souls rather than the feeding of the hungry. The phrase was first used figuratively in its present meaning during the second world war.

Incidentally, Joe Hill was executed for murder in 1915 but, as discussed in Wikipedia, may well have been innocent. His will was written as a song and started with the couplet “My will is easy to decide, for there is nothing to divide.”

Read more food-related proverbs.

Gardening quote of the month

“Bread feeds the body, indeed, flowers feed also the soul.” by The Koran.

Read more gardening quotes.

Joke (or pun) of the week

Submitted by Lee Hirsh: Did you hear about the cheese factory that exploded in France? All that was left was de brie.

Read more jokes.

Upcoming events – website calendars

Website calendars

By type of event: All once-off events, Cooking, Everything else, Free.

By Council area: Banyule, Boroondara, City of Yarra, Darebin, Manningham, Maroondah, Moreland, Nillumbik, Whitehorse, Whittlesea and Yarra Ranges.

When looking at a calendar, remember that you can:

  • Filter the list of events by suburb or suburbs using the green ‘location’ button top left.
  • Show all the event descriptions using the ‘expand all’ button top right.

Upcoming events – not cooking

Newly announced
January
February
March

Upcoming events – cooking

Newly announced
January
February
March
In Richmond

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