We know South Africans love their gardens! This magazine inspires the home enthusiast with practical ideas for maintaining and enhancing their gardens, patios and backyards. New plants and products are mentioned first in The Gardener and there is also a special focus on indigenous gardening in South Africa.
April 2010 Big Green Leaf Machines
April is always eagerly anticipated in the vegetable garden. It is the last really good month for sowing, and everything grows so much more easily because the heat, the rain and the pests are no longer so ferocious. Salad and leafy vegetables are particularly rewarding – lettuce, Swiss chard and spinach can be sown throughout winter in most areas, but the sowing window for cabbage only extends to the end of April or up to the middle of May (after that the first frost can be expected in many areas).
Sowing
Swiss chard, spinach and cabbage can be sown directly into the soil; all three and most especially cabbage like properly enriched soil, so include plenty of good compost in the beds. Lettuce seed is very fine so it is better (and less wasteful) to sow it in seed trays and only transplant the seedlings when they are about 10cm high (or big enough to handle).
Keep the soil damp during germination. You may need to take precautions against birds eating the seedlings because the supply of fresh greens starts to dwindle at this time of the year and your young plants will be irresistible to them. If you need to fill spaces where the seedlings haven't survived (or they've been gobbled up by the birds) you will probably find a good stock of vegetable seedlings at your local garden centre.
Succession sowing
Sow successive crops of lettuce every three to four weeks.
Swiss chard and spinach grow more slowly during winter so it is a good idea to sow what you need before mid May so that you have enough planted to keep you going through the cooler months. Their normal rate of succession sowing is every three to four weeks but this can be reduced to every two weeks.
Succession sowing of cabbage can be done through to mid May.
Mulch, mulch, mulch
Once the plants are sturdy and about 10 cm high, mulch the beds quite thickly to protect the roots from the cold in winter. This is a very important step and makes a big difference to the overall harvest. There are a number of mulch options: straw or hay from the mown verges along roads, newspaper, plastic sheeting (as used for strawberries) and even rough compost that has not completely broken down. If you want to use plastic sheeting then you will have to lay the sheets over the beds and make holes in them for the little plants, which is quite time consuming. Newspaper is a far cheaper and easier option, but use only the normal newsprint, and not the glossy inserts. The newspaper layer should be quite thick – at least 10 to 15 sheets. Cut holes for the seedlings, or shred the sheets or put down cut squares, leaving a space around each seedling. The earthworms also seem to like newspaper and it is bio-degradable.
Feeding and watering
Keep the soil moist, but don’t overwater. Cabbages, in particular, enjoy plenty of water. All the green leafy vegetables benefit from nitrogen and it is a good idea to feed with a nitrogen-rich liquid or granular fertiliser so that the plants are as strong and leafy as possible before the cold temperatures and frost. A liquid feed, such as Multifeed™, can be given every two weeks but a granular fertiliser like organic 2:3:3 or Vigorosa™ only needs to be given every four weeks – the granules should be sprinkled around the plant and watered into the soil.
Pests
Snails, whitefly and beetles should be not be a problem any longer but, as mentioned earlier, the birds, especially the late nesting ones, will be on the lookout for young green shoots. Use bird netting rather than shade cloth to protect the young vegetables, because shade cloth will cut out too much light. The cabbages may attract aphids. If you find only one or two are badly infested then remove them, otherwise use an organic insect spray.
Lettuce
Plant a mix of lettuce; the varieties include Crisp head, Butterhead, Perpetual (loose leaf) and Cos.
In winter lettuce grows best in full sun or with plenty of morning sun.
Plants should be spaced well apart, at least 30 cm, so that air can circulate freely and the leaves are able to dry off quickly after watering.
Perpetual lettuce is nice because the outer leaves can be picked as needed but if you find that the second set of leaves picked is bitter then rather harvest the whole lettuce and plant more.
Keep the soil moist because drought-stressed lettuce develops a bitter taste.
Cabbage
For a small family, or if your family members are not enthusiastic cabbage eaters, rather opt for baby cabbage.
Red cabbage has more phytonutrients than green cabbage and more vitamin C. The red pigment (anthocyanin) is an antioxidant that is believed to help protect brain cells and may help prevent Alzheimer’s disease.
Plant cabbage in the area where beans were grown earlier in summer; the beans will have enriched the soil with nitrogen.
When planting out seedlings, sink them up to the first set of leaves as this helps to stop them from toppling over.
Pick cabbages as soon as the heads become firm; otherwise they develop a bitter taste.
Swiss chard and spinach
Space plants about 20 cm apart.
When harvesting, cut two or three of the largest leaves or leave the outer ring of leaves and cut the second level but don’t cut into the crown. Cutting off all the leaves at once puts a huge strain on the plant. Good yields come from harvesting leaves on a continual basis and regular feeding.
Dig out the plant when it stops growing vigorously and the leaves start to flop.
