EDIBLE GARDENS WITH CRAIG CASTREE A busy family’s guide to growing organic Autumn vegetables at home Hi everyone! Well, I can’t believe it will be Autumn again soon and as usual, there are lots of things to do in the edible garden. Today, you’ll find out 2 helpful things: 1/ What to plant for Autumn, and... 2/ A method of growing many people don’t know about. It’s easy, spray-free, will make your food taste scrumptious, and your garden (or balcony) look gorgeous. What to plant for Autumn After summer, get ready to replant a lot of vegetables that will have finished. Head to the shops and grab your supplies. It’s almost time to start planting seedlings of broccoli, cauliflower, Brussel sprouts, leeks, onions, lettuce, broad beans, carrot, fennel, bok choy, pak choy, coriander, rocket, shallots, spring onions, spinach, turnips, beetroot, kale, peas, silverbeet, rainbow chard - to name a few. What goes well on the plate together, goes well in the ground together I don’t crop my vegetables (planting the same type of plants in rows or all together) - so I don’t need to crop rotate. This saves so much work and frustration trying to record or remember what I planted where last time. Instead, I use an approach called companion planting: a practice of grouping plants that benefit each other. Some attract predators, some deter pests, some fix nutrients for their partner, some attract pollinators. A saying that reminds me of this approach is: “What goes well on the plate together, goes well in the ground together.” Let’s use tomatoes as an example: When you plant a tomato, plant one or two basil plants next to it, one Genovese basil, and the other sweet basil. These go well together on the plate - yet basil also helps to keep pests such as thrips and whitefly away from the tomato plant. Garlic goes well with tomatoes on the plate too. What’s more, it deters insects. Add a lettuce or two of different colours and shapes to make a salad. Lettuce will camouflage other plants from pest attacks. Then to help the tomato plant pollinate - it helps to attract bees - plant marigold. It’s a great pollinator attractant. It also helps to keep nematodes away from the roots of tomatoes. Companion planting is unheard of to many people - we’re so used to seeing rows of vegetables in the fields. Growing vegetables in rows are for those who have to feed the masses. The minute you plant the same variety of plants in a row, you ask them to compete for water, food, sunlight, and space.
If one plant is infected with a disease or is attracting insects, the same variety of plants you’ve planted right next to it will be affected too. These problems will spread from plant to plant, row to row. And then, how do you think they get rid of pests? That’s right. Plenty of sprays. Not what you want to feed your family, is it? I’m sure you see why companion planting is a better solution. Don’t have enough space in your garden? Grab a big tub and add your tomato plant, a marigold, basil, garlic, and a lettuce or two. Not only does this look fantastic, but you also won’t need to spray or dust. If you have room, you can later plant these in the garden. So, you know what plants to start growing for Autumn. And for what to grow together, let your taste buds guide you. Go on, get set up, you’ve got a few weeks until Summer is over. Got any questions, shoot me an email, I’d love to hear from you: craigcastree@optusnet.com.au Craig Craig loves talking to people about how to set up their own edible gardens and make healthier, more sustainable choices. He is also a cheesemaker, an apiarist, Published Author of “Edible Gardens a practical guide”, and presented on ‘Vasili’s Garden to Kitchen’ program on Channel 44 and 7 TWO. Website: www.craigcastree.com.au
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