Plants know.  Well, mostly they know. They do get it wrong, but a lot of years of evolution have gone into picking the change of season.  Despite the cold snap we’ve been going through, this morning my garden reckons Spring has truly sprung here.

First of the season’s strawberries and asparagus are telling me so.  (The first of the season broad beans and brussels sprouts are just in there because I am so happy to see them.  Here on a high, nearly frost free site in northern NSW, I am right at the limit of their climate range.  Some years, spring springs too early to get a crop at all).

So, it’s a bit risky.  Last night was cold enough to really upset a baby zucchini or eggplant.  But I’m trusting my asparagus and planting out the advanced seedlings of summer crops that I’ve been raising in my shadehouse.

I’m planting out Blue Lake, Purple King, Madagascar, and Brown Seeded Snake beans, Roma and Principe Borghese tomatoes, eggplants,  Corno de Toro, perennial, and Baby Flat capsicums, golden squash, blackjack zucchini, Trombocino,  mini white and continental cucumbers – all planted as seed last month.  My rockmelon and watermelon seeds didn’t come up – just too cold for them even protected.  I’ll try again this month.

And I’m putting another round of seed of all of these in so as to have continuity of supply.  The trick at this stage is not to get too excited – only plant a few of each and leave room for sequential planting,  so as to avoid the boom bust cycle of gluts and shortages later.

So two, just two zucchinis are going out.  The other two I’ll keep in the shadehouse for a week or two, just in case the asparagus got it wrong.  But then I’ll recycle the potting mix.  Hold me to it!

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Leafy planting days today and tomorrow. The trick with leafies this time of year is to think about sex.

As far as the plant is concerned, from now until the summer solstice, it’s best chance of getting some is to flower as soon as it can. While the days are lengthening there is time for the bees to do their bit and the next generation to germinate, mature and get in a store of food before the winter arrives again. After the summer solstice, around 21st December in the southern hemisphere, the days will start shortening again, and the plant will figure it’s best strategy is celebacy – hold off on flowering until the winter is over or risk it’s newly germinated offspring being covered in snow.

So leafies will all be like wayward teenagers trying to grow up too fast. Whatever you do, you are likely to have a short season, so the first trick is to plant small quantities every planting break and plan for picking for just a few weeks. The second trick is to choose varieties that have been bred to be slow to bolt. And the third trick is to avoid panicking the plant – giving it a really smooth run to adulthood will help convince it to bet on maturing a bit more and setting more seed, rather than reproduce as fast as possible.

And in the end, be resigned to the fact that a heat wave or day of dry wind or soil that is less than perfect or a few days when you forget to water will spook the plant anyway.

I’m planting out the advanced seedlings in the shadehouse from last month, and this time seed of a couple of varieties of lettuces and rocket, and that’s all. Oh and basil of course. Lots of basil.

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My current favourite breakfast – paw paw and citrus fruit salad with homemade yoghurt and toasted pepitas (and a few strawberries to top it off).  Paw paw and citrus flavours go so well together, and luckily I have the last citrus of the season – late mandarins and pomelos – still picking.

I hesitated to post this one, but I think it’s good to remember that good food doesn’t need to be complicated.  We are picking three or four paw paws a week at the moment, all from one prolific tree – and the creatures are getting one or two as well! I propagated seed from it last year, and I have half a dozen young trees ready to plant out this week.  Half of them will be male and only good for the gorgeous flowers, but half are likely to be females.

If you have only ever eaten bought paw paws, you are unlikely to really love this fruit.  It is one of the (many) crops that are totally suited to real localvores.  Too soft to transport when ripe, commercial crops are picked very green and hard and never develop the sweetness and flavour of tree ripened paw paws.

To love them, you really need to grow your own.  Paw paws are a really good garden tree in tropical, subtropical and even warmer temperate climates if you can find the right spot.  They won’t cope with frost and they need a long warm summer to bear well, but if you have a north facing fence or wall, you should be able to grow them right into southern NSW. The tree is not too large and it’s really attractive with its large green leaves, so if your front yard faces north, all the better. The roots are not too invasive and won’t dig up paths and pipes.

They’re fast growing and (relatively) short lived.  You will get your first crop within a year, but they will only live for 5 or 6 years.  If you have limited space, you can go for the bisexual varieties but if you have enough room and are willing to gamble a little on getting females, the sexed kind will bear more heavily and you can easily propagate your own from seed.  You will need one male for every half a dozen females.

Other than that, they just like good drainage, a bucket of compost or worm pee a few times a year, and enough water. Chop the tree off if it starts to get too tall, and put a can or icecream bucket over the cut end to stop the hollow trunk filling up with water and rotting. It will sprout several new trunks out the side and gain a new lease on life, at a more pickable level.

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My asparagus is sprouting, so I think it’s telling me that it is time to plant out the baby seedlings I have in the shadehouse.  Last year the wallabies really devastated my asparagus and I lost heaps of plants, so this year I am replanting a complete new bed to make up for them. I like having lots, enough for eating and gifting.  It’s such a gourmet vegetable, you feel really rich with lots!

These babies won’t bear harvestable shoots for two or three years.  However provided I can keep the wallabies away, they should then bear for twenty years or more.  I could shorten the wait by buying two year old crowns, but did I say I want lots?

Asparagus comes in male and female, and the standard wisdom is to cull the female plants as the spears are skinnier.  Luckily I left some females in, so last autumn  I was able to pick the little red berries with seeds and propagate  a tray full.

I transplanted the babies into a mix of creek sand and compost and they spent the winter in the shadehouse, being fed with seaweed brew for the last month or so.

I shall plant them out at about 50 cm spacing into a bed that has been well composted and mulched.  Since they will be there for a long time, it is worth preparing well.  The spot I have for them is on the north-east, downhill side of an annual vegetable bed.  I figure that they will capture any runoff water and nutrients.  The mature ferns in summer grow a metre or more tall,  but because they die back completely over winter, they won’t shade the bed during the part of the year it needs full sun.

In late autumn, asparagus dies back completely.  I top dress with compost and mulch the bed heavily with a light, high carbon mulch that won’t heat up.  In spring, right about now, the shoots start to appear through the mulch. My well established plants will yield a spear or two every couple of days from now through November.  Then I shall stop harvesting and allow them to grow out to store enough food for next winter’s dormancy.

I had planned, today, to put in another tray of carrots and spring onions, using my standard method. But I got a bit too vigorous pulling nettles along the fence, (making sure there were no more hole the wallabies could use to get to the asparagus).  And I ended up with a piece of wire through my thumb and a quick trip into the local hospital.  Kyogle Hospital is wonderful!  But the carrots will have to wait.