Ruud Kleinpaste: Planting time for trees and crops

We had a great autumn… quite warm! – getting cooler now Some fruit trees are still producing fruits: All you need is relatively warm autumn conditions for ripening to be successful. Feijoas and figs and some apple varieties Feijoas: select you favourite variety; they are all more or less similar when it comes to resistance of frosts, so chose what you like. Feijoas are still dropping at my place (don’t “pick” them, let them drop!!!) Many varieties to plant in autumn – they are pretty hardy and make great hedges! If you want to create a “hedge”, put two or three different varieties in that hedge and create an opportunity for cross-pollination. If you are in the far north, guava moth may become your nemesis Figs can be a little more tender in the cold, so grab an early-ripening fig variety (Brown Turkey, Mrs Williams, Brunswick, Cape White, etc) when you think you’re “on the edge” Apples would also be a great tree to plant before it gets too wet and too cold – it reduces the fungal infections underground; in really wet spots, think about planting apple varieties “in raised beds”. Before planting a tree or two: ask around your district what grows well and ripens well. The trees really need not huge amounts of fertility at all (if they are on perfect soils they become tall and lanky too quickly, requiring pruning a lot) Select varieties you like to eat or process into apple-sauce (“applemoes” in Dutch); remember: if you are short of space, grab a young tree with two (or three) varieties grafted on the Main stem/Trunk Garlic should be in the soil this weekend – (to be honest, I planted mine a month ago!!) to avoid that dreaded garlic rust disease. It works for me as the bulbs are ready to harvest in late October before it becomes a pain! Another important tip is to put garlic in a different bed each year – simply to escape old rust spores hotspots The same goes for the Egyptian walking Onion (a kind of shallot that’s really easy to grow); it too suffers from a bit of rust (but not as bad as garlic), so keep these two crops separate! Cos lettuce will do well too – regular plantings of seedlings ensures a constant supply of salads Broadbeans and Peas are also still plantable for an early feast of Legumes in winter and spring;