Tiana Deeth shows Kai Timmins a snow pea, picked from the community garden. Photo: Nikki Bailey.
As the weather heats up in Esperance, veggie gardens are crying out for fresh seedlings.
“We’re in spring heading into summer so now is a good time to plant anything in the cucumber family and also pumpkins, rock melons, watermelons and zucchinis,” avid gardener and “Gather and Grow” organiser, Silke Apel said.
“Corn is a good one now too — you can even plant what they call the “three sisters”.
“You plant the corn first, then when the corn comes up you plant climbing beans around it which climb up the corn, and then you plant pumpkins in between and the pumpkin is the ground cover.”
Ms Apel said tomatoes and basil grew well together too.
She said it was best to have the garden beds pre prepared with plenty of organic matter, like compost and worm castings.
“When you’ve got finished compost, it holds a lot of nutrients so you just mix it in with your normal garden soil,” she said.
“In summer make sure you have a nice layer of mulch on top of it to keep the moisture in the soil.
“When you plant them, it would be good to give them a bit of a boost with sea salt solution just to help with the transplant shock and afterwards, keep watering them and probably every four weeks use a slow-release mineral fertiliser.”
Ms Apel said try and water at the base of the plants and not overhead because leaves do not like getting too wet.
For more hot veggie garden tips head to the weekly “Gather and Grow” gardening and morning tea sessions at the Cannery on Thursdays from 10am – 12pm.
