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In all regions, but especially in hot and dry areas it may be necessary to protect newly planted seedlings from the sun for a couple of days. Always plant in the late afternoon and water thoroughly afterwards; this will give the new transplants time to settle in before the next hot day. Continue sowing or planting summer vegetables like; celery, turnips, leeks, beetroot, carrots, parsnips, radish, parsley, Swiss chard, and spring onions.
There’s just enough time to get a second planting of potatoes into the ground for a late autumn harvest. To check if your existing potato crop is ready to harvest; remove one or two tubers, if you can rub the skin off with your thumb then they need another week or two to harden up. However, if you can't rub the skin off then you can lift your entire crop. If you want to store your summer crop for winter use, do not wash the potatoes, rather lay them out to dry and then gently brush off the excess dirt before storing them in cardboard boxes or hessian sacks, in a cool, dark, well ventilated place.
GarlicIts garlic planting season again, and in the good old days gardeners planted garlic which had started to sprout in the kitchen straight into their gardens and it produced good crops. Unfortunately this is no longer true of garlic purchased from your local supermarket, which may sprout, but if planted out never amounts to anything. This is because our garlic is largely imported, and to pass customs it needs to be irradiated to ensure that no live soil borne pathogens are carried into the country. This process of killing off any potential soil borne pathogens also destroys the viability of the garlic you have bought. Garlic is renowned for its health giving properties and growing your own is easy and best for your health. There is a very specific planting season for garlic, which starts from February and all the way through to April for Giant Garlic. If you plant at the wrong time of the year you will not have the best results. Organic garlic cloves are available from South African suppliers online.
Because onions prefer a cool growing season, February is also a great month to sow short day onion seed. Onions take anything from 4 to 7 months to mature, so prepare the beds thoroughly and ensure that they are well drained. Onions can be sown into seedling trays, or directly into garden beds in shallow drills and covered with +-10mm of soil. Thin the seedlings out to +-7 to 10cm apart, in rows +-22cm apart; never plant onion seedlings too deeply. To encourage growth, about a month after transplanting; feed with a fertiliser which is high in nitrogen, and water regularly until the onions mature. Once they start to mature cut back on watering.
Cut out the flowering heads of rhubarb, and if you want to collect seeds of Swiss chard, allow 1 or 2 plants to go to seed. Cut back artichokes to promote new growth for next season. Remove all flowers and very small fruits from your pumpkins and Hubbard squashes because they will not have enough time to develop fully before the cold sets in, and just sap the energy from the plant.