So... how wet is it at your place???
This year is ridiculously wet for most of southern and eastern Australia - the rain just seems to be never-ending. Probably the only part of Australia that is dry right now is the Far North, which as you know is where we live.
October is the Dry season for us, but being in the wet tropics we do very much understand the challenges of growing veggies when there isnât much sun and your soil is waterlogged.
Constant wet brings many challenges for gardeners... damping off, fungus, bacterial rot, downy mildew... ewwwww!
But at your place an amazing thing has happened... your veggie garden looks great!
Over the past weeks you've already sprayed everything a couple of times with Seaperia and now you are reaping the rewards. I bet your neighbour is looking over the back fence wondering why your garden looks so good while his is a disaster ... well, let me tell you why.
Put very simply, Seaperia strengthens cell walls. Plants are built from individual cells, and each cell has a skin that holds it together, kind of like the rubber skin on a water bomb - this is the cell wall.
When this cell wall is strong and tough the cell is able to defend itself against fungal and disease attack. And millions of these strong cells build themselves into a strong healthy plant. Here's what they look like magnified 400 times...
Synthetic chemical fertilisers have the opposite effect.
When veggies are grown quickly with synthetic fertilisers the cell walls are weak. This wet weather makes those weak-skinned cells burst and chemically grown veggies literally turn to mush.
Here's a classic example. A lettuce I bought from the supermarket gave me a nasty surprise when I removed the outer leaves. Yuck!
There are other things you can do to help your garden when the weather is really wet.
Its important to ensure you have good drainage. Keeping your garden beds above the level of the land will keep water running off - you don't want it to pool and sit.
Use drains to direct the run off where you want it to go - you can run a trench along the highest side of your garden to stop water running in. Swales are a terrific permaculture design feature - they direct water while slowing the flow and allowing it to penetrate the soil.
When the sun eventually comes out the air will be humid - avoid watering directly onto the plant leaves at this stage. Water around the base of the plant and keep the leaves dry. Also tie plants to stakes to support them and keep leaves off the soil. With some plants such as tomatoes you can remove the very bottom leaves which increases airflow and reduces the chance of disease and fungus.
So all of these tips plus spraying with Seaperia Soluble will ensure this season you're picking veggies like these!
Remember Seaperia seaweed strengthens plants by strengthening the cell wall of every cell. It's the natural growth hormones in seaweed that act as triggers for this to happen.
Spray your veggies with Seaperia when they are young - if you grew them from seed spray them when they have the first four to six leaves, and if you bought seedlings make sure you water them in with Seaperia when you plant them.
Then spray your plants 2 or 3 times over the growing season - different veggies have a different length of time from planting to picking, so the time between sprays will vary for different crops.
And remember... this is Australia! The land of extremes, from floods to droughts we will always have challenges in the garden.
But that's what makes it fun.
And Seaperia makes it rewarding.
A trick to keep your veggies fresh!
One more thing... did you know you can actually keep store bought veggies fresher for longer by dunking them in a solution of Seaperia Soluble for 5 minutes before you put them in the fridge.
Grahame explains how and why this works.