February is generally renown for being one of the hotter months of the year so keep up the moisture levels in the garden by monitoring daily. When plants get water-stressed, they become susceptible to pests and diseases, which can be very quick to move in. A healthy plant is much more likely to stay that way if it’s well watered. One huge benefit of organic humate is that by using this in your garden and particularly around and in the vegetable patch, the humic in the humate acts like a sponge which can hold its own weight in water up to 7 times.
The harvest of certain crops also takes place this month with vegetables such as silverbeet, spinach, spring onion, sweetcorn and tomatoes. On the fruit side if you are fortunate enough to be able to grow apricots then this will be a good time to pick these.
How do you know when apricots are ready? Well they should be plump and firm, with just a little softness to them. If they’re hard, they’re not ripe; if they’re squishy, they’ve gone too far. Ripe apricots have a lovely, unmistakable floral fragrance, so give it the sniff test😊
This time of year is also really good to ensure sure that your vegetable garden and fruit trees continue to grow strongly (especially if there’s really dry weather) so it’s important to maintain the humate input. One of our top selling products is Turbo Garden Blend. This is a fantastic product that contains worm castings, humate and some really important trace elements, so keep feeding the garden – particularly the vegetable garden – on a regular basis. The plants respond so well to this, and the payback is certainly worth the effort.
Another product that can be used at this time of year is our Liquid Fish & Seaweed blend which has an impressive NPKS of 8,3,6,1. Incidentally this is also very compatible with our organic liquid humate. Both our liquids come in handy 250ml and 1 litre containers that have a handy measuring chamber to ensure the correct amount is used. When these two products are used together the plants gets all the goodies from the fish & seaweed plus the carbon from the humate. Apply using a watering can once every 7–10 days or when conditions allow. Pour liberally over the foliage and you will also get a soil drench at the same time.
A few garden tips:
- Sweetcorn – protect plants from strong winds by staking them or erecting a windbreak.
- Potatoes – keep mounding up rows of potatoes to ensure a bigger harvest. When watering potatoes, water the soil and not the leaves. Keep the area around plants weed-free.
- Tomatoes – remove the lower leaves of plants to allow more light to ripen the lower trusses of fruit. Immediately remove any diseased leaves or fruit that may appear, to limit the spread of the problem.
Happy Gardening,