IN THE VEGGIE PATCH - May
Southern Hemisphere

I just love this time of year. It's a time to appreciate the changing seasons. You'll start getting a little dew on the ground over night and deciduous trees start putting on their colourful show for autumn. Take an early morning stroll through the garden and learn where your different micro-climates are. North facing alcoves are a warm winter haven, protected from frosts and can be ideal for extending the crop of tomatoes and cucumbers grown in pots. Move pots around the garden to take advantage of shade as well as sun traps at different times of the year. Valleys or low points in the garden that are covered with morning shade are very frosty so avoid planting there in the winter months.

* Beans, cauliflower, broccoli and corn can freeze well, so save these for the months when the harvest is down.

* Preserve batches of tomatoes in glass jars for tomato puree and pasta sauces for the winter.

* Throw a few veggies together in the juicer. This is a great power burst, rich in enzymes and nutritional insurance.

* Make friends with the neighbours and give it away. Gardeners are generous and big hearted people!!!

* Check out your nearest community garden and arrange a "swap meet" for veggies.

What to plant
Continue with onions and broad beans through autumn.

Also plant some winter crops of lettuce (hearting varieties) and carrots. Spinach, radish and peas are all going in now too.

Cut back asparagus to ground level and mulch heavily with compost and straw.

Now is the time to start rotating your crops so plant into new beds from here on to avoid problems with pest and disease.

Cabbage family plants like broccoli and cauliflower and Brussels sprouts will need some staking if they get too tall. Keep carrots and beetroot in the ground until you need them, just mulch to protect from frost and ease off with the watering.

This is also a good time to clean out the shed or glass house. Wash racking or shelving down with hot water and scrub any mouldy corners. Give it good air circulation to dry well. Dip secateurs, knives, punnets and pots into boiling water and dry in the sun.

Pest alert!
Cabbage White Butterfly care around in force now. It's important to check the underside of your leaves to see if eggs have been laid. Sting up some fishing line and dangle white cardboard cut-outs imitating the moths. Dangle these around your plants, it seems to put off and deter the real ones!

Keep on top of weed control this month. If you have time for nothing else, make sure you snap off the flowering heads of weeds around the garden. This at least, will stop them multiplying. Weed seeds will only germinate where there is bare ground so plant veggies close together and feed with lots of compost. There'll be no space for unwanted weeds to get a hold.

Rats and mice breed now and can be a nuisance in the compost. Ensure that your compost is always covered and no food scraps are left exposed. If you construct your compost with plenty of nitrogen based materials (manures, lawn clippings for example) then your compost will heat up quickly and mice won't get in. Otherwise, get a cat!!

Fruit trees
Keep up hessian or cardboard guards around apple trees to protect against codling moth.

Check stonefruit for "mummies" of dried brown old fruit that is infected with brown rot. Destroy fruit and don't compost it. When leaves drop start treating with bordeaux mix for leafcurl and other fungal problems.

Cut out old wood from berryfruit to protect from borer. Cut back to allow new canes to emerge. Mulch with straw and manure.

Cover young citrus trees to protect from frost. Fertilise beds for rhubarb plantings.