climate change brings more uncertainty to our weather, many countries of the
world are experiencing hotter conditions in late spring and summer. For
backyard organic gardeners, school and community food gardens and hobby
farmers, coping with extreme's of heat presents many challenges in achieving
there are many things you can do to reduce the impact of too much heat and if
done properly, you can actually take advantage of the heat to get more food
than you would have normally expected.
start with the impact of too much heat in a food garden:
- Soil becomes dry, dusty and
hot especially close to the surface
- Vegetables wilt due to lack
of moisture and vitality and fruit drops from fruit trees;
- The grasshoppers and other
pests clean up the weakened plants;
- Leafy plants tend to go to
seed much faster than normal with stunted leaf growth;
- It becomes uncomfortable to
work in the garden;
- The harvested food is likely
to be more bitter in taste, except if its fruit.
What can you do to reduce heat
impact on your food garden?
- Be sure your garden beds and
fruit tree surrounds are level so they hold water
- Create shade spaces with
edible trellises and bordering trees
- Have more in-ground beds for
your veggie garden, as these will keep the soil cooler than raised beds in
- Monitor water levels in soil
and make sure soil around plants is moist
- Keep up your soil fertility
practices with composting, liquid manures, companion planting and crop
rotation. These create plant vitality, helping them to resist the heat.
- Make a compost heap for your
autumn garden and rest part of your garden with a green manure crop
- Only choose plants that are
suitable for the warmer time of the year for your location.
- Experiment with new plants
that like hot temperatures, you will be surprised at how many there are to
- Use high quality planting
stock that is propagated in your climate, ideally from your own saved
seeds. These are much more likely to withstand extreme’s of your climate.
- Always plant after 3pm in
moist soil, giving the plant some time to settle in before the heat of the
- Monitor young plants in the
garden very closely and give them extra liquid fertiliser if your soil is
not in good condition
- Strengthen plants by letting
them experience the heat before putting them into full sun.
- Consider growing higher
plants or climbers that can create shade for lower plants and use more
edible ground covers rather than heavy mulching.
- Plant in tune with the
planets, by doing this you add strength and vitality to the plants
- Water either in the late
afternoon or early morning and get as much of the water as you can on the
base of the plant,
- Do not over water as you need
to encourage plants to send roots deeper to find water
- Have virtually all open soil, planted out either with food
crops or green manure crops
- Lightly mulch open soil with
- Work in your garden in the
Pests and diseases
- The pests will always attack
plants that do not look vital, so maintaining plant vitality is your
number one job and this flows from all the points above.
- Use the pests as a guide to
action and resist using chemicals.
- Leave some older plants in
your garden for the pests as a distraction from the ones you want to keep
- Sometimes it’s better to
remove plants or crops ravaged by pests and prepare your bed for the next
crop which may be more suitable for the time of the year.
Gardener subscriber web site provides much deeper instructional information on
all the points above, as well giving you a selection of 300 food plants to work
with that are aligned in the site to more recent localised climate data than
any traditional planting calendar. This will enable you to be very objective in
working with climate change and rather than fear it, to embrace it and grow
Kearney – www.cityfoodgrowers.com.au