Category: Gardening

Peach trees die from the same companion planting that saves apples. The dense understory that works under an apple canopy traps humidity around stone fruit — and humidity is how brown rot, peach leaf curl, and bacterial canker move in. A peach guild is built on the opposite principle: open ground, airflow corridors, and companions spaced far enough apart to let air circulate through.

Every plant earns its position by solving a stone fruit problem specifically.

Close to the trunk — but never crowding it:
– Creeping thyme in small patches under the canopy — thymol vapor rising from the foliage suppresses brown rot and leaf curl spores at the source.
– Hardneck garlic at the drip line with bare soil between each cluster — allicin from the roots reduces overwintering fungal load where it concentrates.
– Tansy planted trunk-side of the drip line — its essential oils repel clearwing moth from laying eggs at the bark base where borers enter.

The wider ring handles recruitment and surveillance:
– Lavender’s silver-green mounds attract parasitic wasps that target Oriental fruit moth larvae inside the fruit.
– Yarrow’s flat white flower platforms beyond the canopy edge pull hoverflies and lacewings that dismantle aphid colonies before they establish.
The gaps between plants aren’t lazy design — they’re the most important feature in the entire guild.

You pruned the suckers off your Roma and wondered why it produced less fruit. You didn’t prune your Brandywine and it became a tangled mess that rotted from the inside.

Same plant family. Opposite pruning rules. The tag on the transplant tells you which.

The two types that matter most:

Determinate tomatoes (Roma, Celebrity, Rutgers) grow to a set height, produce most of their fruit in a concentrated window, and stop. Every sucker on a determinate becomes a fruit-bearing branch. Removing suckers removes fruit. Don’t prune them — just take off the lowest leaves where they touch the soil to reduce splash-borne fungal contact. Cage them. Let them bush out.

Indeterminate tomatoes (Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, Sungold, most cherry types) grow and produce continuously until frost. Left unpruned, each sucker becomes a full secondary stem that produces its own suckers — and the interior becomes dense, shaded, and damp. Prune the suckers. Train to one or two main stems on a tall stake or string. Pinch new suckers when they’re small. Check twice a week in warm weather — they appear fast.

The quick guide:

– Determinate (bush) — don’t remove suckers. Remove only the lowest leaves. Cage it. Harvest comes in a concentrated flush — good for canning and preserving

– Indeterminate (vining) — remove suckers regularly. Stake or string trellis. One or two leaders. Harvest is continuous small batches through the season — good for fresh eating

– Semi-determinate (Better Bush, Mountain Magic) — remove suckers below the first flower cluster, leave everything above. Short stake or sturdy cage

– Dwarf (Tiny Tim, Micro Tom) — minimal pruning. Remove lower leaves for airflow. Small stake if it leans. Container-friendly
The Roma you pruned like a Brandywine lost fruit it was never going to replace. The Brandywine you didn’t prune needed the airflow you never gave it.

Read the tag. Match the type.

OK, drum roll please! I finally felt I had enough good material in a logical and useful sequence to release version 1 of ’Cultivating Life: Growing Food Sustainably’

The whole sits at over 1,800 pages so is reasonably comprehensive. The first section of it, about 80 pages, is on preparedness planning and actions to take in a SHTF situation. It is so important I hold the view that everyone should own it and that money should not be a barrier to doing so. So I am releasing it for $1. That’s right, a single solitary dollar.

And not just for you. For you, your family, friends, co-workers, neighbours, in fact, anyone with whom you wish to share the link.

Why? Because in a worst case scenario, the more of us who have predicted the possibility and prepared for it, the better the survival potential of all of us.

So head on over to seedtotable.com.au, pay a dollar and set aside some time to read it over a cuppa.

And yes, I would love to hear your feedback. Good, bad, indifferent, suggestions, all welcome.

Cheers!

Your grandmother sprayed milk on her squash leaves and you thought it was a folk tale. It’s not. Milk spray is one of the most effective home treatments for powdery mildew — the white powder that coats squash, cucumber, and zucchini leaves by midsummer and slowly shuts down production.

The ratio is simple: four parts water, four parts whole milk in a spray bottle. Shake and spray.

The proteins in milk create a thin film on the leaf surface that mildew spores struggle to establish on. The fat in whole milk adds a physical layer that spores can’t grip. And when sunlight hits the dried milk film, it triggers a reaction on the leaf surface that suppresses fungal growth throughout the day.

That’s why you spray in the morning — the sun does half the work.

How to use it:

– Mix roughly 40% whole milk with 60% water in a spray bottle — exact measurements don’t need to be precise

– Spray tops and bottoms of leaves until they glisten. The undersides are where mildew often starts

– Start weekly spraying before you see any mildew — this is prevention, not rescue. Once heavy white coating has set in, the treatment slows the spread but can’t reverse it

– Best crops to treat: squash, zucchini, cucumber, pumpkin, and ornamentals like roses and phlox that are prone to the same issue

A gallon of whole milk makes enough spray solution to cover a raised bed for most of the season. The treatment from your grandmother’s era works as well as what the garden centre sells — and it’s already in your fridge.

Antagonist Name
Stenopelmatus (Jerusalem Crickets / “Potato Bugs”)

Latin Name
Stenopelmatus spp.

Description
Stenopelmatus species are large, flightless, nocturnal insects commonly referred to as Jerusalem crickets or potato bugs. They have robust, segmented bodies, large rounded heads with strong mandibles, and relatively hairless, banded abdomens. Despite their intimidating appearance, they are not venomous. These insects are primarily soil-dwelling and are considered opportunistic feeders, consuming both plant material and small invertebrates. In agricultural contexts, they can become minor pests when feeding on underground plant parts such as tubers and roots.

Life Cycle
Stenopelmatus undergo incomplete metamorphosis (egg → nymph → adult). Females lay eggs in moist soil. Nymphs resemble smaller versions of adults and develop through several molts over one to two years before reaching maturity. Both nymphs and adults live underground and are active primarily at night. They are most problematic during the nymph and adult stages when actively feeding on roots and tubers. Eggs and early instars are vulnerable to desiccation and predation.

Host Plants
Root and tuber crops are most commonly affected, including potatoes, carrots, beets, and sweet potatoes. They may also feed on the roots of other vegetables and occasionally on decaying organic matter in garden beds.

Symptoms and Signs
Damage typically appears as irregular chew marks or cavities in tubers and roots. Plants may exhibit reduced vigor, wilting, or stunted growth due to root damage. Gardeners may notice disturbed soil, small burrows, or the insects themselves when digging. Presence is often detected at night or after irrigation when they come closer to the soil surface.

Environmental Factors
Stenopelmatus thrives in loose, well-drained soils with moderate moisture. They prefer warm climates and are more active during mild, humid nights. High organic matter in soil can support populations by providing food sources. Dry, compacted soils and extreme heat or cold tend to limit their activity and survival.

Preventative Measures
Maintain well-structured soil without excessive organic debris that could attract them. Practice crop rotation, especially with root vegetables. Encourage natural predators such as birds and small mammals. Avoid over-irrigation, which can bring them closer to the surface and increase feeding activity. Physical barriers like fine mesh below raised beds may help protect root crops.

Remedies
Hand removal at night using gloves is effective for small infestations. Trapping methods, such as buried containers with moist organic matter, can attract and capture individuals. Beneficial nematodes may help reduce populations in soil. Maintaining drier surface conditions can discourage activity. Chemical controls are rarely necessary and generally not recommended in sustainable systems.

Severity Rating
Low to Moderate — typically a minor pest but can cause localized damage to root crops under favourable conditions.

Climate Suitability
Best suited to warm, dry to moderately moist climates, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions. Less common or problematic in consistently wet or cold environments.

Intervention Threshold
Intervention is recommended when consistent damage to root crops is observed or when multiple individuals are found per planting area. Occasional sightings without visible crop damage generally do not require action.

The Romans had no rat traps or poisons so they had to protect their grain stores from rats through other methods or risk starving. They built elevated grain stores with no rat accessible entry points.

Building floor a metre off the ground
Smooth stone pillar supports
With overhang impossible to climb around
No low level entry points
Ventilation via small openings at top of wall
Human access via removable ramps

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