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Blog
Autumn Is the Time to Plant
| Posted on March 4, 2012 at 11:38 PM |
comments (398)
|
Autumn is the time to plant!! As I’m writing this blog I can already hear the mumblings
“here we go, a salesman trying to drum up some business”. Most people think that spring is the best time to plant but
its not. There is no right or
wrong time to plant in the warm temperate, subtropical and tropical areas of
Australia but the best time to plant is autumn as I’ll show you below. Compare the conditions in spring, when most gardeners plant
and autumn when there is not much planting done. In spring the soil is cold and dry (cold because winter has
just finished and dry because late winter and spring tends to be the driest
part of the year) and the ambient temperature is rising, often quite
radically. All of this makes it
quite stressful for the plants being planted (and those planting them). In autumn conditions are much, much more favourable, the
soil is warm and moist (warm because it has had all of spring and summer to
heat up and moist because most of our rain falls in late summer and early
autumn) and the ambient temperature is falling slowly. All of these conditions a make for an
almost stress free transaction from pot to ground, both for the plants and
those planting them. The other
advantage of autumn planting is that you don’t need to be consistently
watering. Often all you need to do
is water the plants in and keep an eye on them, only giving the occasional deep
watering. If you are in a frost zone it will be important to protect
newly planted plants from frost for the first year. I resent being called a salesman, I’m a “plantsman”, have
been for most of my life and yes I am trying to drum up sales, but only because
this is when my customers and I, those that have taken my advice, get the best
results and pest satisfaction from their gardening. |