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May – Permaculture Food Gardening in Subtropical Australia

May – Permaculture Food Gardening in Subtropical Australia

by Ewa Bekiesch, Permaculture designer, educator, sustainable living consultant, and healthy food advocate.

We are in the middle of autumn. The very first “cool-weather” greens and veggies are ready for harvest. Others are starting to compete with each other and with the self-seeded ones which are also trying to claim some space in the garden bed and around, and I love it! Food everywhere 😀 It happens when you allow them to go into seeds. They are simply popping out everywhere and the only job you have is harvesting or replanting to create more space in the overcrowded food forest community. Even though we have autumn, it feels like spring with all the greens coming out of nowhere. Let’s have a look at the jobs we usually do this month.

General jobs in May

  • I tend to be too generous while sowing new seeds in the ground so thinning out the new growth might be necessary. I usually harvest the young greens, like bokchoy or radish, regularly and enjoy the sprouts as they come while making more room for the other ones
  • Watering freshly planted fruit trees and bushes if necessary. They need to strengthen up before the winter comes!
  • Weeding the garden beds if needed.
  • Applying compost tea + water mix (1:4), every 2-3 weeks onto the garden beds. Most of the winter vegetables like brassicas, garlic, beetroot, carrots, and so on need lots of nutrients to grow. Help them thrive. I have made a video about how to make and use compost tea. You will find it under the article.
  • Have you recently planted new fruit trees? If so, do your research to check if they can handle cold winds and low temperatures. Some trees are very vulnerable while young, especially when there is no other or only a little vegetation nearby. Some frost protection cloth might be necessary.
  • sowing, planting, harvesting – see the list below

What NOT to do in May

  • Trimming bushes and trees should be considered carefully now. All established and overgrown evergreen trees and bushes may help the young ones to get through winter by blocking off the cold winds. The deciduous ones like Mulberry, Peach, Nectarine, Apple, Nashi Pear, and others need to be pruned as required which is usually about the time before they get new growth.
  • Leaving old leaves on the banana plants is also highly recommended to protect the trunks during winter.
  • Planting new tropical fruit trees and bushes is also a big NO in May as they most likely won’t get established before winter.

Sowing, planting, harvesting

One of the reasons for providing all the information is to encourage everyone to grow their own healthy food, build resilience and confidence, and taste the difference of homegrown food! Your seeds and plant orders in our online shop at www.foodforestseeds.au are always much appreciated as they help us do what we do.

I have included links to the individual plants and seeds in the list below so you can click on them to get to the shop to find more info about the plants and to order one if you like (all coloured names include the links, more to come!). All are naturally grown, non-GMO, heirloom, untreated, and open-pollinated plants, most of which come from my food forest.

Sowing

Many of them are self-seeding in our food forest. If you don’t know some of the plants in the list below, check my ‘Food Forest Guide’ (FREE with any order in my online shop) for more info.

Planting

No trees in this list because there are too many fruit trees you can grow so simply choose what you enjoy and what suits your garden. If you want to know what trees we are growing, check our ‘Food Forest Guide‘.

Harvesting

We are harvesting daily and as required, depending on what we like to eat and cook, and/or what needs to be harvested. The May harvest list includes and is based on what grows in our food forest and what is possible, including fruit from our trees. As you may think, we don’t harvest all of it every day. Many of them simply keep growing and wait patiently for their turn to end up in the kitchen, as green mulch ‘chop and drop’, some of them go to compost if they are taking over, or as food for our chickens, ducks, or worm farm. The possibilities are endless.

Perennials crop we harvest in May:

  • bush basil – Ocimum oxcitriodorum
  • Cranberry Hibiscus – Hibiscus acetosella – leaves
  • Galangal – Thai Ginger –Greater Galangal, Alpinia galangal – leaves and roots
  • Gotu Kola – Centella asiatica – leaves
  • Lemongrass – Cymbopogan citratus – leaves and stalks
  • Longevity Spinach – Gynura procumbens – leaves and stalks
  • Okinawa Spinach – Hawaiian lettuce – Gynura bicolour –  leaves and stalks
  • Peruvian Parsnip – Arracacia xanthorrhiza – leaves and roots
  • Rosella – Roselle – leaves and calyx
  • Tarragon, Estragon – Artemisia dracunculus – leaves and flowers
  • Cassava – Manihot esculenta – leaves and roots
  • Brahmi-Memory Plant – Waterhyssop – Bacopa monnieri – leaves
  • Bana Grass – Pennisetum purpureum x amaricanum – leaves for mulch
  • West Indian Arrowroot – Maranta arundinacea – root
  • Sugarcane Red – Saccharum officinarum – cane, mostly to dry and store for meat smoking later on
  • Sweet Leaf – Sauropus androgynous – leaves
  • Elderberry – Sambucus Nigra – berries and flowers
  • Alpine strawberries – Wild Strawberries – berries
  • Aloe Vera
  • Dragon fruit
  • shallots
  • garlic chives
  • pineapples
  • sweet potatoes – leaves and roots
  • bananas
  • passion fruit
  • pawpaw – leaves and fruits
  • Horseradish leaves – leaves and roots
  • limes
  • grapefruit
  • oranges
  • Blackberry – leaves
  • Dandelion – leaves

Short-living perennials and annuals we harvest in May:

  • squash, tromboncino, zucchini, pumpkin
  • Winged bean
  • chilly, capsicum
  • eggplant
  • tomatoes
  • all sorts of herbs
  • Asian Pigeonwings, Butterfly Pea – Clitoria Ternatea
  • Okra – Abelmoschus esculentus
  • West Indian Gherkins, Maroon Cucumber – Cucumis anguria
  • Bottle Gourd, Calabash – Lagenaria siceraria, and other gourds
  • Luffa – Luffa aegyptiaca
  • QLD Arrowrot – leaves for chickens and bulbs for us
  • mustard greens
  • bok choi, pack choi
  • kale
  • radishes – leaves and roots
  • Mexican cucumber, cucumelons
  • Tomatoes

I hope that my article helps you to plan and organise your garden, and brings you one step closer to growing an abundance of food to become self-reliant sooner than later 🙂

The next article comes out in the first week of June.

What are you sowing, planting, and harvesting in your subtropical garden at the moment? Any questions? Leave your comment under the article below.

If you would like to support our work, you can do so in many ways:
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*buy a plant, cuttings, or seeds at https://www.foodforestseeds.au

Enjoy your garden!

Ewa

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