Listen up home gardeners, you still have time to boost your crops before you pick for Christmas day!
In the lead-up to Christmas, you may be keeping a closer eye on your garden – Christmas day lunch is a big affair, and you want to plate up the freshest fruit and vegetables from your backyard!
As we head into summer and continue to experience dry weather, it’s important to pay close attention to your plants. The lack of rain in recent seasons has had an impact on our plants as it has prevented effective nutrient uptake. Nutrient deficiencies can cause stunted growth and delayed maturation, so perhaps your crops haven’t produced fruit on time as you expected. Wherever your plants are in their growing stages, you can apply various mineral nutrients to improve taste, mineral density and colour.
Here is a list of summer crops and tips to keep them healthy in preparation for harvest.
Citrus – lemons, limes, mandarins and oranges
If you have citrus trees, you are likely to be in the final stages of picking.
If you’re yet to harvest your fruit trees, it’s a good idea to add Potassium. Potassium is required by all plants and has specifically notable effects on fruit crops. When applied as a fertiliser, it accelerates the ripening process, increasing flavour and sweetness, so you get your juicy produce faster. Potassium increases the level of sugars within a fruit, making it sweeter – delicious!
Humax is Roots, Shoots & Fruits Potassium-rich fertiliser. It is certified organic with Biogro and easily absorbed by the plant, due to the high Humic acid content. If you’ve missed out on applying Humax this year, beginning to prepare your soil for the next round of planting by adding Humax – Humic acid now will assist soils to hold minerals and moisture for tastier mineral-dense fruit.
Berries – strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries
Berries are a sure sign that summer is here! They will need an extra dose of Calcium and Potassium to make sure they are juicy and flavourful when harvested. Calcium deficiencies can result in small fruit, deformation, a lack of taste and rotten spoilt fruit.
We recommend applying Biomin Calcium at fruit set and repeating every month. This will help to increase colour, flavour and ripening. Â
Vegetables
Roast veggies or a summer salad is a staple menu item at Christmas time.
Due to the dry temperatures, vegetable plants might be experiencing heat stress. Rather than looking toward seaweed-based products for this issue, consider adding a plant electrolyte as found in Mobilizer Fulvic Acid, as it is designed by nature specifically for this purpose.
In plants, Fulvic acid will help to increase nutrient uptake from the soil. Fulvic acid, such as found in Mobilizer, will also help plants to withstand wilting and periods of extreme heat by increasing pressure in the cell membrane.
Most vegetable crops will also benefit from Calcium application after flowering to boost flavour, appearance and taste.
A little bit of everything to boost your garden
Lastly, if you’re unsure of what your plants need or it all seems too complicated… There is a one-stop solution. A multi-mineral booster will supply your plants with a top-up of balanced nutrients necessary to produce a bountiful harvest.
Our easy to apply product Biomin Booster is a multi-mineral combination featuring Magnesium, Zinc, Iron, Manganese, Copper, Boron, Molybdenum and Amino Acid (organic) Nitrogen that can be applied at any stage of growth.
Your garden will thank you for feeding it some extra goodness. Enjoy celebrating the holiday season with your homegrown crops!
