Autumn blooms bring lasting colour, sweet harvests and rich flavours — discover why it may just be the most delicious season of all.
Everyone knows about the “spring flush”, with blooms dropping from the trees and new leaves on everything from apple trees to lettuces. Gardeners and good cooks know the “autumn flush” is even better. The air is cool but the soil is warm — and plants love it. Blooms last longer in autumn. Give your roses lots of tucker and water, prune back dead flowers, and the display of new blooms will be as glorious as spring’s. In cool climates, autumn’s red, gold and orange leaves are as spectacular as spring blossoms.
Camellias begin to bloom in autumn. Water them well, as long as the soil is well drained, but only feed them when daytime temperatures are 20 degrees Celsius or higher. The plant roots can’t make use of the tucker when it gets too cold, and too much unabsorbed fertiliser can burn them. Well-fed flowers last longer, both on the bush and in the vase.
Don’t dig root crops like carrots and beetroot until needed — they’ll be sweeter for the cold. Potatoes can be left, too, though remember they will sprout in late winter to spring. Potatoes should be sown fresh each year from new seed potatoes. The ones from last year may well have been infected by viruses carried by aphids, and will rot or be too hard to boil and mash. Let beans dry on the vine — pick them for dried bean soup and stews during winter. Pick rose hips for winter teas and syrup.
Autumn for me means pumpkins. The large old- fashioned ones like Queensland Blue, Big Butter or Turk’s Cap last the longest, especially if you cure them on the shed roof or concrete patio for a week or two. This will toughen their skins. Store them on their sides, so moisture doesn’t collect in the dimple around the stems and on the opposite side from the stem. Keep them cool and dry and they’ll last for months.
Autumn has the best apples and pears, too, as does winter. The longer a fruit takes to mature, the richer its flavour. White-fl eshed Democrat apples, sweet Lady Williams (a descendent of Granny Smith, but sweeter and maturing later), French Crab or Stürmer Pippin (the latest maturing apple of all) are relatively safe from fruit fly — they mature in cold weather when fruit fly activity has cease