Don’t let the snail-eating leopard slugs near the prized leopard plant, says gardening writer JACKIE WARBURTON.

The leopard plant, with its large, glossy and spotty leaves, grows well in a pot. 

It likes a peaty, moist, organic soil and would suit an area in the garden where it is shady in the warmer months. It should be brought indoors in autumn. 

Autumn is also the time they flower and send up large, long stalked flowers that sit well above the plant and match the spotty foliage with bright yellow daisy flowers. 

Also known as the “tractor seat plant”, the Farfugium japonicum is in vogue now and usually grown in coastal areas because most of them won’t survive our cold winter soils. 

But it’s a worthy plant that will fill the corner of a room through winter and be taken back outdoors for the warmer months. 

WITH the extra moisture over recent months, I have seen an increase of slugs and bugs, but the large leopard slug (Limax maximus) is an interesting slug that can be a welcome addition to the garden. 

It keeps the bad slug populations down, eats snails and forages on decaying plant material. This one is regularly in a large water bowl filled with water plants and I believe they can live to at least three years.

But, importantly, don’t let the leopard slugs eat the leopard plant! 

THIS is one of the busiest months in the vegetable calendar where harvesting daily is needed. 

Green Tomatoes can be picked and ripened indoors when they are fully grown and just starting to turn red to avoid any rat or possum problems.

If space is tight, the entire tomato plant can be pulled out, roots and all, and hung upside down in a dry place. All the green tomatoes will ripen, but they won’t get any larger. 

Doing this gives time to prepare garden beds for autumn plantings to get them growing before the cold weather sets in. 

In the crop-rotation plan, legumes follow tomatoes. They feed and put nitrogen back into the soil. They include broad beans, snow peas or a green manure crop. 

To prepare the ground before planting, a handful of lime per square metre adds calcium and raises the pH. 

Broad beans are large plants that need trellising, but there are dwarf varieties that still grow just as many pods as the larger varieties 

This is the beginning of the broad bean season and continual planting every month of winter increases yield and ensures crops all through winter. 

If stakes are required, set them up and then plant the beans directly to where they are to grow. Snow peas can be tricky as they are really happy until the cold weather sets in, so they need to be strong plants to keep flowering and cropping. They need trellising to keep them off the ground and, given a little more protection than broad beans, should be ready for harvest in about 60 days. 

Jottings

• Get compost bins ready for autumn leaves. 

• Keep picking rhubarb to encourage new growth.

• Trim summer-flowering shrubs lightly to keep their shape.

• Water and fertilise autumn bulbs as they begin to grow.

jackwar@home.netspeed.com.au