down to earth: Spring into action
September marks the beginning of spring and a busy time in the garden for many of us.
With a plan of the garden beds in hand, work out the next crop to be planted and prepare that bed according to the crop’s need. For example, a bed for early potatoes needn’t be weeded thoroughly, as after the potatoes are planted into trenches they are covered to form mounds over time. Thus the weeding is done with the potato hoe.
Here’s some more tips on preparing the ground for main planting in October:
Only cultivate your soil when it’s dry enough. A simple test is to squeeze a handful of soil. It shouldn’t stay stuck together. If it does, wait some more.
Turn over green manure crops. Allow two to three weeks before planting.
Fork over the beds (working backwards), adding enough compost and/or rotted manure depending on crop demands.
For the no-dig garden, add generous amounts of straw or old baleage, manure, compost, grass clippings/seagrass. If the bed has lots of weeds or grass then mulch it first with cardboard or newspaper.
Add a handful of lime and/or dolomite per square metre to beds (except for potatoes).
At the same time make compost with the weeds, green crop residues, etc.
In the orchard, ensure there is no bare soil present under fruit trees to reduce the spread of fungal spores. Use mulch, and if you keep chickens there, it’s best to move them beforehand. Organise a watering system for young trees planted in free-draining soil. Prune shelterbelts for good light and airflow (shred for mulch). Plant citrus and passionfruit into warm, sheltered spots. Sow orchard herbal ley and beneficial insect mixes. Kings Seeds has several options. I like the chicken greens mix (good for both the orchard and chooks) and beneficial insect blend. Simply till the ground lightly between trees or in the rows, sow the seed and rake it over or till it in. Water well. Keep chickens out of the areas sown, so you may need to do it stages.
In other areas of the garden, sow and plant plenty of flowering plants. Flowers attract bees and other beneficial insects that help create a balanced garden ecosystem. At the same time allow some wild areas in which these helpful creatures can hang out.
Fruit care
Harvest citrus.
Complete feeding of orchard with dolomite/lime, rock phosphate, boron, manure and woody compost, especially feijoas.
Plant new strawberry plants, replacing two-year-old plants. Feed existing beds with worm juice, etc.
Prune citrus, feijoas and other subtropicals. Overgrown feijoas and citrus respond well to hard pruning.
Foliar-feed fruits with seaweed, compost tea, worm juice and/or fish.
Spray copper oxychloride or lime sulphur (but not both together) on fruits susceptible to fungal problems. Use protective clothing and shower after.
Spray citrus with all-purpose oil for scale insect, or neem for aphids.
Herb care
Rework (or recreate) the herb garden.
Plant herbs like chives or transplant self-seeded perennials.
Sow hardy herbs like parsley and coriander.
Vegetable care
Cloche early sown/planted crops like potatoes, carrots and silverbeet and any bare soil to aid warming.
Keep weeds away from onions, garlic and shallots with mulches of seagrass or lawn clippings.
Sort out stakes to support broad beans when they get close to a metre high.
Liquid fertilise the whole garden with worm juice, compost tea, seaweed, fish or manure brews.
Plant new asparagus for cropping in spring 2012. Feed and mulch existing asparagus.
Check for slugs and snails under rocks, pots, in hothouse, etc.
Hothouse: Keep propagating. Plant young tomato plants into rich beds for Christmas harvest.
For transplanting: All seeds 10 September. Spring onions and leafy greens (spinach, spinach beet, silverbeet, lettuce, endive, cabbages) (also 4 and 23 Sept). Tomatoes, peppers, eggplants (bottom heat), melons, zucchini, pumpkin/squash and cucumbers (also 25-26 Sept). Cauliflower, broccoli and flowers, eg petunia, zinnia, cosmos, hollyhock and rudbeckia (also 2-3 and 22 Sept).
Sow direct: All seeds 10 September. Mesclun salad, kohlrabi, spring onions and onions (also 4 and 23 Sept). Sow and cover French beans and peas (also 25-26 Sept). Carrots and beetroot (cover), radish, parsnip, Swede, turnip (also 1 and 27-29 Sept). Flowers, eg alyssum, calendula, candytuft, nasturtium, borage, sweet pea, snapdragon (2-3 and 22 Sept).
Plant: Best 6-19 September. Onions, salad greens, spinach, Chinese cabbage, cabbages, cauliflower, broccoli and early potatoes. Flowers, eg daylily and verbena.
General garden care
Take soft-tip cuttings from herbaceous perennials like dahlias, chrysanthemums and carnations. Put into sand and keep moist. Water with willow water.
Lime existing lawns. Resow new lawns now.
Prune trees, hedges and shrubs after flowering.
Collect extra rainwater for upcoming drier periods.
Set up 100- or 200-litre drums for liquid fertiliser.
Sol Morgan, GroWise Consultancy
