garden calendar - September

It's still raining heaps now, not too late to work out ways to catch some water...

Prepare your vegetable garden beds for spring planting. Dig in green manure (only top 10-20cm, or incorporating plenty of organic matter including compost and well rotted manure. Mulch the beds after planting to help suppress weeds and conserve water.

Green manure crops like faba beans, barley, lupin, wheat or field peas are good to go now... improve that dormant vegie patch!

September is still a good time to plant Rhubarb and Asparagus as seedlings and Potatoes.

Sow seeds or plant seedlings of leeks, onions, cabbage, parsley, parsnips, cauliflower, peas, radish, silverbeet, lettuce, swedes and turnips. Many herb seeds can be sown now.

Many seedlings can be raised now but keep cold tender seedlings under glass or clear plastic, or in propagation boxes, such as: capsicum, cucumber, eggplant, pumpkin, tomatoes and zucchini. There is plenty of time yet before they need to go into the soil outside.

Passionfruit: Cut away the main bulk of leaves and small branches. They are heavy feeders, so lots of chicken manure (or the pelletised version, such as Dynamic Lifter), with some added potash (for fruit formation) watered in well should reward you with lots of gorgeous flowers and late summer fruit. You could also use Fruit & Citrus Food.

Citrus need feeding up now. Their yellowing leaves are a sign that they are seeking more food after their winter production. You can feed them with old manures, blood'n'bone, enriched mulches or Fruit & Citrus food. Always water in before and after feeding. You can also prune old citrus trees now by removing all old, twiggy growth.

Strawberries will be needing a pick-me-up after winter. A regular application of a weak liquid manure around strawberries is better than a whole lot all at once. Mulch well also to keep developing fruit off the soil. You might also like to fashion some netting over plants to stop any birds getting to the fruit before you do.

This is the start of the main feeding regime for most plants. Go organic, do it lightly and regularly, even every 3 weeks from now until the start of autumn. Your fruiting and ornamental trees, shrubs and annuals will appreciate this more than irregular and heavy doses.

Aphids: Now that spring is here keep a close eye out for aphids on soft, young growth. Numbers can increase rapidly if left undetected.

Citrus: Citrus trees can be affected by citrus gall wasp at this time of year. This small wasp lays its eggs in soft stems in spring. The larvae then tunnel through the stem forming a lumpy looking growth. Cut off any stems with galls and burn them immediately. There is no chemical control. Yellow sticky traps may be hung in the tree to trap adult wasps.