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By Bruce Molloy & Elisabeth Fekonia - Working in the garden in September and October
Work to do in the garden at this time of the year
September and October are the two busiest months of the year in the garden.
 Our temperate vegetables for the summer season are ready to be planted, as well as our tropical vegetables. For a year round productive garden in the sub-tropics, it will be important to grow vegetables from both the temperate and the tropical zones. What to plant will depend on the time of the year.
When preparing to plant the warm temperate vegetables it is a good idea to check for weed growth in the garden and if it looks like couch grass and other invasive grasses that will want to take over, then give the garden a newspaper sheet mulch wherever it is needed. This is also a good opportunity to add compost and perhaps blood and bone or some complete organic fertiliser underneath the newspaper covering. Don't ever bother to dig over the soil in preparation of a garden bed. The exception is in preparing for direct seed sowing such as carrots. Digging the soil is a useless exercise as soil structure is ruined as well as become a disturbance of soil life. Just keep on adding organic matter to the garden beds at intervals to keep the soil microbes happy. Feed the microbes and they will feed your plants.
Preparing the garden for tropical vegetables will be much the same as for the temperate garden but not as intensive. Tropical vegetables have much deeper root systems and they generally don't have the high nutrient requirements such as the cooler climate plants. Our soils here in this part of the world are more suited to growing tropical plants hence growing tropical vegetables are quite a lot easier. Growing support species such as lemongrass and comfrey will go a long way to growing successful gardens as you will have green mulch and nutrients very close by. Support plants such as pigeon pea and crotolaria can also contribute to creating a micro-climate which is very useful for planting in the hotter months. So don't forget to plant plenty of support species.
Keeping up the soil moisture becomes a bit more challenging at this time of the year so remember to give the garden soil a good soak before mulching it over. Don't mulch as deep as in winter because if it doesn't rain for some time, the soil can dry out underneath the mulch layer and rain or irrigation can't penetrate through to the root zone. Mulching is a moisture trap only if it is moist underneath.
Happy gardening!
Did you know?
- Manure added to the garden via worm castings or compost will add lots of life into the soil. The organic matter is the food for the microbes.
- Comfrey has a very deep root system and will mine minerals from deep down in the subsoil. The minerals become available to the plants when chopping and dropping them onto the garden bed.
 What to plant now:
• All the cucurbits, sugarloaf cabbage, zucchini, carrots, beans, all herbs, lettuce, beetroot, tomato, peas, celery, shallots, capsicum, eggplant, Asian greens, asparagus, corn, all herbs, pepino, rosella.
• Tropicals include: cassava, taro, cocoyam, yam, yakon, aibika, Peruvian spinach, Jerusalem artichokes; most tropicals can be planted now except turmeric, galangal and malu khia.
Seed to sow now:
• All of the above
What to harvest now:
• Lettuce, beans, silverbeet, European spinach, beetroot, cucurbits such as cucumber, squash and pumpkins, tomatoes, beans, peas, shallots, fennel, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Asian greens, strawberries, leeks.
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