Garden Notes for the Family Vegetable Garden: September.

 The New Year in the Kitchen Garden

Spring has officially arrived and with it the start of the gardener’s New Year.  Time to get sowing and planting. Just watch out though – spring may be in the air but it won’t necessarily have made it into the soil yet.  In the meantime start seeds under cover so you will be ready to plant when the conditions are right.  

This is a good time to get your garden beds planned for good crop rotation. There are lots of good reasons to follow this age old practice. Grouping families of plants together in one bed with similar cultivation needs means it is easier for you to prepare the beds to suit that crop.  It also breaks the cycles of pests and diseases that can occur if you plant the same crop in the same place year after year. If you kept doing that you would also deplete the soil of the nutrients that family of plants needs.  Different plants access food from different depths of the soil. Tap roots for example will dig deep and access nutrition that say shallow rooted plants like tomatoes or lettuces won’t.   An easy crop rotation plan to follow will be to divide your main annual beds into four  and every year move the crop to the next bed in a clockwise way

1.Legumes: Peas and Beans	4. Root Crops: eg carrots Potatoes, onions
2.Leafy:eg Lettuces, Brassicas, silverbeet	3. Fruiting & Heat loving eg tomatoes, pumpkins

 If you are starting out in your garden and want a good basic garden plan including crop rotation check out the Crop Rotation Poster advertised above. 

Jobs for this Month

Sow direct into warm spot: carrots, parsnips, beetroot (early crop) potatoes, onions, lettuce, peas, parsley. Brussels sprouts

Sow indoors in trays for planting out later: leeks, celery, corn, beans, pumpkin, marrow, cucumber,

Plant: Potatoes, cabbages, caulis, lettuces, parsley, silverbeet

Cultivate: Any crops that have come through winter such as broad beans, brassicas, silverbeet and garlic will all benefit from a weekly application of liquid feed.  Keep asparagus plots clear of weeds and start applying liquid fertiliser once new growth appears. If your rhubarb is putting up seed heads cut them off. Keep hoeing soil between rows to keep weeds down of mulch between rows.

Harvest: Cabbages, broccoli, silverbeet, parsley, broad beans, asparagus.