Jobs for this Month.
As harvest comes to an end it is time to think ahead to the new season next spring when you will rotate you beds over to Year 2. As you tidy up, compost and mulch beds that will stay fallow over winter, think about the needs of the crops you will plant next. The beds that have had gross feeding tomatoes, capsicums, pumpkins for example, will need to be built up. The root crops that follow on will prefer well broken up soil so bulky manures etc will need plenty of time to break down. Root crops prefer potassium and phosphorus so apply wood ash and seaweed, blood and bone and just a little lime except where you want potatoes. Green crops for this bed would be buckwheat for phosphorus and mustard if the soil needs sterilizing. The legume beds can keep going with broad beans sown now for spring eating which will provide nitrogen for the new follow on crops after you have harvested the beans in spring.
For crops already in the ground such as brassicas, leeks and celery, keep up the weeding, mulching and liquid feeding. Brassicas and onions planted now will “stand”over winter – which means that they will grow only slowly but take off once they detect the change in season and be ready for eating in late spring.
Sow: South:Broad Beans, onions (in trays or outdoors if warm). Brassica seeds sown now will take 4 months to mature. Lettuce.
North: Broad Beans, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, Chinese cabbage, leeks, lettuce, onions, parsley, shallots, spinach.
Plant: Cabbage, broccoli, cauli, kale, lettuce, silverbeet or spinach.
Cultivate: Mound up soil around leeks. Keep well watered along with celery. Weed around asparagus. Protect heads of cauli from the weather by covering with big leaves. Keep weeding and hoeing between plants to keep weeds down.
Harvest: Beans, sweetcorn, pumpkins, main crop potatoes, carrots, parsnips, beetroot, spinach and silverbeet.
Prepare: Sow green crops, make compost and mulch bare ground in preparation for winter weather and preparing beds for spring.
