October in the garden

Starting Seeds and Preparing the Glasshouse

In cooler parts of the country, it’s time to sow cucumber, pumpkin and zucchini seeds in pots which can be placed in the glasshouse or inside on a sunny window ledge or on a heat pad. Tomato seed can be popped in, too, if you don’t plan to buy grafted plants from the garden centre. It’s time to spring-clean the glasshouse or tunnel house and to replenish the soil with lots of compost and rotted animal manure (remember that tomatoes and cucumbers won’t thank you for lime so skip that part of the process). Once you’ve weeded, lay mulch over the ground to keep weeds at bay and hold in moisture.

Planting Potatoes and Transplanting Leeks

This is the big month for potatoes, and rotary hoes will be heard for kilometres around. I, however, will be at my usual, quiet task of laying straw or baylage on the ground and sowing my potatoes into that, along with some blood and bone. So simple! I’m also aware that it’s time to transplant the first of my leeks into the ground. I have a large number of them in a seed tray but I want to stagger the crop so most of them will stay where they are and receive liquid manure until I’m ready to plant them out. I don’t enjoy transplanting leeks as it’s a fiddly business – trimming the roots of each to about a third and popping them into individual holes, then watering in the soil around the roots.

Transplanting Leafy Greens and Brassicas

My leafy greens seedlings are ready to be transplanted into the garden: lettuce, spinach beet and silver beet, along with brassicas including cabbage, cauli, broccoli and Brussel’s sprouts. I’ve had poor result from Brussels sprouts lately so, this year, I am growing them a little earlier than usual. Though I usually grow kale as a winter vegetable, sowing the seed around late December, this year I have enjoyed the vegetable so much that I’m planning to include it in my spring sowings.

Kale, Broad Beans and Seed Saving

Though most winter veges go to seed if grown over the summer, kale has a remarkable ability to just keep performing. Perhaps that’s why it is such a popular vegetable all over the world.

Falafel has been a favourite lately, so I’m sowing the main ingredient (broad beans) at regular intervals throughout spring and summer – and lots of them. Last year I enjoyed sowing the rare red-flowering broad bean for the Southern Seed Bank.

Of course, it was too important to save the seed so I couldn’t eat any of them!

Rhubarb, Gooseberries and Pruning Fruit Trees

Rhubarb is throwing up big seed heads right now. They get cut off as soon as I spot them in order to promote the growth of the stems I love to eat. My gooseberries are in leaf and I am taking the precaution of thinning out a branch or two to help keep at bay the dreaded mildew which threatens them each year. I have my fingers crossed for some cool breezes to keep air circulating about the bushes. I thought I was too late to prune the apple I am attempting to espalier but I read recently that a summer pruning is perfectly acceptable, especially if one is trying to keep a tree to a moderate size. So as I’m now halfway between spring and summer, I thought I’d give it a go. I’m also excited to learn that spring and summer planting of fruit trees is acceptable as long as holes are deeply dug and watering is regular.

Planting Peas and Providing Support

The daily chore here at the moment is pea planting. These cool-croppers are shallow rooted and don’t enjoy drying out so now is the time to get them in the ground. Sugar and snow peas come first (with lots of tall supports as these peas head for the sky). Podding peas come next and I am using cyclone wire as supports. Support is everything where peas are concerned as once the vines fall onto the ground they quickly deteriorate and often rot. It also becomes difficult for bees to find the flowers.

Warm Climate Tasks for October

My Northern counterparts will no doubt already have their main crops in the ground, and their peas will almost be in flower! Beans will be able to go into the ground this month, along with young cucurbits and tomatoes (with shelter if required). As you warm-climate folk look forward to your first leafy greens, don’t forget to have new seedlings coming along. Just a pinch at a time is the way to go if you don’t want to run out. If you’re heading away for the holidays in summer, it’s best to sow directly into the garden rather than seed trays which dry out so quickly and need daily watering. Growing in the ground, young seedlings can manage on just a couple of deep waterings a week which your holiday stand-in will no doubt be able to provide.

Watering Celery and Sowing Root Crops

Water is essential, too, for moisture-loving celery. Let it dry out at your peril – those crisp tender stems will never be the same again if they are denied water. There are no second chances with celery. Northerners are also lucky in that they can keep sowing root crops of parsnip, carrot and beetroot throughout the season. Onions are long season vegetables so October is as late as you should leave it to sow the seed of red, white and bunching varieties. Spring onions, on the other hand, are fast growing and can be sown at any time.

A Bit of Garden Adventure

Wherever you are in the country, as you rush to get the vegetable garden sown and planted, don’t forget to enjoy yourself with a little adventurous growing. What will you choose as a trial crop this year? I’ve already made my choice: I once grew delicious, tender soybeans in our glasshouse with considerable success. This year, I’m challenging myself to grow them outdoors – so watch this space!