What to do for your garden this week.
Vegetables
This month, a start can be made on sowing the hardier
vegetables, but the likes of runner beans, pumpkins and corn
should be left until all likelihood of frost has gone.
However, these tender vegetables can be started in seed trays
in a glasshouse or in a corner of the laundry. To have peas
over a long period, start sowing them now and continue to sow
small amounts about once a fortnight. Although broad beans
can be sown, they do not produce as well as those put down in
autumn and also seem more prone to rust. If you want potatoes
for Christmas, start planting early varieties (Jersey Benne,
Swift) and cover them until frost danger has passed.
Potatoes do best in a rich, slightly acidic soil, so add no
lime.
Compost, rotted turf and decayed lawn clippings can be added
to the soil, which should be moist but well drained, so dig
as deeply as possible, without bringing subsoil to the
surface. Maris Anchor is a useful early potato that can be
planted after Jersey Benne for, as well as being used as a
new potato, Maris Anchor shaws can be left to mature and
older potatoes eaten mashed. Using cloches enables seeds to
be sown about a month earlier than in open ground.
Cabbage, lettuce, cauliflower and silverbeet seedlings can be
raised in one large cloche with the ends closed up, giving
protection from the weather. Shallots can be planted in rich
soil and a sunny site.
Plant 20cm apart with 30cm between rows. Keep asparagus plots
clear of weeds.
As soon as the first asparagus growths appear, apply nitrate
of soda (28g per sq m) or apply liquid manure at fortnightly
intervals. A top-dressing of blood and bone forked lightly
into the surface of the soil will improve rhubarb stems.
Flowers
Sweet peas have been a popular
garden annual since being introduced into England at the end
of the 17th century and the original variety, Cupani, is
still available, although it appears to be in short supply
this year.
A burst of hybridising at the end of the 19th century and
early 20th century marked the development of the modern sweet
pea.
Dwarf sweet peas such as Bijou need no staking, so can be
grown in an open area.
Sow sweet pea seed outdoors in early spring. Chrysanthemum
cuttings can be taken now.
Rooted pieces from the edges of plants will develop quickly
but unrooted slips will soon root if placed around the edge
of a pot of sandy soil and kept moist but not saturated.
Seedlings and cuttings that have been grown under shelter
since autumn should now be hardened off.
Give them ventilation and expose to full sunshine during the
day but keep them protected at night.
Start planting gladiolus corms from now until early November,
as staggering planting will provide a succession of flowers
for picking.
Fruit
Prepare the greenhouse for tomatoes, capsicums and
aubergines.
Wash the inside of the glass with a Jeyes Fluid solution and
if the tomatoes are to be grown in the soil, rather than pots
or bags, replace the soil.
Leave the top of the greenhouse open until planting begins.
Material removed from the greenhouse is excellent for the
vegetable garden or can be used to top up flowerbeds.
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