September

Spring is very busy in the garden. Winter disappears fast and spring growth is strong and colourful. Look out for all those spring bulbs coming up through the ground. Watch out for the occasional late frost. 

Vegetables
It’s a busy period in the vegetable patch, with plenty to sow. Gardeners in warmer microclimates can take advantage of an earlier spring to get a good early sowing, whereas those in colder microclimates should resist the temptation to sow when conditions are still cool and wet - this slows down growth and results in poorer crops. Wait another week or so, and you’ll get faster growth.
        Keep the vegetable garden weed free
        Complete early sowings of root crops
        Plant cabbage, cauliflower, silverbeet, lettuces - put in a few each time to give succession cropping
        Sow spinach, silver beet, peas, parsnips, onions, carrots, turnips, lettuce, radish, leeks, parsley, and at the end of the month beans and beetroot
        Sow seed sparingly as to sow more than required is a waste of seed. Sowing seed thickly leads to weak and spindly plants due to overcrowding.
        Apply compost and fertiliser into the garden
        Fertilise strawberry plants with all purpose product
 
Sow outside: 
Peas: small sowings for early crops
Spinach: first of succession sowings
Silverbeet:  early sowing
Spring onions: good for intercropping
Lettuce: first of succession sowings
Dwarf beans: about 100 mm apart in a double row
Scarlet runner bean: against a fence or climbing structure
Parsnips: use only fresh seed otherwise poor results
Carrots: early varieties followed by a main crop
Radish: succession planting every 2-3 weeks
Beetroot: both globe and cylindrical (best for bottling)
Leeks: in a seedbed for later transplanting
Cabbages: small sowings in a seedbed on monthly basis
Cauliflower: small sowings in a seedbed on monthly basis
Onions: for pickling and main crop
Sweetcorn: sow late in period
   
Flower Garden
        Sow annual flower seedlings in sheltered places
        Place compost and mulch on the garden
        Plant out annuals in well prepared parts of the garden, Alyssum, Pansies, Stocks,   Cornflowers, and Violas
        Sow new lawns or small patches that need repairing
        Prune flowering trees and shrubs
        Feed Roses with Rose Fertiliser
        Apply a general garden protective spray
        Control weeds


Bulbs to plant

Gladioli: they like 90 days to flower
Dahlias; plant tubers with some stems still attached
Callas: now a major export crop
Autumn crocus: these are great plants
Nerines:  for hot dry locations and autumn colour 


Glasshouse

        Plant tomatoes in glasshouse
        Sow marrows, cucumbers, pumpkins, pepinos, eggplant and peppers
 Fruit
        Spray peach and nectarine trees with copper based sprays
        Apply citrus fertiliser to lemons
        Very early in spring spray with all seasons spraying oil before buds burst
        Prepare for a preventative spray programme
        Plant out strawberry plants if not already done.
 
Lawns
        Apply a slow release lawn fertiliser
        Mow lawns regularly from now on
        Sow spring grass seed if required.