September 2007

2nd September

The Garden in September



Well Spring has well and trully got underneath my skin! Today I planted everything I could lay my hands on. It was a gardening frenzy! Any seedling in the hothouses that had two leaves were planted out into the garden. I popped them all into their own individual plastic milk bottle covers to keep them warm if we get a cold snap {GN crosses her fingers, closes her eyes and prays}. I also used more evil snail pellets. I am so scared of losing everything to snails like I did last year that I am being overly cautious this year and dropping my morals some what. Although I also had the extra seed to play around with last year.

So this is what happened:

*6 Decorative Gourds went into the herb garden
*7 Purple Kings along the Kiwi trellis
*1 Lebanese Cucumbers along the top chook wire fence
*13 Pickling Gerkins along the wire (in between the Perpetual Spinach) in the top vegie patch
*2 Zucchini in the top vegie patch

I also sprinkled the rest of the Green Globe Artichoke seeds along the brick wall in the bottom vegie patch and covered them with straw. Four handfuls of sunflower seeds were sprinkled along where the Celery was eaten and around the cherry tree, these were covered also in straw. Then my girlfriend rang and asked me if I wanted a bag of Giant Russian Sunflower seeds - I obviously said yes - I have no idea where they will be planted, but I'll fit them in somehow.

My hubby got started on our grape pergola too. Our house has the most windows on the West side, which makes it INCREDIBLY hot in Summer. We are building a pergola part way along these windows to help cut down on the sunlight getting in. So two poles were cemented into place (with two more to follow next week). We then went off to the Sunday market to get Grape vines, after seeing them there for $3 each the other week - to find there were hardly any stalls there because it was Father's Day. So off to the Wandin Nursery we go - nope they're out of vines for this season. So we bought 2 Blueberries instead - Blue Rose and Joy being the varieties. They were covered in some sort of blue spray - I hope it wasn't too poisonous as I had to carry them all the way back in the car.

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4th September

There was a light frost today. And the sunshine that followed got under my skin, and I had to plant things.

I planted:

*17 butterbean seedlings into the fifth row of the new vegie patch. I popped them into milk bottle protectors to keep them warm and to (hopefully) keep the snails out
*Sprinkled poppy seeds (I bought the seeds from the spice section of the supermarket) in with the sunflower seeds I scattered the other day
*Sprinkled Amaranth seed along the brick wall where I scattered the Artichoke seeds
*My daughter planted a packet of Supersweet Bi-Coloured Corn in a block in the top vegie garden
*She also planted 15 pigeon pea seeds directly into the first row of the new vegie patch

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6th September

Today I planted a Banana Passionfruit plant behind the chicken coop. It was a surprise present from a wonderful member of the Eath Garden Path (www.earthgarden.com.au) There are truly some fabulous people on the forum. They are always willing to help out with advice or seeds or plants

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7th September

I planted 27 capicum seedlings today! It's probably overkill, I know, but I have many more I need to find room for The varieties were: Red Bull's Horn, Sweet Delight and Californian Red Bell. I also planted out a Zucchini seedling to replace one that died. I must have planted the other seedlings at the right time though as they have hit the ground running Our White Anzac peach has just started flowering too. Looks like they are a later variety to the Golden Queen which will be nice, not so much of a glut - but then again, can you EVER have too many peaches?!

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10th September

I planted Lima Beans today - straight into the ground. I guess I will loose a lot to snails, but they swell so much with water, that if I plant them into seedling trays, they get too large for their cells. Wish me Luck. I also planted the first Butternut seedlings into their 2 high poly box today.

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13th September

Dug another row in the new garden bed (before the ground dried out too much from the last rain) and planted 8 Banana seed potatoes. I have never heard of Banana potatoes before - so I can't WAIT to taste them. They're very small though..

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16th September

We went to the local market this morning to buy grape vines for our grape pergola. {whisper} We also came home with a very large Tahitian Lime plant...We felt sorry for it...it was the last one there...it was lonely...

(Yes, I've run out of excuses now)

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22nd September

The Spring Equinox seems to affected me Lots of stuff has been done today:

*Planted lettuce seeds (Red & Green, Cos and Great Lakes) under the Josterberry tree to fill up the gaps between the other lettuces
*More Purple King seedlings went in with the others along the kiwi vine trellis. In the same area I also planted 4 spaghetti Squash seedlings
*Planted more Lebanese cucumbers
*Replaced the snail eaten milk capsicums with more seedlings (see, there IS method to my madness of planting waaaaay to many seeds )
*Planted Borlotti Bean seedlings in the strip next to the Cherry tree (gee, I didn't realise how fabulous the soil was there - wonder if it had anything to do with the shredded paper mulch?) *Six Amish Tomato seedlings went into the 4th and 6th rows of the new vegie patch. The seedlings grown in the hothouse have outstripped the ones grown early on my window sill (which haven't grown in size in a month)
*Planted 15 Green Globe Artichoke seedlings into potting mix along the brick wall in the bottom vegie patch. Hopefully these plants will keep the couch grass back
*Four Moon and Stars Watermelon seedlings went into the other 2 high stack of poly boxes next to the old chicken coop. The plan is to cover this ugly box with beautiful melons
*I took the chicken wire down from around the fairy garden (the chooks had broken into the garden long ago, so there is no need for the wire now as all the plants have been eaten and there are now huge hollows of dirt baths where the plants used to be) and nailed it up along the fence behind the pineapple hothouse. I then planted 5 Yellow Squash seedlings beneath it
*Planted Nasturtium seedlings at the base of some of the fruit trees. I have heard that they can help deter cherry and pear slug.
*All the seedlings were mulched heavily and fed with Dynamic Lifter

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23rd September

Will I never learn?! When every I plant out Tomato seedlings and leave them uncovered - you can bet your bottom dollar that there will be frost. So I woke up bright and early this morning and found frost as I let the chickens out of the coop. I then spent the next half an hour gently watering all the frozen seedlings! It looks like I will loose the Moon and Stars Watermelons. I put another poly box over the top anyway to protect them from the sun today {shrugs} The tomatoes look okay though. I put plastic milk bottles round them anyway to protect them in the future.

So, to cheer myself up, I planted more

*Planted Lebanese Cucumber seeds into the hanging basket with the Sweetie Tomato seedlings *Replanted the following seeds into the poly seed raising boxes in the pineapple hothouse: -Amish Paste - Loofah - Italian Basil - Zucchini - Broccoli - Chilayayle Squash - Yellow Squash - Scarlet Runner Beans - Moon and Stars Watermelon - Decorative Table Gourd - Blue Aztec Corn - Shallots - Lovage - Morning Glory - Moonflower - Motherwort - Coneflower - Night Scented Tobacco - Corncockle - Spaghetti Squash - Nastirtium
*I also scattered 1 packet of beetroot seed into the patch where my daughter planted the corn seed

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27th September

On the weekend my sister inlaw gave me some left over corn and carrot seedlings. Today I planted them into my daughters corn patch

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28th September

We have been without a TV for two days now due to my children having tantrums over not getting to watch programs. I was expecting an uphill battle, but aside from a couple of checks every day to see if it turns on, and the occasional 'I wish our telly worked', it has been a piece of cake. Although, the hubby and I have plugged in our little telly in the bedroom of a night time after the kids are alseep to watch it, but I'm not even missing Home and Away The only time I have missed it was yesterday evening when Grand Designs was on (it's one of my fave programs)

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