October is forecast to be warmer and drier than average. For those of us on tank water, we need to make tough choices on which plants get the water and provide us a good return on investment. This is where perennial species show their strength and resilience. Tender annuals are great for quick picks but don’t tend to have the staying power so need TLC and crop protection. Windy dry days, occasional storms and hotter temperatures will likely make the growing tougher this month. I’ve been working on shade protection for many crops and trying to lock in moisture by adding compost, using in-situ composting systems and layers of forest mulch. Shady microclimates and wind breaks are also ways to design in crop protection.
Our spring harvest continues with lots of tender broccolini florets, mountains of kale and lots of daily leafy greens. Some of our favourites are the Japanese mustard greens (saving the seeds from this incredible crop), red chicory, red-veined sorrel, lemon sorrel, dandelion, chard and perpetual spinach. Cherry tomatoes and mortgage lifter large tomatoes have taken over large sections of my various terraced gardens. I bagged them and this has worked well. I’ve spent a lot of time pruning to help the tomatoes focus on flowers and fruit and reaped great harvests. Bagged potatoes and sweet potatoes continue to produce well.
Basil, coriander, borage, chives, parsley, rosemary, oregano, thyme, sage and other herbs are providing flavour, edible flowers, bee forage and free seeds. The rocket and coriander are so pretty and the seeds are ideal for sowing as microgreens. Lebanese cucumbers are coming along nicely under 50% shade. The winter sown vertically grown zucchinis are still growing. Now the succession planted Lebanese zukes are producing huge fruit so I’m trying to keep up with zucchini recipes in the kitchen. Celery is enjoying shade now. I grow this year round harvesting from the outside in, while young and tender. It never grows up or gets stringy stems!
The sugarloaf cabbages and some early broccolini are finishing now. I’m chopping and dropping the stems and leaves under the mulch to return the moisture and nutrients back into the soil. I have experimented with purple sprouting broccoli the last 2 years and whilst the plants grew huge and healthy stems and leaves, they never produced florets. Several other gardeners I’ve spoken to have had the same results so I am crossing this variety off the list as it apparently requires a much colder winter to yield its colourful florets. Given the time, water, space and effort that went into these plants, I have composted them to at least give some kind of return to the soil, if not the plate!
The garden is filled with so many colourful flowers that attract beneficial predatory insects and pollinators. I sow many flowering herbs, all basils, cosmos and nasturtiums. Salvias are incredibly resilient and osteospermum daisies are also drought hardy.
On the fruit front, strawberries, mulberries, citrus and pawpaw are producing a reasonable harvest. Many fruit trees are in flower but it will be challenging keeping water up to produce a good harvest unless we get some regular storms. I’m transplanting a couple of my favourite potted citrus trees into large Waterpots with a 17L reservoir to make it easier to manage their needs.
I’m also mindful of ‘wildlife’ in the garden. Snakes are out and about and we are watching our step. They are looking for water like birds and other creatures. I had left some cuttings in a bucket to strike roots. After seeing a lengthy eastern brown helping itself to a drink in the bucket, I have changed my propagation practices to limit opportunities for any close encounters!
In the attached PDF, I share some seasonal growing tips for our local climate, what to plant, a few issues to consider and garden tasks for this time of year. I hope you find it helpful. Dig in!
Happy gardening, Anne
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