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I’m going to call it – my pea climbing frame was a fail, it’s collapsed twice and the wind from last week means its now on a permanent lean – and there’s not much I can do about it. Next peas will need to be climbing on something more sturdy!
My broccoli and cauliflower growing was also largely a fail – no decent heads to harvest, but now that they’re in flower at least it’s attracting the bees. We did get one small cauliflower head, which was delicious all the same.
Most seeds we start in September, but as we’re in lockdown I have actually started a lot of my seeds early on the heat mat inside. Already we have seedlings on basil, tomatoes, cucumber, zucchini and cabbage. We have also sown sunflowers and a range of other flowers – the youngest in the family prefers flowers to fruit!
I did try to purchase seed potatoes online for delivery but most were sold out. Instead we cleared out the weeds in the two unused beds behind the chook run (where we used to grow blueberries – now returned to pots and much happier) and relocated all the potatoes we dug up around the garden to these two beds. We have potatoes growing all over the place, so as we harvest them elsewhere we’re hoping to move them all into these two beds. There are still some in the 10 in 10 challenge space which we’ll leave for now. Here’s a few pics of the space –
Plans for September for the 10 in 10 Challenge crops:
| Crop | September tasks |
| Tomatoes | Start (more) seeds inside on heat mat (plant out in November) |
| Basil | Start (more) seeds inside on heat mat (plant out in November) |
| Cucumber | Start (more) seeds inside on heat mat (plant out in November) |
| Zucchini | Start (more) seeds inside on heat mat (plant out in November) |
| Carrots | plant more seeds – direct into garden bed |
| Lettuce / Salad Greens | lots self seeded lettuces appearing, monitor and relocate if needed |
| Potatoes | – |
| Peas | Last chance to sow peas this month |
| Cabbage | Start (more) seeds inside on heat mat (plant out in November) |
| Broccoli/ Cauliflower | – |
Other tasks for September
With the raspberries tidied and tied back, and most of the garden treated with black grit and sheep manure, September will be focused on prepping the main beds for the Spring planting – wedding, removing spent crops and improving the soil for planting. Mulch will also be added as the soil warms.
September and the warmer weather means that everything starts to grow faster, the trees wake up (our almond, plums, apricots and peach have already started flowering) and the seedlings (planned and unplanned) will appear and flourish. Can’t wait.
I’ll be posting updates on Facebook and Instagram throughout the month, and will have a blog review of the month for you towards the end of August.
Until then – get growing!
