MotuekaOnline logo

 
[ Return ]

Grant Douglas's Garden Diary

Week 43: Fifth week of October

Despite this settled period of sunshine, there is still a real bite in the air with low night and early morning temperatures. Have heard of some people who have lost Tomato plants, so protect what you can and once again hold off with those very tender crops outside such as Basil, Melons and Kumera.

Yams can go in now. You can pre-sprout them in pottles or plant them straight in the ground. If you have had them in the ground in previous years, they are bound to be coming up all over the place and these can be shifted into mounded rows.

For some people it may be still too cold, but for others who are planting out Cucumber, now is the time for planting Gherkins. Try growing them up a 'Bean Frame' - this makes the picking much easier (you will not miss so many).

If you don't have much room to grow a lot of plants, but you want to have a reasonable quantity to make each pickling batch worthwhile, I have been told that you can store them for up to a week in a sealed container in the fridge and thus build up a week's supply to do in one hit. Ideally they should be picked every one or two days so that they are the right size.

Sowing or Planting this week:

Tomatoes, Peppers, Chillis, Egg Plant
Basil (Don't plant outside yet if you are in a cooler area)
Beetroot
Beans - Scarlet, Runner (Shiney Fardenlosa), Dwarf
Cabbage (Spring or Summer varieties)
Cauliflower (Frieda - Summer variety)
Celeriac (for transplanting or direct)
Cucumber
Kohl Rabi
Leeks
Lettuce (Loose-leaf Fancy and Hearting (Webbs or Greatlakes)
Onions
Peas (I choose Easy-peasy variety)
Potatoes - keep a succession of plantings going
Pumpkin/Squash
Red Onions
Shallots
Silverbeet and Perpetual Spinach
Snow Peas (Snap Peas)
Spinach (New Zealand)
Spring Onions
Sweet Corn
Watermelon/Rockmelon (Sow in containers for planting out later)
Yams (Sprout ready for planting soon)
Zuchini

Sow Direct: (Protect soil surface from heavy rains)

Carrots - I find Topweight a good early variety
Chinese Greens and Cabbage
Corn Salad
Corriander/Dill
Mescalin Mix
Parsnips
Rocket
Radish

 
[ Return ]