Gardening in September
Compiled by Sors Pretorius
”Spring is the time of plans and projects.” ― Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
S
pring isn’t around the corner any more - it is here!
How fantastic it is to see
the changes of season
slowly but surely showing itself all
around us. Although some areas
still experience cold spells and frost,
these are short-lived and lack the
intensity we experienced a month
or two ago.
I trust you have had a look at our
previous contribution in August and
are ready for the joys of planting in
spring. The seeds you planted in
seed trays last month should now
be almost ready to transplant. I
hope you also remembered to plant
new ones to ensure a consistent
harvest right through the summer.
Planning your harvest
A good habit to get into, as far as I
am concerned, is to take the time to
sit down and plan. Make a list of
your family’s favourite vegetables to
enable your planning of how many
of each plant you will need. No
need to plant 20 spinach plants, if
none in the family actually likes
spinach, or a 2 X 2 m bed of radish
if you only need 3 or 4 per sitting.
Rather plant a few plants at regular
intervals, giving better care and ensuring healthier plants.
Careful planning of your harvest
needs will also make your purchases
of seed easier and you wouldn’t
end up knee-deep in packets, upon
packets of unnecessary seed which
will just get old and less likely to
grow in the next season. Where
ever possible try and stick to just
enough seeds to last you for the
season. When you do your purchase
eventually, be careful to check on
the sell by date on the packets. You
don’t want to invest a lot of preparation and planning only to find
that your seed did not germinate
properly and you end up with only
a few seedlings in a patch of welltended soil.
That brings me to the next good
habit: -dispose of all old seeds and
seed packets. Although some seed
types can be kept for longer than
the sell by date and still germinate,
I found that getting rid of these will