Gardening 101 for October

One month ago I attended my first month of a 12 month Gardening Course which I wrote about a while back....Richard the Practical Gardener is the best teacher. I came home with 6 pages of notes, and lots of homework for the following weeks....until we return for another lesson...... Each month we will cover similar topics, but it will be specific to that particular month...I like this, as we get to learn as each month comes around.....a far better way of learning so much information.

Robyn helping re-pot and thin the Clivea's

The topics we covered were:

• Annuals
• Veggies
• Jobs to do
• Growing home grown veggies & that no dig bed
• Espalier
• What to plant in that wet spot in your garden
• Fruit trees (Citrus)
• What to propagate in October
• Pests & Diseases - Safer spraying
• Which poo will work for you
• Plant of the month - Chillies

Afternoon tea was Rosemary Biscuits & Lemon Balm mini muffins which were all made by Richard's niece and were delicious.

Jean helping with cuttings from a
Variegated, Kaleidoscope Abelia 

My homework for the month of October is the following: 

• Items not completed on last months list
• Plant Zucchini,  Cucumber, Tomatoes, Chard, Silver-beet, Squash, Beans, Potatoes, Celery, Beetroot (different varieties to what I already have)
• Fertilise the lawn 7 days after the bindii spray (this coming Friday)
• Rejuvenate tired patches in the garden, with organic matter, manure, and/or Blood & Bone, dig it in well, and wait two weeks before planting.
• Cut back hedging plants if you have any
• Study what citrus trees I have and consider espaliating them, if Yes, then begin training them as you prune them. Prune Citrus Trees, & sacrifice any FIRST YEAR FRUIT, to allow the energy to go to establishing a good root ball.
• Set up DAK Pots about 2 - meters from your fruit trees to deter FruitFly , use soft-drink bottles and add Vegemite, Sugar & Water. The male fly will hang around the DAK pot trap, and get tired and drown....The female can only lay eggs in your fruit if she is mated....So if all the males are hanging out at DAK City....there's no hanky panky and egg laying. OR Molasses, Water & 2 coffee beans..one lady in the class suggested this recipe as the female is attracted to the coffee (Thanks Sonia).....I'm going to try both and watch closely.
• Grow from seed, some varieties of citrus, and other groups of fruit, using seed fresh from the fruit. Do not let the seed dry out first. This will be preparation for espaliated grafted fruit trees for next year. You can graft up to 8 different varieties of one fruit on one espaliated tree. OMG!!
• Grow from seed like above, PawPaw, and others (need to check up on these)
• Trim ANY shoots on ALL root-stock.
• Make a Blood & Bone soup mix, and spray garden plants, including citrus and fruits & veg.
• Remove any competition plants from beneath citrus trees.
• Look for Frangipani seed pods on neighbours tree, and ask for some cuttings to dry and plant. If planting cuttings, don't water. Cuttings will be true colour to parent plant, but seeds may be hybrids. 3 Years from seed to flower.
• Propagate Fuscia cuttings sacrificing the flowers.
• Make Natural Pesticides using Pyrethrum, Garlic, Wild tobacco plant, Eucalyptus, Skim Milk, Bi-Carb, Natural Soap, Chilli, Methylated Spirits, Olive Oil, Saw dust, Coffee grinds..A SEPARATE POST TO FOLLOW SOON.
• Fertilise Chilli plant, it is a perennial, so don't cut it back. Chillies don't like Winter but they do come back.
• Plan more for that wet spot in your garden, using Bog Plants. I need to set up the bath that the neighbour gave me as a water garden, which will be bigger/better than the sink I am using.

         Ideal plants for that wet patch OR pond in your garden are:

• Water Celery
• Water Chestnuts
• Water Parsley
• Taro
• Lemon-grass
• Mint
• Water Cress
• Ferny Azola     (All of the above are edible plants which I will use, but you can also add)..
• Silver Lady Fern
• Birds Nest Fern
• NOTE: If you are planning to make a pond, and need a Pond Liner, please buy one that has a high UV Rating. All others will give you grief and need to be replaced, some quicker than others, depending on how cheap they are made.

New Idea: using a divider to minimise root damage when transplanting
using old pot labels

I know, I know.....too many pumpkin and zucchini planted, but when you consider one for the slugs, one for    the slugs, oh....and one for the slugs......I should be able to get a few for the garden....If there are any left, I will either sell them or Freecycle them.

Hope you like reading about my gardening course, I am finding it very rewarding. The information overload is fantastic......Thank-you again Richard for a lovely day.