Gardening Tips

  Direct Sow

• Coriander, rocket, radish and landcress (one of my favs!) along the picking edge on the shady side of taller summer crops
• Carrots and parsnips
• Lupin greencrops to prep the soil for brassicas
• Calendula, cornflower, marigold, bishops flower, phacelia, honesty and borage.
  Choose vigorous self seeders that’ll pop up of their own accord when conditions are perfect. Self sufficient plants we love and adore.

 Tray Sow

• Celery, silverbeet, chard, perpetual spinach or kale for autumn and winter harvests. Chard and perpetual beet self seed readily so let them develop seedheads over summer and you will never need sow them again.
• Brassicas for autumn – a few each of cauli, cabbage, broccoli every month or so brings mixed, regular harvests from autumn through spring.
• Leeks, early January for winter eating. They take ages from seed so start now.
• Zinnias, sunflowers, stock, hollyhock, aster, anise hyssop, coreopsis and chamomile, to name a few.
• The last lot of cucumber or zucchini for warmer regions or the greenhouse.

Direct or Tray Sow

• Saladings (choose heat lovers like Tree lettuce, Merveille de Quarter Saison, Drunken Woman, Oak Leaf, Summer Queen)
• Direct or tray sow Beetroot. Use your edges for this, unless you need a heap to pickle/ bottle you don’t need a whole bed. Such a small efficient crop, they can be squeezed in anywhere.
• Basil is best young. Keep a fresh supply all summer/ autumn long with little and often sowings. Sow into warm garden soil or a tray.
• Green beans – dwarf or climbing, for warmer regions or the greenhouse. Get climbers in early this month for cropping from mid March. As long as they dont dry out they’ll crop till May or it gets cold – which ever comes first.