AUGUST in the garden

IN THE VEGGIE GARDEN

by Kathy Finnigan

Time to start getting your seedlings ready for spring planting. If you're a member, or would like to contribute, please do a few extra for the plant stall coming up on October. Here is a video/article on sowing seed from Gardening Australia.

Or to revisit Deirdre’s method shown to us at the April meeting. Take a simple plastic container (such as a takeaway container) place dampened paper towel in the

bottom, place seeds on top, cover with more damp paper towel, put the lid on and keep in a warm

bright spot. check every few days when seeds start to germinate take of the lid and keep moist. Once

the seedling has developed several sets of leaves plant them into punnets of potting mix.

What sold well last year at the plant stall were Broccoli and Cabbages, Snow peas, English spinach, Silverbeet, Asian greens, Spring onions and lettuce.

For you own garden you can start planting: Chitted potatoes, divisions of chives and rhubarb, and bare

rooted asparagus crowns.

SOW: If your soil is warm enough directly sow into the ground seed of peas, snow peas, broad beans, turnips, swedes, Asian greens, English spinach, spring onions, mesclun mix, rocket and coriander.

If it is still too cold start in pots, in a glasshouse or warm spot, seed of all of the above plus silver beet, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and lettuce seeds.

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A bit of planning

Winter is the ideal time to do a bit of planning around what you want to grow throughout the year. It

is also an opportunity to stock up on seed, particularly if you are after something unusual. There are

many online seed companies that can supply something a little bit different to the standard seeds at

the nursery or hardware store. If you are after open pollinated seed, then it is either order them online

or find a local seed saver network.

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IN THE ORCHARD

There is still time to complete any pruning projects and plant new bare rooted fruit trees.

It is also a great time to feed and mulch your fruit trees. I also like to plant garlic around the base of my stone fruit. Both mulch and garlic help to reduce leaf curl and brown rot on peaches and nectarines and Apples scab on apples and pears.

I was just doing some research to refresh my memory on how to control coddling moth in apples and

came across this article from Peter Cundall. It is an excellent reference for organic control of a

variety of orchard pests and diseases.

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