The Garden In October Is An Exciting Time

The first asparagus has arrived

The Central Otago Garden in October

As October arrives, so does the start of the workload, but because you did so much of the hard yards in the winter, this work is far more enjoyable.

The beds should be ready to go, and as long as, like me, you are spending some regular time out there, the regular weed-pulling will keep things under control. The soil will be warming up, and weeds will be taking root and can take off very quickly.

The beginning of the seedlings are now moving up in pots

The first lot of seedlings are in

The first lot of seedlings has gone into the garden. Cross your fingers for me, but we may have a frost very soon.

I like to begin my peas and broad beans in deep plug cells so when I get them into the ground I disturb the roots as little as possible. I prefer to do this so I can give them the best start to what at times can be a cold spring, and honestly, I love that I can have fresh peas for Christmas.

Now, this doesn't mean that you can get your climbing beans into the ground just yet. I have learned the hard way. I got all excited in mid-October; we hadn't had a frost for a couple of weeks, so I planted out my climbing beans and my bush beans, and quite literally 2 days later we had a -1°C frost, and they all died. Hold off until at least early November. There are some varieties that can hold up to cooler temps, but I don't generally grow these.

There are a couple of things that I do direct sow at this time of year.

• All leafy greens - spinach, pick-again lettuce leaves, rocket

• Radishes go really well as long as you cover to protect

Start sowing your carrots for Christmas eating, repeating every 2-3 weeks to have a steady supply.

Peas planted now gives you something for Christmas Lunch

More seed sowing to come

I am coming to the end of my main seed sowing at the beginning of October.

My tomato seeds are now in; I have them germinating in the main bathroom on the underfloor heating.

The sunflowers and zinnias are also in, and I am resowing some things that didn't come up. I had good uptake from most things, but I made the mistake of overwatering some things, and there were a couple of things that I was a touch too early for, so I'm going back over some things.

Each day I check in on my seedlings, making sure they are happy, getting enough sunlight, rotating the trays, and as each seedling begins to get its true leaves, I begin the process of up-potting them into their bigger pot. I find that if I'm doing this every couple of days, it's not such a huge job.

The Daffodils are still doing well and the tulips are starting

What else is on in the garden in October?

There are a couple of jobs I'll be doing this month

• Time to take care of the glasshouse—I've sown a green crop in there to condition the soil and feed it up when I crop and drop come planting time.

• I'm continuing to feed the garlic every couple of weeks.

• I have begun putting my bean and growing structures together so I can begin to plan the spaces.

• Keep an eye on your compost, make sure you are keeping it moist, and if you need to, give it a turn a couple of times because you want it going well; it's about to get a workout.

This is an exciting time in the gardens. I'm loving the fruit tree blossom, the vegetable gardens are starting to come to life, and the perennials are doing what they will.

I can't wait to get stuck in and growing.