What to plant in September

September and the start of spring is grow time in the veggie patch. Now is the time to get a whole range of herbs and veggies in and make the most of the fantastic spring weather.

• Beans (climbing and dwarf)
• Beetroot
• Capsicum
• Carrot
• Celery
• Cucumber
• Eggplant
• Leeks
• Lettuce, 
• Parsnip
• Potato
• Pumpkin
• Radish
• Rhubarb
• Rockmelon
• Salad Greens
• Silverbeet
• Squash
• Sweetcorn
• Tomato
• Zucchini

All of your favourite herbs can be planted now as well – Basil, Chives, Coriander, Mint, Rocket, Rosemary, Sage, Marjoram, Thyme.

To get the best results through spring and summer keep applying compost and organic material to your garden beds to renew soil fertility and give your veggies the best chance. Keep an eye out for the new season pests and diseases as well. New growth on citrus and veggies will attract aphids and other sucking insects.

When is a vegetable a fruit ?

Quite often is the answer. Botanically or technically speaking ‘a fruit is a seed bearing structure that develops from the ovary of a flowering plant whilst a vegetable is the other parts of the plant, leaves, stems, roots’.

What we commonly call a vegetable, a tomato, a zucchini, a cucumber are actually fruits, botanically speaking, whilst celery, beetroot, carrot, lettuce, etc. are vegetables.

If it has seeds, it’s a fruit, if it doesn’t, it’s a vegetable! 

5 Great Reasons to Grow Your Own Herbs and Veggies

Growing your own fresh herbs and veggies is a lot easier and much more rewarding than many people think. There are hundreds of reasons to start growing your own produce and here are just 5 to help get you motivated !

You know what you are eating

By growing your own herbs and vegetables at home you have complete control over what you are eating and how you choose to grow your food. You control the inputs, soil, compost, how you control weeds, pests and diseases and can make your food infinitely safer to eat by doing simple things right. Good gardening principles are easy to follow and allow you to provide for yourself and family the cleanest, freshest and most nutritious produce that you can.

Nutrition – Fresh and tasty

Lots of produce that you will buy at the local supermarket gets promoted as “fresh”. In actual fact, in most instances its anything but. Veggies are grown on a massive scale to accommodate supermarkets needs, often vegetables are picked well in advance of when you purchase them and are stored and preserved, treated with a range of chemicals, to accommodate longer shelf life. Growing your own produce at home not only eliminates chemicals but drastically improves the nutritional aspect of the food you eat.

The rewards

Growing your own produce could possibly be the most rewarding aspect of gardening and home kitchen gardening has been identified as the strongest garden trend across the world over the last few years. The concept of reconnecting with nature, getting your hands dirty, nurturing your produce and the sense of pride when you harvest are all strong feel good factors that help increase personal wellbeing and you learn every step of the way with everything you grow.

Connect

Home veggie gardening gives you the chance to connect with family and community in many ways. It’s a fantastic way to get kids involved and learning about food, nature and life cycles. You can swap food with neighbours and friends, share tips and advice or join up at a local community garden, specifically set up to help people connect through gardening.

$$$

If all of these reasons arent enough to get you growing then saving money should tick the box ! Being able to harvest your own produce helps you save money at the supermarket and reduces food waste. Simply, you can plan and eat according to what you have on hand at home, saving money and reducing waste. Growing your own fresh herbs at home alone, will save you lots of $$$.