Gardening with Simon - Autumn Gardening – What to plant in Autumn
Published on May 13, 2022
An exciting move to a new home for me means a smaller garden, and the opportunity to give container gardening a go.
I am a complete novice to this style of gardening and am bound to make mistakes along the way, but as with any new skill, I look forward to the challenge.
Now I am getting older, a “No Dig Garden” has started to have appeal. I have read in the past about this style of gardening and thought maybe one day I will add my own take on the concept.
So, in the bottom of each container I plan to layer a bag of Vegetable mix, mixed with sheep and chicken pellets and a covering of topsoil. I will then plant whatever I decide and wait to see if my experiment works. I will keep you updated on the progress.
Soil preparation is key to a productive garden
One of the most important aspects of gardening is the initial preparation of the soil. My approach has always been to harvest one bed and then immediately make a start on preparing it for the next lot of planting.
The reason I did it straight after emptying was that I didn’t have countless beds to prepare at once. Lawn clippings are a great start. Once they’ve had sufficient time to rot down, give them a good forking over to aerate the soil.
After a couple of days, cover with homemade compost, chicken manure, and chicken and sheep pellets. Give your garden a lightish water, then another fork over and leave until ready to plant. A day or so before you’re ready to plant, give the ground a rake over, set your strings up and away you go.
What to plant in Autumn
Autumn can be a funny time planting-wise mainly because the heat of the Summer has left us and the cold of Winter has not “Hit” us yet. The following plants tend to do well at this time of year:
- broad beans
- brussel sprouts
- cabbage
- cauliflower
- garlic
- leeks
- kale
- onion
- pak choi
- parsley
- radish
- silverbeet
- spinach.
I will catch you all in the Winter for another edition of Gardening with Simon.