Vegetables
Peas can still be sown and dwarf varieties, such as Novella, will produce plump pods in nine11 weeks from sowing. Greenfeast takes 11 weeks.
Peas do best in trenches filled with rich soil and compost topped with ordinary soil. Add 50g of superphosphate for every metre of the row and keep the top of the filledin trench a little below ground level. This will help keep the peas’ roots moist longer after watering if conditions become dry later in the season.
Like peas, celery and leeks can be planted in heavily fertilised trenches and topped with soil.
Brussels sprouts put in now will give an early crop for picking in late autumn. Another planting at New Year will mature over the winter and through to early spring.
Lateseason potatoes, such as Rua, Moonlight, Red Rascal, Heather and Agria, should go in as soon as possible.
Choose a sunny, moist (not wet) spot with plenty of compost to feed the potato plants.
Maincrop carrot and beetroot seed can be sown.
Cucumbers and pumpkins can be planted now throughout the South. These plants demand extremely rich soils and warm situations.
Lettuce, radishes, mustard streaks, mizuna, miners lettuce (Claytonia), mesclun mixes and other salad crops can be sown now, as well as Asian greens such as pak choi, tatsoi and hon tsai tai turnips, kohlrabi and spinach. Swedes, rarely seen in the home garden now, should be sown where they are to mature. Beetroot and kohlrabi can be transplanted fairly successfully to fill gaps in rows, but it is a waste of time trying this with carrots, white or golden turnips or parsnips, as they seldom survive.