Your OctSOWber Garden!

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Article Written By: Jeremy Cupido
Store Manager @ GardenShop Bryanston 

Summer is here and our gardens are blossoming into life with swathes of colour and abundant green growth. Here at the GardenShop we like to think of October as OctSOWber, as it’s the perfect time to sow a multitude of beautiful flowering and delicious vegetables seeds. It is important to prepare your soil before sowing any seed. Follow these simple steps for optimum results:

  • Remove all weeds from the area.
  • Loosen the soil.
  • At this point, you can work in your preferred garden amendments (organic or inorganic) with a spade, rototiller or spading fork. Soil amendments are not strictly necessary as many fertilizers contain soil conditioners in them.
  • Add a complete fertilizer.
  • Moisten the area thoroughly a couple of days before sowing. When you sow, the soil should be moist but not soggy.
  • Smooth the soil with a rake

With your soil ready for sowing, simply choose the seeds you would like to sow. To achieve a more even distribution, specifically with smaller seeds, place the seeds in a can with white sand or super fine maize meal and shake them up until thoroughly combined, then simply sow this mixture over your prepared area.
Once you have sown your seeds, rake over the area lightly, barely covering the seeds with soil – they should not be buried too deeply. Finally spread a very fine layer of mulch over the entire area and water with a fine spray. We suggest the following seeds to sow during October:

Flowers: Marigolds, Zinnias, Asters, Petunias, Portulaca, Celosia, Lobelia Alyssum, Carnation, Sunflowers and Cosmos. If you would like to sow vegetable seeds in October, we suggest: Egg Fruit, Green Beans, Pumpkin, Beetroot, Lettuce, Green Pepper, Spinach, Parsley, Carrots, Onions, Turnips and Capsicum.

In addition to sowing seeds during October, you can also plant: Dahlia, Arum Lillies, Liliums, Gladiolus and Hemerocallis for a beautiful display
next Spring. You could even plant some seed potatoes! If you do this, add a thin layer of straw to prevent your beds from drying out.

Seeds and Bulbs

Flowers

Vegetables

Caring for your existing plants during October is also key to their continued healthy flourishing. Here are some flower specific tips:

Roses:
Give them a good mulch of well-rotted Kraal Manure or compost, at least 3cm thick and replenish it as it is used up. Your roses also need a good watering
at least twice a week in the warm weather. Now is also the ideal time to prune climbing Roses. We suggest feeding roses with Ludwigs Vigorosa.

Hydrangeas:
Keep the new growth by mulching and watering. Cut out any weak or old growth.

Day Lillies:
Buy this beautiful plant at your nearest GardenShop and plant in friable soil.

Ranunculus and Anemones:
Remove the entire plant and discard as they will not bloom the following year again.
In their place, plant a rewarding Bougainvillea as they are drought tolerant and will flower abundantly.

Happy Gardening!

Roses

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