Coming up

Costa and Sophie are at the ABC Gardeners’ Markets, Tino shares tips on fern care, Jane visits the Kevin Heinze community garden and Millie shows how you can grow vegies even if you haven’t got a garden! 

Gardening Australia Weekly Quiz

A) A type of bark     
B) A miniature variety of the riccia plant
C) When plants fail to thrive

Answer to last week's question:
Q. Nyctinasty is:
A. B - The movement of plants in response to light and temperature changes 

ABC Gardeners' Market

If you’re in Adelaide, why not head down to the ABC Gardeners' Market tomorrow (Saturday 12 October). Browse the many stalls, grab a garden bargain, a bite to eat and be entertained by live radio shows on the ABC stage. Bring the little ones to enjoy the kid's zone on the grass with giant board games and activities. Stay up-to-date with live updates by joining our Facebook group.
 

Find out more

2020 Gardening Australia Diary and Calendar

Find a full year's inspiration for your garden with the 2020 ABC Gardening Australia Magazine Diary and Calendar. Available from newsagents, bookshops and online.

What to plant this weekend

Tropical Climate Zone

• Beetroot
• Chives
• Lettuce
• Water Chestnut

• Basil
• Celery
• Cucumber
• Tomatoes

• Beans
• Coriander
• Oregano
• Sweet Corn

• Carrots
• Mustard Greens
• Pumpkin
• Spring Onion

• Cabbage
• Capsicum
• Eggplant
• Squash

Jobs for the weekend

COOL

• Pretty-up your patch with some stunning summer-flowering annuals, like phlox, snapdragons and cornflowers. Plant around the garden or add some colour to a container!
• If you’ve got a bit of room free at your place, why not plant out a globe artichoke? Spreading to about 1.5m wide, this incredible edible is as tough as it is tasty, and very ornamental to boot!
• Maximise your garden greenery and start growing up. There are loads of plants that can be grown over arches, pergolas, climbing frames and fences – see what you can create!

• Sow your sunflower seeds today. There are heaps of happy Helianthus varieties to choose from, like the dwarf Teddy Bear or the mammoth Russian Giant.
• Improve a dormant bed (and your health as well) by sowing a green manure crop of quick growing wheat grass. Incorporate wheat grass into the soil (or into a smoothie) before they set seed
• Looking for a tough, showy, scented native that will thrive in a challenging spot? Track down a Swamp Lily (Crinum pedunculatum). Flowering now, this strappy perennial is practically perfect

• It’s time to drop Dahlia tubers into the ground. Dig a nice big hole for each tuber, ensure growing tips are facing upwards and pop them in place, staking larger varieties.
• Grow something you’ll go nuts for and plant a macadamia tree. An excellent backyard shade tree or dwarf pot specimen, a grafted plant will take around five years to produce nuts.
• Plant some marigolds and mustard greens with your tomatoes this weekend, especially if you have had root knot nematodes before. These classic companions will keep the pests at bay.

• If there’s space at your place, put in a Turpentine Tree. This slow-growing native tree has an open canopy and strong wood, meaning it can cope well with cyclones.
• Indoors or outdoors, hanging basket or pot, the old-fashioned Beef Steak Begonia is a gorgeous go-to with its large, glossy leaves with a deep red underside and a tremendous trailing habit.
• Whack in a wet season cover crop of mungbean, lab lab or cow pea, and protect your vegie patch. Cover crops will help the soil retain nutrients and minimise erosion during storms.

• Plant out an Australian succulent or two. Tough and tolerant, there are around 400 Aussie succulents, perfect in a pot or the patch. Hunt some out at your local nursey
• It’s citrus harvest time, so make sure you nab your Navels, manage your Mandarins and collect a volume of Valencia’s before they drop to the ground or become mouldy and spoil.
• Composters, next time your oven is cooling down, whack your used eggshells in for five minutes. This dries the shells, and means they can be easily crushed and added to the compost bin or worm farm