What to Plant in September

Plant directly into the ground.

Beans – bush and climbing. These can be planted close together. Climbing beans must have a trellis, bean poles or string tied from the roof or wall. There are hundreds of varieties so plant a few of each. Some of my favourites are black beans, lazy housewife runner bean, cow peas, snake beans, Blue Peter which is a purple bean, and all of the bush beans. If you have space plant lima beans.

Root Vegetables – Turnips, beetroot, carrots. Although these have probably been going

Squash family – If you are growing in a small space plant 2 or 3 zucchini or patti-pans. Pumpkins, gem-squash and butternut take a lot of space. However, I have successfully grown pumpkins over a shed. As the fruit grew bigger I made ‘hammocks’ out of onion bags. This year I will try the same with butternut and gem-squash as they are not so heavy

Mielies, popcorn – These also take quite a bit of space, but a fresh mielie is so delicious it is worth growing them. A good idea is to plant your climbing beans and mielies together, you won’t need bean poles and your space is well utilized.

Plant in trays, or wait until all chance of frost has gone

Tomatoes, brinjals, chilis, peppers – There are lots of varieties of all of these veggies, so try a few types. Sometimes it is easier to buy these plants in seedling trays. If you have a small garden, share the cost with friends. If there are three of you it is ideal as you can get two of each tray.