March: GICIC’s Perth Gardening Guide

This is my personal growing calendar for Perth conditions during the month of March. I will talk about local conditions, what worked as expected and what didn’t.  🙂 🙂

Perth Generally

Conditions:

Normally still hot and muggy with only a few rainy days so keep up with your hand watering. I find fungus (due to perfect conditions for them), snails/slugs and tomato grubs my main issues.

I Plant:
  • Beans, beetroot leaves, broccoli
  • Choy sum, coriander, corn, chrysanthemums
  • Garlic bulbs
  • Land cress
  • Leaf beets, leeks
  • Marigolds, mediterranean herbs, mint
  • Nasturtium flowers
  • onions (brown/yellow, white, spring)
  • Pak Choi, potatoes
  • radishes
  • Spinach, sweet potatoes
  • Tomatoes
I’ll Harvest:
  • Asian greens e.g. choy sum
  • Chilis, citrus
  • English greens
  • Kaffir lime leaves
  • Radishes and their leaves for salads
  • Roots like ginger and galangal
  • Tomatoes
Jobs:
  • Spray with Dipel and pyrethrum to manage grubs and caterpillars.
  • Add nitrogen and potassium to fruiting plants.
  • Give herb gardens a good trim.
  • Check for caterpillar damage.
  • Move pots around if they need more or less shade.
  • Trim to yellowing asparagus fronds to 2 cm above the ground.
  • Keep an eye on mildew etc as the warm weather and rainfall are perfect conditions.
  • Make snail traps.
  • Keep weeds to a minimum, the rainfall can lead to weed explosions.
  • Slow feed your roses for the coming ‘chilly’ weather and watch for pests.
  • Preserve chilis for winter by freezing, pickling and drying.
  • Refrigerate the bulbs for about a week to improve germination success (thanks to Jean Davis and Ben Davis for this tip).
I Don’t:
  • Harvest any asparagus.
  • Tend to plant any new chilis.

 

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MyJournal

2018

It has been a windy, mild summer. The garden seems to be less singed by the sun than normal. Sensitive greens and plants like coriander are benefiting from it.

Edit – second week of March has was hot and muggy. Plants did not like it much.

Notes:

  • I am not getting any Serrano or Bhut Jolokia chilis which is strange. The other chilis however are groaning under the weight of their pods.
  • I am getting lots of tomatoes – multiple varieties.
  • I am growing spring onions, from the roots of mature plants I got at the grocery store, with great success.
Nursery seedlings (that caught the eye):
  • Bananas, bay, beans – snake, runner, french and broad
  • Beetroot, berries (logan, black and blue), brussel sprouts
  • Cabbages, carrots, cauliflowers, comfrey
  • Garlic bulbs
  • Jalapeno chili peppers (I wouldn’t)
  • Kale
  • Leeks, lemons, lettuce
  • Nasturtium
  • Onion – wide variety
  • Passionfruit vines, peas, potatoes
  • Rhubarb, rocket
  • Silverbeet, sweet potato
  • Tomatoes – wide variety