What grows in the garden in Fall? A Garden Update

Here is an update on my tiny townhouse garden. I have recently been to the hardware store and got some more mulch, a few new plants and we (my husband) has recently finished painting the side fence. Here are questions answered for fall gardening and some tips and jobs for this month.

Do African Daisies grow quickly?

African daisies grow quickly and are green the whole year. I just bought a new purple and white daisy and it is already flowering well. The trick to get them to grow quickly is to dead head the plants regularly which encourages it to put more energy into growing healthy roots, leaves and new flowers.

To help the African Daisy to grow quickly I first dug in some cow manure, compost and pelletized chicken manure. I watered it regularly for the first 2-3 weeks to settle it in. With the amount of rain we get here, I should not need to water it, especially over the fall and winter. A well cared for African Daisy can grow a few feet across but you can keep them trimmed to a smaller size if you like.

How long before my violas start to flower?

I have planted small viola seedlings only a week ago and they have already started flowering. These seedings would be a few weeks old when I bought them so they were ready to burst into flower as soon as I planted them. I have planted these in early fall so they will have a long flowering season.

The key to keep them flowering is to pinch off the dead flowers as soon as they start to close. The plant will add more leaves and new flowers quickly.

Should I mulch the top of star jasmine?

I have recently bought a new star jasmine and have added two types of mulch to the top of it to keep the moisture in and to help to build up the soil. I started with a bark mulch but have added some new sugar cane mulch to the top. This will break down quickly and add extra goodness to the soil.

How long before lettuce seeds start to grow?

I planted lettuce seeds in my raised vegetable bed around 2 weeks ago. These are now half an inch high and are growing well. They have grown their first set of leaves and even though they are in shade most of the day, they have grown as quickly as those in full sun. Next to the lettuce I have planted snow peas and more pak choy. It will be a few weeks before the pak choy will be ready to pick but the snow peas will take a few months

Snow peas, lettuce and pak choy

Do worms eat whole apples?

Worms will eat a whole apple eventually, but it will take some time. I have recently thrown a whole apple in my small worm farm to see how long it would take to break down. So far it has been in there for 2 weeks and doesn’t look like it has changed at all. It will eventually be broken down and eaten by the worms but it is much slower than chopping it into small pieces.

Do I need to dead head canna lilies?

You should dead head canna lilies throughout the warmer weather. Trim them off with garden secateurs when the flowers have finished. This will encourage the canna lilies to flower again. I have been dead heading my canna lilies throughout the season this summer.

As the weather cools down further, the plant will turn brown and die off. I will let the leaves and stems dry and I will trim them around to around 5 inches from the ground. I am going to dig them up this year, pulling up the rhizomes and dividing them. Making sure they have around 5 new shoots on each piece, they will grow into a new plant.

Do you need to mulch strawberries?

I always like to mulch around strawberries with bark mulch or sugar cane mulch. This will stop weeds from coming up around the strawberries. This strawberry, Sweetie, has runners which will grow into new plants. I just put a small stone on the runner to hold it against the ground so that it will start to send down roots. When the roots have grown, I will snip it off from the main plant and re-plant it somewhere else.

Do I need to trim my Hawaiian snow bush?

You will need to trim your Hawaiian snow bush regularly to keep it in a tight form. It grows long stems and branches but tip pruning regularly will help it to keep it bushy which will look great. I bought this Hawaiian snow bush a month ago and it is growing well.

I am waiting before I trim the ends as they are currently pink and pretty, but soon I will trim them off to encourage the bush to stay small. These only grow a few feet high which is the perfect size for underneath the Camelia.