Ready for spring

G'day gardeners of Bribie Island and surrounds, September has arrived and with it that familiar lift in the garden. The days are longer, the soil is warming and plants that sat quietly through winter are suddenly putting on new growth. This is one of the busiest and most rewarding months of the year on the Island, across Moreton Bay and up the southern Sunshine Coast.

Our climate is kind at this time of year: mild nights, plenty of sun and soils that drain freely. That last point is both a blessing and a job. Sandy coastal ground warms quickly, but it also lets moisture and nutrients slip away. Get the basics right now and the rest of spring becomes a lot easier.

Start with the soil

Before you plant anything, look at the bed itself.

Clear out spent winter crops, weeds and tired mulch. Fork the top layer loosely rather than turning it hard, you want air in the soil without wrecking the life underneath. Then work in a generous layer of compost or well-rotted manure. On Bribie sand, this is the job that matters most. Compost holds water, feeds microbes and gives young roots something to hang on to.

Top the beds with 5-7cm of fresh organic mulch sugarcane, lucerne or tea-tree all do well here. Keep it off stems and trunks. Mulch keeps the soil cooler as the days heat up, slows evaporation in those drying spring winds and cuts down on weeding later.

If you can, check pH. Most vegetables like it around 6 to 7. A cheap kit from the nursery is enough. Raised beds and large pots are still excellent options on the Island: they warm faster, drain well and let you control the soil mix.

The veggie patch: plant now!

September is a changeover month. You can still squeeze in a last run of cooler crops while getting the warm-season plants in the ground.

Still good for early spring are loose-leaf lettuce, rocket, Asian greens, silverbeet, beetroot, carrots, radish and spring onions. Include some herbs such as parsley, chives and slower-bolting coriander.

Give salad greens a little afternoon shade once the days heat up or they will bolt.      Sow small amounts every couple of weeks so you don't end up with a whole bed ready on the same day. 

Warm season crops to get in now 

Tomatoes (cherry and small-fruit types often handle our humidity better) 

Capsicum, chilli and eggplant 

Bush and climbing beans 

Zucchini, cucumber, squash 

Pumpkin and sweet corn 

Sweet potato slips 

Basil 

Stake tomatoes and climbing beans at planting time, not after they flop. Water at the base, not over the leaves. One healthy zucchini plant is usually enough for a household - pick young and often or it will bury you. 

A useful local note: spring-sown tomatoes here can run straight into January humidity and fruit fly. Choose compact or cherry varieties, keep the plants well-spaced and well mulched. Be ready with fruit-fly traps as the weather warms. 

Herbs, flowers and fruit 

Basil loves this month. Pinch the tips regularly so it bushes out instead of going 

to flower too soon. Parsley, mint, oregano, rosemary and chives can all go in now. 

A few flowers among the vegetables earn their keep. Marigolds, nasturtiums, calendula, alyssum and borage bring in bees and hoverflies and make the patch look alive. Natives such as grevillea, bottlebrush and kangaroo paw are good spring plantings if you want birds and pollinators as well as colour. 

Fruit trees and vines respond well to a spring feed. Citrus, passionfruit, pawpaw and mulberry all appreciate compost, mulch and a good soak. Use a low-phosphorus fertiliser around natives and banksia-family plants. If you still have strawberry runners, get them in early in the month. 

Lawns and grasses 

This is the wake-up month for warm-season lawns - buffalo, couch and zoysia. 

Wait until you can see new growth before feeding. Then apply a slow-release lawn       fertiliser and water in. Feeding a still-dormant lawn just wastes product. Raise the mower a little if the grass is thin, then settle into more regular cuts as growth speeds up. Never take off more than a third of the leaf at once. 

If the lawn is uneven after winter, a light top-dress with a sandy compost mix can help, but don't bury the grass. Deal with weeds while they are small. Pre- 

emergent products, if you use them, need to go on before summer weeds germinate - timing is tighter than people think. 

Water deeply rather than often. Shallow sprinkles keep roots near the surface and that is the last thing you want heading into a hot summer. 

Water, pests and the little jobs that count 

Growth means thirst. Check hoses, drippers and timers now, before you need them every day. Water in the morning so foliage can dry. On sandy soil, mulch plus deep watering beats daily light watering every time. 

Pests start moving in September. Watch for aphids on new tips, caterpillars on brassicas and greens and the first fruit fly as tomatoes and cucurbits set fruit. 

A blast of water, yellow sticky traps or a simple soap spray often sorts early aphids. Encourage ladybirds and hoverflies by leaving a few flowers in the patch. 

Other useful jobs this month 

Finish pruning summer-flowering tropical shrubs if you have not already. 

Divide overcrowded perennials and herbs. 

Refresh potting mix in containers. 

Turn the compost heap. 

Put up trellis, stakes and shade cloth before the plants need them. 

Net ripening fruit if the birds have found it. 

Keep it simple 

You do not have to plant everything at once. A well-prepared bed, a handful of reliable crops and regular picking will beat a crowded, hungry patch every time. On Bribie and around the passage, the gardeners who do best in spring are the ones who feed the sand, mulch early and plant in stages. 

The season has turned. Get the soil right, get a few things in the ground and the garden will do the rest. 

Happy planting.