Autumn is a lovely season in my part of the world. It is hot and humid over summer and autumn gives you a taste of the milder weather to come – a welcoming change. The mornings are just that bit fresher – Although I am writing this in an air conditioned room as we have had an unusual hot day for this time of the year!

I have looked forward to sowing some cooler weather crops. Kale is one of these. Last year, I had been introduced to this vegetable at the local farmers market. I loved it! On my next visit, I bought some seedlings to plant in my patch. Then I decided to buy a packet of seeds and sow the lot! This provided me with an abundance of kale till summer when it  started to bolt due to the warmer weather.

The other crop I have looked forward to growing this autumn is some tasty salad greens. The summers here are too hot for them. So March has seen me sow some kale seeds and salad green seeds.

Last month, I mentioned that I had a baby spaghetti squash growing. What I didn’t realise was that I also had quite a big spaghetti squash hiding under the leaves. This worked out well as that baby spaghetti squash shriveled up and died. My friend who gave me the seeds said she hasn’t had much luck growing spaghetti squash either so if anyone has any tips, please share them with us!

Two silverbeet plants have provided me with some tender leaves for stir fries this month. There are more silverbeet plants in my nature strip veggie patch. Silver beet is another plant I like to have in the patch as it is a “pick as you need it” crop. Often, I’ll only need a few leaves. The beauty of having this type of plant in your patch is you can pick what you need fresh. There’s no need to buy a massive bunch and have it go to waste in your fridge.

I have had a purple beauty capsicum plant produce one fruit this month. I have solidered on with capsicum plants. I lost two egg cartons of seedlings to a curious kid accident, half a carton to a cane toad that decided to jump on my seedlings and out of the seedlings that managed to make it into the ground – only three survived! So it was exciting to see this little capsicum one morning.

Snake beans plants have been pulled up and bush beans and sugar snap pea seeds have been sown this month. As I have sown a bit of seed in the patch this March, I have worried a bit about our resident bush turkey. Some of you might know that a baby bush turkey appeared in my garden last month. It has decided that it likes our garden and likes scratching up mulch even more, which is what they do.

It did scratch up an area where I had just sown some mesclun salad mix seed. So I have put up a barrier around my veggie patch. I know bush turkeys can fly, but there are other places it can scratch. It gets shooed away when near the veggie patch – maybe it will someday get the message!

What have been your MARCH happenings in your veggie patch? We would love to know! Please let us know in the comments below.