In September I was away for 10 days. I always love coming back home and checking out my garden when I have been away. The time away makes me see the patch with a fresh perspective and appreciation. This is especially the case if I have been visiting somewhere urban, which in September was Los Angeles.

I received an email from Matt Neville (who had done an interview for us) letting me know that he was working overseas again and just had to have a small garden, as he missed his so much. He attached a photo of a pot with some seedlings on his balcony with the urban sprawl of Manilla, Philippines in the background. I reckon if I were to live in an apartment with a balcony, I would be container gardening as well.

Because I knew I was going to be away,  I focused on veggie patch maintenance this past month.  I decided to weed and mulch some areas of the patch before I went away to get them ready to plant out later on.

On my arrival back home, many of my plants had started to go to seed. Radishes, coriander, bok choy, and cooler weather salad greens created this burst of flowers that attracted so many pollinators – I spent a moment just watching them buzz around!

Flowers had started to bloom in the fairy garden, which was an awesome welcome home. Borage, lavender, marigolds and calendulas also bloomed to greet me.

Of course, having something fresh to eat from the garden (leafy greens, herbs and some tomatoes) for a simple salad was soooo good when I returned home.

The rest of September after I got back home  was spent on more garden maintenance – weeding, mulching and staking some random tomato plants. I needed to do this early in the mornings before the pollinators were awake and buzzing by the plants. It was a bit surreal trying to work near the pollinators and hearing all that buzzing – I don’t think I’d ever be able to be a beekeeper.

We also got some fantastic rain in September. The rain was quite heavy and had flattened some of the taller plants that started to go to seed (like the dill and mizuna), but I could live with that!

Sometimes you read an article at the perfect time. This past month I read a blog post by Jerry Coleby Willams on an insect predator called the White Butterfly Parastoid Wasp that controls white cabbage moth. Lucky I read this because I had seen some green caterpillars that I was going to squash thinking they were cabbage moths and then realised by their eggs that they were a beneficial insect!

There is a quick rundown of what has been happening in my veggie patch this past month. For more regular updates, don’t forget to Like our Facebook page

WHAT HAVE BEEN YOUR SEPTEMBER HAPPENINGS IN YOUR VEGGIE PATCH? WE WOULD LOVE TO KNOW! PLEASE LET US KNOW IN THE COMMENTS BELOW.