Talking Manure with EGOR
October has opened the Melbourne way: spring is officially here, but somebody forgot to tell the thermometer.
That makes this a useful week for Talking Manure, because the traditional lunar calendar and the actual garden are going to disagree occasionally — and when they do, weather, soil, sunlight and the plant in front of you win.
The astronomical backdrop is straightforward: we are in the waning part of the lunar cycle, heading towards the new moon on 10 October. Traditional moon gardening associates the waning period with roots, pruning, weeding and below-ground work, while the new moon itself is commonly treated as a rest or planning period. This is traditional gardening practice, not established horticultural science. Space
Monday 5 – Tuesday 6 October: fruit days — but don’t get carried away
The traditional calendar marks Monday and Tuesday as fruit days, covering tomatoes, beans, capsicum, chilli and other crops where the fruit or seed is what we’re after. However, because we’re approaching the new moon, the same lunar system regards this as a better period for maintenance than enthusiastic above-ground planting. Lunatempo
More importantly, Melbourne’s weather has an opinion.
Monday should be relatively benign: around 18–20°C across much of Melbourne, partly cloudy and essentially dry. Tuesday turns wetter, with a very high chance of showers, roughly 1–8 mm in parts of Melbourne, and a north-westerly change swinging south-westerly during the day. The Bureau of Meteorology
So Monday is the better day for hardening-off tomatoes and inspecting where the summer crops will actually live. If you’ve got robust beans ready to go and a sheltered warm spot, fine. But I wouldn’t throw every capsicum, chilli and eggplant into cold soil simply because the calendar says “fruit”.
EGOR says: a tomato doesn’t own a diary.
Wednesday 7 – Thursday 8 October: root days
These are the week’s traditional root days — carrots, beetroot, onions, potatoes and other below-ground crops. Lunatempo
Wednesday currently looks cool — around 16–18°C in the Melbourne area — but substantially drier after Tuesday’s showers. The Bureau of Meteorology
That could make Wednesday an excellent inspection day before it becomes a planting day.
Grab a handful of soil.
If it squeezes into a wet lump and stays there, leave it alone. If it crumbles reasonably when released, you’re back in business.
For carrots in particular, don’t cultivate wet ground merely to satisfy a planting date. Compacted, cloddy soil is far more influential on the eventual carrot than the Moon.
A small succession sowing of carrots or beetroot makes much more sense than emptying the packet.
Friday 9 October: flower day
Friday becomes a traditional flower day. Think calendula, nasturtium, marigold, chamomile and other flowering companions. Lunatempo
This isn’t decorative gardening sneaking into the vegetable patch.
Flowers are infrastructure.
They can provide food and habitat for pollinators and beneficial insects, and Sustainable Gardening Australia specifically recommends spring flowers including nasturtiums, snapdragons, marigolds, petunias and others for attracting beneficial insects into the garden. SGA Online
So rather than thinking “vegetable bed here, flower bed over there”, begin weaving them together.
Saturday 10 October: tools down, EGOR
Saturday coincides with the new moon. The traditional system treats it as a garden rest day rather than a major sowing day. Space
Perfect.
Walk around instead.
Look at where the sun is now landing compared with September. Check what’s shading what. Look under leaves. Inspect the underside of anything the aphids have discovered.
And take photographs.
For the Edible Garden Community experiment, those observations may ultimately be more useful than another dozen seedlings.
Sunday 11 October: the cycle turns
Sunday remains a traditional flower day, but with the new moon behind us the calendar shifts towards sowing above-ground crops again. Lunatempo
That makes the end of the week a reasonable point to start the next spring push — subject, as always, to the weekend weather and actual soil conditions.
And there is plenty available now.
For temperate Australian gardens in October, Sustainable Gardening Australia lists artichoke, beetroot, cabbage, capsicum, carrots, chilli, eggplant, French beans, kohl rabi, leeks, lettuce, parsnip, potatoes, sweet corn and watermelon, along with herbs including basil, parsley, sage, oregano and marjoram. SGA Online
Melbourne’s cooler pockets require a little more patience than that list might suggest.
Plant now
This is good territory for lettuce, silverbeet, spring onions, beetroot, carrots, climbing beans, cabbage and herbs such as parsley, oregano, rosemary and thyme.
Tomatoes can start moving into genuinely warm, protected positions where the soil is ready. October is normally tomato-planting territory in southern gardens. SGA Online
Hold back — or at least don’t rush
Be cautious with capsicum, chilli, eggplant, cucumber, zucchini, pumpkin, sweet corn and watermelon if your particular garden is still cold, windswept or receiving chilly nights.
The calendar saying “October” doesn’t magically warm a shaded bed.
A healthy seedling kept protected for another week is preferable to a heat-loving plant spending ten days sitting miserable in cold soil.
Companion and rotation note: bring the flowers into the food
This week’s companion idea is simple:
Stop treating flowers as spare decoration.
Put calendula, nasturtium or marigolds around and between productive areas where their mature size allows it. They add insect diversity and make the edible garden a functioning little ecosystem rather than a supermarket shelf planted in rows. SGA specifically recommends a range of these flowers for attracting pollinators and beneficial insects. SGA Online
And don’t fill every vacancy. We’re still practising succession planting.
Leave somewhere for November to happen.
EGOR’s practical job of the week: weed while the ground gives them up
After Melbourne’s recent rain, this is the moment to attack young weeds.
SGA identifies weeding as an important October job, reducing competition between weeds and productive plants. SGA Online
But there’s another reason to do it now.
When soil is moist rather than sodden, many weeds come out roots and all. Wait until the ground dries hard and you’ll snap the tops off and leave the underground machinery ready for another go.
Pull them before they flower and seed.
Then decide whether the material belongs in the compost, worm system or somewhere else depending on whether it carries seed, disease or troublesome perennial roots.
EGOR would presumably call that staff recruitment.
From the prototype garden
Not much happening activity wise last week, terrible weather so I thought I’d tidy up a bit.
Radishes are already sprouting as are the nasturtiums, yeehaa!
The experiment remains deliberately simple:
Traditional knowledge + current weather + actual garden observation.
No planting calendar — lunar, commercial or otherwise — knows whether your particular carrot bed is waterlogged, your north-west wall is storing afternoon heat, or your chilli is sulking.
That’s why we’re building this from the garden upwards.
Talking Manure with EGOR
Practical garden wisdom from the dirt up.
For publication day, readers can check the current Bureau of Meteorology Melbourne forecast and Sustainable Gardening Australia’s October planting guide before putting anything in the ground.
