Which veg guide

I am in Melbourne, Eastern suburbs. They are just the size of a finger. Please suggest. My capsicums were tiny this year, I only got 1 zucchini off 3 plants and my pumpkins have only just started fruiting now. On the brighter side, many random bits and pieces have continued to grow and produce when they normally would have died over summer. I also planted a pack of well out of date eating kidney beans late in the season and they boomed!

We might find that these planting guides change over the coming years with the changing seasons. I have the most beautiful crepe myrtle tree out front. Good easy guide and love my homegrown produce. We purchased a large hot house in April and have had cherry tomatoes for months. Broccoli, snow peas, bok choy and lots of herbs. My question is: can I still grow things in the hot house during the summer months?

We live in the northwest of Victoria in the hot mallee. Broccoli and bok choy are cool season only vegetables. Snow peas are also cool season but some varieties can survive in the summer.

Herbs are perennials so you can grow them all year round. I grew tomatoes from seed, started about early August mortgage lifter tomatoes. They are already in the ground protected from frost due to a large tree. My garlic is going fantastic and will be harvesting late December. Chillies, endives, celery, lettuce, spinach. I only use rain water and seasol after I prepared the beds with sheep, cow and chicken manure in varying amounts.

I love your site — so much info to help us all. I plant the garlic on the 23rd March after the bed is prepared and I buy organic Aussie garlic to plant or use my own grown. This year I put in about 70 plants and about 50 are doing well. This has happened every year for the last 10 years. Have just finished growing brussels sprouts and the plants grew well with lots of foliage and a large amount of sprouts but they remained small.

What is the possible cause of this problem? Brussels sprouts are really difficult to grow successfully in Melbourne and they usually do develop properly. I have been learning from your guide for most of the year.. With COVID lockdown, I am starting from seed this season and am so excited today to be planting out some of my beans, zucchini, pumpkin and cherry tomato seedlings.

I have started all via your guide, they are so healthy and happy :. Thank you so much for all you share here … its been a tough year and starting my first vege garden has been my saviour and you have been my Yoda!! After a bit of research, I think I need garden soil and then mix it with Organic Compost ratio.

Can you please share on what I should use to fill by raised garden bed to grow organically?. Yes, you should be using a mixture of soil and compost. The greater the proportion of compost, the better your veggies will grow but the more expensive will be your ongoing costs because compost disappears over time and has to be replaced.

I have about 30 50mm pots to grow my vegetables in due to not much yard but a few decks. I have great success. I make my own compost now from bokashi that then goes into compost bins. Not as fine texture as the bagged stuff Any tips? I was told to be careful with the compost ratio due to drainage. What percentage of compost would you combine with organic potting mix from Ceres? Can I up my compost percentage? But, if you are growing annuals, you can change your mix from season to season and thus you can try different combinations and see what works.

In case you havent acted yet. Maybe you can start making your own compost — not only is it free, but also rewarding. Hi Mereana. Have only just found this guide but have been growing veg all through lockdown. Some great successes and some not so. I love all of the information.

We have just moved from the Adelaide Hills to Melbourne so it is particularly useful. Best wishes Vanessa. Thank you for your effort in pulling this information together and sharing it. Also, any tips on where to buy seed and seedlings around Melbourne? I know Bunnings but I would like to have more choices, especially heirloom and organic. Good variety of seedlings in the nursery and lots of inspiration generally! Thanks for this great information.

I am new to gardening and wanted to start growing Veggies. I have setup couple of garden beds and filled with good soil and not clear what to start with. Each garden bed size 1. Can you please recommend where to start.

I have Eggplant , Tomato and Capsicum seed with me right now. Looking for your input. Eggplant, tomato and capsicum are all good to grow over the summer. They are all related solanums and it would be good for you to grow them all in the same bed.

You will need to stake your tomatoes. Does the guide for capsicums apply to the yellow capsicum? Also any tips guidance to growing Figs, kaffir lime and baby capsicum? It means sow the seeds in the ground rather than in seed trays. It depends on both how quickly the seeds germinate and how quickly they then grow. This is turn depends on both which veggie is being grown and the temperature. Certainly not before the second set of leaves which are the first set of true leaves appear, and at least a couple of weeks after this.

A rough rule of thumb might be around 2 months after planting the seed. If they are runners from other plants, plant them now.

If they are already planted in pots, wait until Spring to plant them out. Thank you for an excellent resource — it immediately made my year planning so much easier. Like so many others, I would welcome a copy of the Vege Planting Guide spreadsheet. Thank you once again for an outstanding resource.

This is a great resource. Clear and easy to understand. How would you recommend we start with a 10 year old child who wants to grow veggies and do most of it on their own, but like most kids would get overwhelmed and lose interest if there is too much to do? What are good veggies to start with that are easy to look after and will produce well so the child can be encouraged? And any tips to help the child We would plant in pots, as sunshine is limited in what could be the veggie patch.

Thanks for your advice. Start with radishes. They are so easy and quick to grow and can be planted all year round. Once it warms up a bit beans are great as they come up quickly and grow fast. Silverbeet is great as your child can pick a few stalks and the plant keeps growing. If you have a big pot you can grow several herbs together.

Parsley, coriander and mint are good together as they like a bit more water. Hope that helps. Hi this is an awesome resource! Was wondering what plants you would recommend for this time of year?

I think that you should probably wait until September and then plant your summer crops. Zucchini is good when space is limited. Ditto basil. Silverbeet is always productive if you like the taste. Rocket survives the summer heat better than lettuce.

Hi, this is great! Does this more or less applies to Sydney as well? Or any good site for Sydney garden lovers? Sydney has, I think, a noticeably different climate to that of Melbourne but the general shape of the timetables will remain similar. I am just starting to get a long overdue interest in planting some veggies … your planner will be a great help.

Hello, thanks for a wonderful spreadsheet. My question is do you plant seedlings by the Moon Phases? Love the spreadsheet! This is my first year gardening, with fallow soil would you recommend a green crop that I dig in later or horse manure, the latter I am not sure as we have a new puppy with penchant for eating anything.

Use cow manure or store-bought chicken manure instead. And also, when you say seed trays, would you put the seed trays in a garden bed or just on their to begin with? Hi Guy, Your guide is invaluable. Thank you. Could you also provide a guide to harvesting times e. Also, I have a problem with slaters eating my capsicum and millipedes curling up in the top of my sweetcorn. Any solution? Also, I am an optimist and my predicted harvest times are usually shorter, and sometimes much shorter, than actually happens.

But, since you ask, here is my best go at responding to your request for harvest times. All numbers are in months and are on the optimistic side. Re slaters eating your capsicum and millipedes curling up in the top of your sweetcorn: my philosophy is that this is all part of how nature works and you just live with it. Hello there, I have been struggling to find the dosage rates for a plltet fertilizer i was gifted. Im looking for a rate to apply to my vege plants potentially upon planting OR mid season OR upon turning the soil between crops.

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated. It is around twice as strong as normal fertilisers. Between crops just sprinkle a few handfuls and digger gently in. If in doubt, use less rather than more. They are now everywhere in my garden and holes are appearing on the foliage, so I assume these cabbage moths are causing this? Yes, I have two suggestions. Note that cabbage moths are only a problem for brassicas cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, brussels sprouts, etc.

First, the damage is caused by the caterpillars. So, you want to stop the moths laying their eggs on your brassicas.

This can be achieved with fine bird netting. Second, cabbage moths are territorial and if they see another cabbage moth in the vicinity, they tend to leave. So, either make, or buy, some decoys — just white butterfly shapes on sticks. My local nursery sells them in packets of Jodie I found planting white violas and petunias next to my brassicas and regularly picking of the eggs worked so well!

This guide is so good thank you! I have a question about these darned cabbage moths. But do you have any other tips on detering them? Also I can see onions can be planted in February, but then not until May. My guess is that February is for short day onions that do not last long and May for the longer day variety. Are there any specific varieties that grow well in Melbourne? Yes, what you say about onions is completely correct.

What do tree walking onions taste like? Are they a substitute for brown or red onions? Sage deters cabbage moth. Chives improve the growth and flavor of carrots and deter aphids, mites and flies. Rosemary and sage repel carrot fly. Leeks are thought to repel many flying pests including carrot rust fly.

Dill is thought to protect against aphids and mites. Beans can provide more nitrogen to the corn. Sunflowers can act as a structure and a windbreak for the corn. Marigolds prevent nematodes in the soil over time.

Pole beans are sometimes interplanted with corn, as they add nitrogen to the soil and provide structural support. Nasturtium deters aphids, beetles and bugs and improves growth and flavor. Oregano deters pests in general. Sunflowers can provide a trellis and shelter for shade-loving cucumbers. Tansy deters ants, beetles, bugs, flying insects, as does borage , which is also supposed to improve growth and flavor.

Chives , onions , and garlic deter aphids and other pests by masking the scent of the lettuce with their aroma. Basil is thought to improve the flavor and growth of lettuce. Radishes can be used as a trap crop for flea beetles. Poached egg plants Limnanthes , a wildflower, will bring hoverflies and other beneficials that eat aphids. Onions are thought to protect against borers, mites, slugs, and cutworms, as well as maggots of all types. Chamomile and summer savory improve onion growth and flavor.

Chives deter aphids. Mint improves health and flavor. Alyssum brings in pollinators and encourages green lacewings, which eat aphids. Herbs like basil , oregano , and marjoram have a protective, insectidal quality. Chervil and nasturtium improve growth and flavor. Lettuce tenderizes summer radishes. Radishes are often used as trap crops for flea beetles. Nasturtiums are thought to protect against pumpkin and squash beetles. I thank you for a thoroughly enjoyable and succinct read.

A nice captivating intro. Well thought out and it's evident that you're well experienced. This is important for the whole world as everyone's lives change with Covid I can understand the comment by Linda from Germany as many city dwelling folk around the planet live in high-rise apartments. There are definitely resources for that but for me, as i read through your article, many memories of my Dads' garden in my childhood showed up.

I remembered the feel of soil under my toes and in my small hands, the smell of top-soil mixing with water and different vegetable leaves. I remember the sunlight coming through the canopy and shining on me.

Thank you for the lessons and the memories. Best wishes, Jason. Hello, I really enjoyed reading your article about vegetable gardening for beginners, I found it very helpful.

Thank you, Richard. I can't believe I'm just now reading this article! We are starting a deck garden to keep plants away from critters until we decide whether or not I have a green thumb. How much space do I need? What kind of soil do I use? Are there certain veggies I should by as seedlings instead of seeds? Brianna, We really appreciate your kind words and the time you took to comment—and shared with our tiny team here!

If you have more questions, let us know. Stay patient. Also, you might appreciate our Garden Planner tool because it actually calculates those spacing questions for you and so much more.

My daughter in law planted a garden on my farm this year and was making heaped up rows to plant on. We live in western Oklahoma and her ancestors are in Texas and Kansas. Can you tell me why the mounded soil? Thanks for your question! But it sounds like a form of raised bed gardens without the wood or stone sides. Elevated soil warms more quickly in the spring than the surrounding garden soil. This is a practice for cooler or wetter climates. In drier areas, hilling is not a great idea though, as much needed water can drain away.

You bury healthy amount of compost and well rotted manure underneath the mound first, and then some shovels of garden soil until each hill is 3 to 6 inches tall.

It works well for snow peas and can provide an earlier start for beans and corn and also potatoes. It means that several seeds are grouped together in one spot and then thinned.

Hills are used to space out the plants which vine and need room to spread. Your daughter-in-law may also be implementing hugelkultur who-gul-cul-tour , by some definitions an Old World technique of making mounds of logs and sticks that will eventually decay and covering with organic matter, including compost, aged manure, and the like.

Then, and for years, planting in it. Learn more here: www. Hi Catherine, I really enjoyed reading your article and it is really helpful. I will surely follow the gardening tips and methods! Note that certain vegetables will require sowing inside, to start propagation taking hold before moving outside. Vegetables such as tomatoes, sweetcorn, cabbages and marrows will require this step. Read our detailed planner below for a breakdown of which vegetables require sowing, moving and harvesting - and at which points of the year click on a crop for detailed growing information.

This vegetable planner has been created as a guide and does not take into account regional, or seasonal weather variations.

Interest in grows your own continues to rise and growing your own tasty and healthy fruit and veg at home are easier