What should you be planting now in your vegie patch? As for most aspects of gardening, the right answers to this question depend on a lot of things. How protected or exposed to the weather is your vegie patch? What sort of seasonal conditions are we going to get in the next month? Which fresh herbs and vegies do you value most in your kitchen?
Garlic has been one of my favourites to plant in autumn over the years. Divide the bulbs into individual cloves, plant the pointy end up, cover with about 2cm of soil and basically forget about them until new bulbs are ready to harvest in December. Seedling plants for garlic’s “cousins”, onions and leeks are generally available now in nurseries for autumn planting too.
Brassicas (cabbages, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussel sprouts) can all be planted as seedlings now. Look for good, fresh seedlings in punnets; plant them about 40cm apart and water in with a liquid fertilizer. Broad beans, climbing beans, snow and sugar snap peas are other favourite crops of mine to plant now. These are all easy to grow from seeds and most of the varieties will need support (wire mesh, lattice etc) when they begin to grow quickly. These are legume plants so they actually improve the soil where you grow them, particularly after vigorous warm season vegie plants such as tomatoes have been removed.
Final contenders for space in my autumn/winter vegie patch will be spinach, rocket, silverbeet and beetroot. Oh, and I will always try to find some space for cool season growing herbs such as parsley, coriander, thyme, oregano and dill. Nothing better than harvesting some or all of these goodies from your own garden beds or pots as we grind through the colder months of the year!
Ian Rogan
Millthorpe Garden Nursery