A seasonal guide to planting vegetables in Melbourne

Autumn planting guide for Melbourne

With the beginning of autumn, our gardening plans change. Some prefer growing vegetables over the winter to growing in the summer. Winter vegetables demand less attention and care. With the cool, humid Melbourne climatic conditions, winter vegetables nearly grow on their own. Here’s our guide on what to grow in the Melbourne garden in autumn.

Onions

If you’re prepared for outdoor space, you wouldn’t worry growing onions. They take quite some time to develop and can generally be bought cheaply from agricultural markets or greengrocery stores. However, if you have the area, it’s a reasonably simple vegetable to grow.

Onions could be transplanted from punnets, but develop best from seeds. Spread the seeds in the lines just a few millimetres deep in soil and water thoroughly. A few weeks after plant growth, thin the seedlings up to 10 centimetres apart. Maintain onion patches weeded since they strongly dislike competitors. Plan to ensure you prevent planting in areas where you want to grow your upcoming summer crops, as it takes time for the onions to reach maturity. Usually, you’re not going to harvest them even well into January.

Garlic

It’s so easy to produce garlic. With just a relatively small space, you can grow adequate garlic to supply yourself all year. Garlic bulbs are expected to be cultivated in early fall.

You could use garlic bought from the grocery store to grow. However, we suggest that you choose yours from a nursery to make sure that you have a disease-free and chemical-free garlic. Split the garlic head cautiously into the separate cloves and plant them pointy end up. The cloves must be hidden approximately 5 centimetres deep and about 20 centimetres apart. Then all you have to do is make sure that they are appropriately irrigated. Also, keep the weeds away until they are harvested.

It is essential to keep in mind that, just like onions, it takes some time for garlic to mature and is not harvested until well into the summer. So avoid growing it in an area you’ve allocated for planting in the spring, or you’ll discover that your place ends up double-booked.

Peas

If you’re aiming to make the most out of your tight spaces, peas are an excellent crop for fall and winter. They’re going to grow up a trellis, and they’re going to be loads of fun for the children to pick and shell. They’re legumes, so they’re going to fix nitrogen in the soil and help revitalise it.

Place the pea seeds with a depth of around 3-5 centimetres and water well. Avoid any further irrigation till the seeds have sprouted. Ensure that you pick the right variety of peas for your vegetable patch. Dwarf and bush peas hardly expand to 60 centimetres in height, but telephone may achieve a height of 150 centimetres or more. The variety ‘Melbourne Market’ (also recognised as Massey Gem) is recommended since it is a validated variety under Melbourne environments and only develops to a height of 50 centimetres.

Broad beans

March until early May is the perfect time to plant broad beans in Melbourne. The best part about these beans is that they’re ready to be harvested in the spring. It’s a period when not much else will be harvested in the veggie garden.

Plant broad bean seeds approximately 3 centimetres in depth and about 10-15 centimetres away from each other. Consider strapping a string between stakes to help raise them as they develop.

We advise rising the Coles Dwarf variety because it is hardy and is one of the perfect varieties to handle wind gusts. They are also quite resistant to fungal disease.

Leafy greens

Lettuce, spinach, mustard greens, and silverbeet will all develop well in autumn and winter. The economic suggestion is to cultivate from seed. If you want to start harvesting salads sooner, then transplant them as seedlings. You may begin harvesting leaves from outside the plant within eight weeks of planting (less if cultivated from seedlings).

Herbs

You could start a herb garden all year, including the fall. Annual herbs like Parsley and Coriander would develop well during the cold season. You’ll have to wait till spring to grow basil.

Spring planting guide for Melbourne

Spring is the busiest season of the year to operate in the vegetable garden:

> The land begins to heat up.

> The duration of the days is increasing.

> The temperatures of the day are rising.

> Melbourne’s precipitation is usually abundant.

All this implies that plants will grow and thrive very rapidly. Here’s our guide to what to grow in the typical Melbourne garden in spring. Keep in mind that there may be some variability in sowing times based on the particular microclimates. Hotter microclimates might allow for planting earlier, while colder microclimates may delay sowing for a few weeks.

Tomatoes

Tomatoes come in different colours, shapes and sizes. Pests tend to feed on mature fruit with red colours. So it’s a wise solution to develop some green or yellow variants along with red varieties. The pests will concentrate on the red and spare the green and yellow fruits.

Suppose you’re looking to turn your delicious products into nutritious pasta sauce, tomato sauce or even to dry them. In that case, it’s best to raise tomatoes that have been domesticated for that reason.

Capsicums

They seem to love the heat, so sit tight till the ground has heated up before they have been transplanted. Capsicums are a vegetable that you should grow if you have sufficient area.

You should wait till late in the season to begin harvesting capsicums. They will not produce enough fruit where space is constrained. California Wonder and White Diamond have been very efficient capsicum variants for Melbourne climates in the past.

Cucumbers

Cucumbers may be a bit tricky if you attempt to transplant them too soon. Transplanting seedlings in October can perform if the temperature is unseasonably high. However, if the ground is still cold, it tends to sob and sometimes dies.

To make fair use of land, develop cucumbers up a trellis. This also enables to prevent rodents, slugs and other troublesome insects. They would need regular irrigation; irregular irrigation may result in bitter tastes.

Eggplants

Cultivating eggplants is more efficient than capsicums. They are much faster to be harvested and happen in some significant colours and sizes. Long-purple and Black Beauty both are quite trustable varieties.

Pumpkins

Pumpkins are easy to produce in Melbourne. But be notified, they want a lot of areas. Pumpkin vines typically take a patch of around 5 by 5 metres per vine. The most challenging issue with producing pumpkins in Melbourne’s suburbs is preventing rodents from snacking them until you get an opportunity to harvest. Develop your pumpkins in a shallow heap with a lot of decent quality compost incorporated. Sow them directly at the beginning of mid-November.

Potatoes

Potatoes are a delicious summer vegetable and can be developed almost anywhere. They enjoy the soil rich in compost. You can grow seed potatoes in big garden beds and containers.

Carrots

Carrots are an excellent crop to develop in the summer. They take some time to reach the right size for harvesting, and when they’re big sufficiently, they will stay in the ground for weeks and can be harvested whenever you want them. Carrots generate massive yields in a small area.

Beans

Beans are a terrific summer crop. You can consume them fresh or keep them to dry with stews and soups. Numerous runner cultivars, such as ‘Scarlett Runner’ or ‘7-Year Bean,’ do not like hot afternoons. A few kinds, like the Rattlesnake bean, are much less susceptible to this problem.

Leafy greens

Summer is a challenging time to develop leafy greens like lettuce and spinach. That’s because they’re often flower and seed set due to a phenomenon known as photoperiodism. Heat-sensitive leafy greens would also wrench very quickly, regardless of the day length. You can minimise the likelihood of plant bolting by growing them in a semi-shaded place.

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