This post was most recently updated on November 20th, 2017
This month you can sow in the ground: Globe artichoke, Asian veg, broad beans, beetroot, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, fennel, leeks, lettuce, onions, parsnip, peas, potato, pumpkin, radish, silverbeet, spinach, turnips, yams (oca).
Please read: This information is provided for educational purposes only and is not intended to treat, diagnose or prevent any disease. We encourage you to make your own health care decisions in partnership with a qualified health care professional.
This post contains affiliate links, this means at no extra cost to you, we make a commission from sales. Please read our Disclosure Statement
I find that I get better results when the following are sown in indoor trays first: pumpkin/marrow/squash, zucchini, tomato, beans – french, runner, green and butter, capsicum, chili, celery, corn, cucumber.
VEGETABLES
This is a great time of year to hoe and rake the surface of the soil to help break up the top layer and allowing it to warm up quicker. It is a good time to weed, break in new ground (not if it is still boggy and wet though), fertilize and mulch. Don’t be too quick to put in frost tender plants, don’t be mislead by this beautiful weather, we are often hit by late frosts right up until mid October.
Sow lettuce seeds regularly from now on, directly where they are to grow but just a few at a time. Don’t go crazy like my kids did today and sow a whole packet of lettuce at once!
Rhubarb will be starting to sprout, make sure you chop off any flower heads that form and feed the plant well with plenty of well rotted manure.
Watch for the signs of early potatoes popping through and cover them with pea straw/farm straw or soil to protect from any late frosts. This month is the time to get your main crop potatoes planted.
This week thin any onions that you planted in Autumn and try to keep them as weed free as you can. Once they get big enough use mulch around them to suppress weeds.
If you haven’t already get your yams (oca) in the ground.
Onions and broad beans down here are best sown in Autumn, but you can still sow them now, they just won’t be quite so prolific.
Peas can go in the ground now, sow them half a finger length deep in double rows next to a supporting structure. They prefer wire or string over sticks and can’t wrap around anything thicker than a pencil. They prefer cooler weather, but will not survive in boggy wet ground, they need free draining soil.
For advice on good plants to plant together, have a read of our Garden Companion Planting Guide
Avoid planting peas and onions together as they make each other grow worse. Peas and beans go well with cabbage, carrots, lettuce and cucumbers. Carrots and onions are good friends and onions help deter carrot fly.
Potatoes and cabbages/broccoli play nicely together, and the biggest broccoli I have ever grown was interspersed with potatoes.
FRUIT
Get your glasshouse ready in the next few weeks to plant out your tomatoes.
If you want to plant berry fruit, now is a great time to get them in the ground.
Fruit trees are best planted in time to allow them to get settled in before the hot weather arrives. Remember to stake them well in windy areas.
For more information on companion planting read here.
For more information about when to plant and harvest different crops read here.
For information about crop rotation read here.
For further reading, I really recommend all of these books. I own every one of them and they are amazing resources!
Please Pin and Share with your friends and family!
