12 Oct Melbourne planting guide – spring, summer, autumn
Maybe it is a throwback from the short period of time since the Agricultural Revolution, but I am a sucker for the idea of planting, growing and eating vegetables from a home garden. For many of us in Melbourne, Australia, that means growing plants on our balconies, rooftops, indoors or as vertical gardens on the exterior walls of our apartments. For some of us, who are lucky enough to have a backyard, it might mean some raised beds in the sunshine of our gardens. No matter where we live in Melbourne, a Melbourne planting guide will help us to determine which varieties of seeds and seedlings to plant and when. That will be good! Because when we plant according to the Melbourne vegetable planting guide, we can have fresh, seasonal vegetables all year long!
Spring in the Melbourne planting guide
Spring is a great time to start your garden because it is the start of the growing season between early spring and late autumn,
As you can see in this table, there are a great array of vegetables that you can grow in early September. I think it is worth noting that if you are planning on planting seedlings, then refer to two months earlier on the Melbourne planting guide, because that is how long a seed would take to become a seedling.
So if you are planning to start in September, plant seedlings from the July column, and in November, plant seedlings from the September column. (Of course, this is relevant in Australia. September in the northern hemisphere is the start of autumn, so I would encourage you to find your local planting guide)
I hope to update this post as the seasons emerge. For now, I would just say that I am planning to sow a mix of seeds and seedlings in early October.
Crop rotation
It is important to rotate your plants for the health of your soil and to deter pests from infesting your crops. It is a bit of a complicated topic, and it might take you a few articles to come to terms with what exactly you need to do.
I would recommend the following articles to explain the different types of plant types and what order to plant them:
Best Gourmet Garden – this article in particular removed a lot of my confusion and gave me the skills to be able to design a crop rotation over four beds, planting in the summer and autumn. I used it in collaboration with Local Food Connect’s planting guide to work out which of the four planting types should be planted in either autumn or spring.
For your reference, the Alliums include onions, spring onions/scallions, garlic and chives (be careful with this one)!
Small four-bed garden crop rotation plan
My plan for a very small four-bed garden starting in the spring is to start with:
Beans, rocket, celery/tomatoes and spring onions/coriander, then;
Leeks, chickpeas, kale, and sweet corn, then;
Chillis, onions, peanuts, and rocket, then;
Rocket, potatoes, garlic and peas;
Constraints of gardening
It is so wonderful to embark on a journey that has so much knowledge embedded in the culture around the practice. I love how all these constraints create a system that can be learned and passed on to others. A Melbourne vegetable planting guide helps to share and build on that knowledge.
What are you planting this year? What are your biggest challenges with growing food at home?
Images:
“tomato seedlings” by cmurtaugh is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
“Chickpea Crop” by BugMan50 is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
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