Introduce colour to the cool-season vegie patch by sowing a mix of heirloom vegies, like carrots. You can also find cauliflower with vibrant purple heads. Try The Diggers Club, Veggie Garden Seeds or Green Harvest for seeds.
Browse and order spring bulbs in preparation for planting in April or May. Anemone, bluebells, daffodils, freesias, hyacinths, jonquils, tulips and ranunculus are annual favourites. Choose a spot with plenty of sun. Enrich the soil with aged manure and compost, blood and bone, sulfate of potash and dolomite.
Thinking of establishing a new vegie patch? Try the no-dig method. Fill a bed with 8-10cm layers of the following, layering them like a sandwich: bark or woodchip, grass clippings or fresh green waste, straw with a dressing of blood and bone, aged animal manure, lucerne, aged animal manure, lucerne, and finally compost. Wait a couple of weeks before planting, but if you're wanting to plant now, add bagged potting mix to the top and create small holes for planting.
It's sweet pea season! Traditionally sown on St Patrick's Day (17 March) but its best to wait a few weeks (or more) if the weather is warm. Provide a trellis or teepee for tall- growing varieties.
There's plenty to sow and grow now: broad beans, broccoli, cabbage, kohlrabi, lettuce, dwarf and climbing peas, spinach, spring onions, swedes and turnips. Lee Sullivan shares her top five on page 46 of our Autumn 2023 Garden Clinic Magazine.
Pick excess summer herbs, like basil, parsley, and chives for drying or freezing. You can also finely chop herbs and mix with room-temperature butter before freezing.