I'd like to start a winter vegie garden. What do I plant and when?

I'm not too familiar with the weather patterns in Austrailia, but I'm assuming you get cool winters (not the -20 cold we have here in OH). Do you happen to know what your grow zone is? Cool winters but not cold ones tend to be a zone 7-8, which means there are many plants you can grow in your vegetable garden.

Before you plant, I'd recommend adding your soil amendments. Compost, humus, shredded leaves, composted manure and such can all work to enrich your soil naturally. Use a broadfork or tiller to work it into the soil and prepare your beds well prior to planting. I often recycle old cardboard for walkways - helps conserve moisture and works as a natural, biodegradable weed barrier too.

Plants that thrive in cooler temps include many of the "spring" veggies -now may be a good time to plant peas, salad greens, onions, garlic, cooking greens (such as kale - but without frost, I'd recommend picking it young, as frost is used to "sweeten" the leaves), cabbages, carrots, beets, spinach, turnips and such. Mediterranean herbs and other "heat loving" vegetables (tomatoes, peppers, okra, summer squash) will probably do well for you during the spring and summer seasons, but don't plant those until warmer weather arrives.

If you do intend to plant vining veggies, such as cucumber, squash, melon or pumpkins - many do very well in climates that receive alot of rain, but you need to make sure you space them well to avoid mildews or rot, and make sure you plant these in hills. They love water, but need really good drainage from hilling to prevent root rot.

Hope this gives you some ideas, and if you need more, check out the book "The New Organic Grower" by Eliot Coleman (aka my garden bible). He outlines crops for a complete 3-season garden approach. Excellent reference source!

Good luck and happy gardening!

From what I hear about down under , you need a good fence to keep out critters before you plant a garden. Give the agriculture dept. at the nearest college or university a call , they should be able to help you better than a bunch of us yanks. Good luck.

particularly, you shelter water maximum by making use of planting in small pits, no longer in mounds. Mounds are used to enhance drainage, the place soils tend to be too moist. in case you're watering your flowers, a drip irrigation gadget provides you with the main earnings for the least water.

Brussel Sprouts would do good, we had some and after the first frost they flourished!

Any cool weather crops will do fine.Onions,lettuce,broccoli,peas,radish,carrots,cabbage,cauliflower,just to name a few.