My Vegetable Garden Planting Plan for Year-Round Abundance in Central Victoria
An annual chart showing when I plant my vegetable crops.
Last week I shared my annual harvest chart with you. It shows the peaks and famines that my vegetable patch produces. You might have found it interesting in its own right, but if you want to try to replicate it in your own garden you’ll need today’s post. This one is about planting times, not harvest times.
In my first year or two of gardening here in Kyneton, I had to learn to change my Melbourne planting timings by up to a month to account for Kyneton’s colder climate. These days I tweak my planting plan here or there by a week. I’ve smoothed massive swings between gluts and famines to mere bumps and blips. In preparing to share this information with you, I’ve gone back and pored through six years’ worth of planting and harvest data. Now I’m confident it’s an accurate representation of when I plant what to achieve the harvest chart that I shared with you last week.
It’s important to note that this chart details when I do plant various crops. Not when I could. For example, I could plant carrots anytime from September to December. But to ensure year-round carrot supply I need to sow them in September so that they are ready by Christmas when the stored crop comes to an end. If you want information about when you can plant the various crops, you’ll need to head to each vegetable’s How to Grow guide (find them all here). You may notice slight discrepancies between the planting times I’ve listed in individual guides versus what I’ve included in this overarching planting guide. That’s because I’m always tweaking and refining things. For example, I used to plant my first brassica crop in the first week of January. I now plant it in the last week of December. I’ll keep the planting plan in this post updated to reflect my current practices as I refine them. It’s a living, working document that is the cornerstone of my gardening calendar. Feel free to use and adapt it however you see fit.