Planting Guides - month by month - follow these proven tips  

 

MARCH

 

Nurture your soil

Spread compost generously over plots – aim for 30 - 40 cm depth to improve the soil structure and supply nutrients.  Foliar feed onions, veggies and fruit trees with
one dessert spoon seawater to 9 litres water.

 

Plant care

March 17 - St Patrick's Day is the traditional day to plant sweet peas.

Crop rotation Autumn/Winter Brassicas - in seed trays - broccoli ( 12 weeks) kale, mitzuna, rocket, tatsoi Root – direct -beetroot (8-10 weeks), carrots ( 10 weeks), parsnip (14 weeks) Allium – direct or in seed trays -leeks, onions (13-17 weeks) Solanaceous – potatoes Legumes- direct - broad beans(harvest 12-17 weeks), peas(9-12 weeks), snow peas

Leaf – direct or in seed trays - lettuce, spinach, silver beet (3-4 weeks)

Herbs – coriander

Plant seedlings Leaf- lettuce, silver beet, spinach

 

Moon planting:
First week of waxing moon - Leaf crops

Week before full moon - Fruiting crops  

Full Moon

Week after full moon - Root crops and transplanting

Last week before dark- Weed, prune and harvest

 

Maintenance

Remove finished plants such as beans, tomato, zucchini, corn.

Weed thoroughly around fruit trees and ensure mulch is clear of trunk.

Spray sooty mould on citrus trees with a white oil to smother the citrus scale. Protect brassicas from white cabbage butterfly using fine nets or by spraying

with molasses spray. This stops chewing caterpillars from destroying the leaves.

 

Harvest

Artichokes, aubergine, beans, capsicum, carrots, chilli, corn, cucumber, grapes, lettuce, peas, potatoes, snow peas, spring onions, squash, tomatoes, zucchini.

Plait or string onion crop and hang in a cool dark place.

Dry posies of herbs out of sun in upside down bunches wrapped in paper