The parsley has spoken. So have the tomatoes. Seedlings from last year's crop are popping up in our vegie garden. It's time to get seeds in - now - and know that whenever you feel broke, dinner is growing in your garden.
But check first - our soil may be warmer than yours. Can you sit on it with bare skin for five minutes without feeling chilled about the hind quarters? The air temperature is no guide. Those seeds will be in the earth, not lounging on garden chairs.
Wait before putting seedlings in. Seedlings are prone to rotting at soil level. They'll also be used to a warm glasshouse. The shock will set them back. They won't crop any earlier than the seeds, and will cost far more.
I only buy seedlings of the plants I've forgotten to put in or those I'm tempted by later in the year. (That can be quite a few.)
Select seeds
I grow some hybrids, like fast-maturing melons, and some non-hybrids, where I can save the seeds or let the plants scatter seed naturally each year.
I mostly buy my seeds from catalogues, but garden centers are also great, or try the supermarket. But if your supermarket's seeds are tucked into an inconspicuous corner and no one seems to be buying them, they may well be last year's stock. Seed viability varies. Some ancient wheat seeds have still germinated after thousands of years in a sealed container. Parsnip seeds rarely grow more than a year after the seeds ripen on the plant.
Which seeds?
The next three months are the main planting time for the year. You're planting the things you'll eat all summer, as well as many of the things you'll be eating through autumn, winter, and hopefully next spring as well.
Year-rounders
Silverbeet, celery, leeks, spring onions, parsley, beetroot, carrots, parsnips, turnips, and foliage turnips can all be planted in one go to see you through the year. If you're short of room, you can plant them over the next few months as space becomes available. Other crops, like basil, pumpkins and watermelons, are also one-crop plantings, though they will only crop till it gets cold.
Staggered croppers
Beans, lettuce, peas, corn, tomatoes, and zucchini should be planted as successions when the first lot is just starting to flower. Don't follow the "plant every two weeks" rule as early and late plantings catch up with each other and you end up with a glut.
Perennials to eat for decades
Plant these now so they get the fast spring growth: asparagus, artichokes, Jerusalem artichokes, arrowroot, perennial leeks, perennial spring onions, rhubarb, horseradish, herbs like thyme or summer savoury.
Quick maturers
If you are eager for a harvest, try mitsuba or mizuma (both are skinny green veg), radish, Chinese bok choi, silverbeet, baby carrots like Amsterdam Forcing, cos, baby lettuce, rocket, or Chinese cabbage.
How to plant
Dig, water and wait a week till weeds appear then dig again. Repeat. Or dig, cover with clear plastic so weeds germinate and cook, then plant; or pile old leaves or lucerne hay up at least 60cm on the lawn or weeds you've jumped up and down on to flatten them, then cover with 60cm of compost or potting mix, and plant. This does not work in warmer climates if you have kikuyu, which must be killed by a lavish application of cardboard for three to six months before the ground where it was growing can be used - and even then you'll need to fence it out.
Read the back of the packet for spacing and soil depth, and what climate that particular variety does best in. Some seeds need deeper planting; others need sunlight; some, like carrots and lettuce, need to be mixed with sand or they will clump together after watering and need to be thinned.
Also pay attention to the "days till harvest", especially with corn, melons, carrots and tomatoes. Plant ones that mature early - even though they may not be as delicious as they'll have had less sun - as well as late varieties.
Water with a thin spray, so you don't wash seeds away. In areas with seed-stealing ants, scatter white pepper on your seeds before covering with soil.
Grow lots. Our planet is losing its diversity - fast. At least our backyards can be small Edens of diversity and deliciousness.
This week I am:
- Inelegantly and gluttonously eating asparagus.
- Muttering at the wallabies who have broken in and eaten all our red kale.
- Watching trees break into blossom and doing a "welcome blossom dance" for each one (that I hope no one ever sees - I will probably regret admitting that I do it).
- NOT squashing the aphids on flower stems so the birds and other aphid-eating predators have tucker on tap.
- Carefully weeding around tiny seedlings.
- Picking the first rose of the season, of the very old Parson's Blush variety that only flowers once a year, and early.
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