3 simple things to know when planning your vegetable garden

The intensity and vigor of summer is well and truly over, providing the perfect time to gather all the materials you can in preparation for another abundant season. It can also be a time to sit back, observe your growing space and imagine the many possibilities. Planning ahead is a skill that experienced home  gardeners usually develop over time. It’s often a combination of learning from mistakes, developing new knowledge and just giving new things a go.

Planning ahead

Without getting too complicated let’s look at planning your vegetable garden.

1. Know your zone

In New Zealand there are 3 main zones and each has recommendations about what will grow in that zone based on the temperature. This doesn’t mean you can’t be successful growing food from out of zone but you will need to plan for events like frost.

Aotearoa Temperature Zones

1. Sub tropical – shown in the green
2. Temperate – shown in the yellow
3. Cool/Mountain zone – shown in blue

There are websites that you can use to find specific information about where you live and what will grow or thrive in your area.

• New Zealand plant hardiness database

Another piece of information that is useful to know is when to expect the first and last frost.

There are general rules like don’t plant cold intolerant plants outside until after Labor day, but if you want more accurate data you can look at a local weather station to see what temperatures have been over the last few years.

This link is to my local area so use the search function to find yours.

2. A planting calendar

There are a number of planting schedules available that give a general guide to plant planning (emphasis on general)

• The What grows where website is particularly useful and detailed.

A simpler approach is using the vegetable gardener NZ service which provides basic information and is generally accurate provided you understand your zone. This website requires registration to login and use.

Simply choose the vegetables that you think you’d like to try growing and it will show you when to indoor seed, transplant or direct seed. Click on the vegetable itself and you’ll get a description of planting needs and tips. You can even get a pdf printout to use as your startup calendar.

With this information you can purchase seed packets ahead of time ready for germinating when conditions are right. The other alternative is to buy seedlings when they are ready for transplanting into your garden.

3. Garden journal

Keeping a garden journal is a habit I’d recommend,  it really helps to remember what went well and what you’d like to do differently next time. You don’t have to use the tool suggested above, a paper journal to write in is fine or even an Instagram feed will keep a timeline of your garden adventures and botanical experiments.

Join and share your garden photos on the Hāpai’s Harvest Facebook page and feel free to ask questions.

Grow your own food whānau!