Stephen Albert
Fall is just a week away in the Southern Hemisphere, so now is the last chance to get fall and winter crops into the garden before the cool weather arrives. Autumn weather in the Southern Hemisphere—Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile—lasts from March until early June.
Planting while the weather is still warm will give cool-weather vegetables a chance to get established before the days grow shorter. If you plant now, you will have an abundant harvest from late winter to spring.
Plants that grow best in cool weather include beetroots, carrots, lettuce, potatoes, radishes, and spinach. Get them going now. Vegetables that can withstand frost and should be planted very soon include cabbage, onions, and peas.
March is also a good month to plant the herb garden. Herbs are mid-season crops—they’re not for winter cold, and they’re not for summer heat. You can enjoy quick crops of parsley, coriander, mint, dill, chervil, and salad burnet before winter if you plant now.
Here is a list of the vegetable crops that you can sow this month in the temperate, cold, tropical and sub-tropical regions of the Southern Hemisphere:
Temperate regions: artichoke suckers, broad beans, beetroot, Brussels sprouts, buck wheat, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, cress, eggplant, endive, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, mustard, onions, spring onions, peas, radish, rhubarb crowns, silverbeet (Swiss chard), strawberry runners, Swede (rutabaga), and turnip.
Cold regions: broad beans, buckwheat, cabbage, Chinese cabbage, cress, leek, lettuce, onion, radish, spinach, spring onion, strawberry runners, and turnip.
Tropical and sub-tropical regions: artichoke suckers, beans, beetroot, broccoli, cabbage, cape gooseberry, capsicum, carrot, celery, Chinese cabbage, cress, cucumber, eggplant, endive, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, mustard, onions, spring onions, parsnip, peas, potato tubers, radish, rhubarb crowns, silverbeet (Swiss chard), Swede (rutabaga), tomato, and turnip.
