Stephen Albert
January brings summer holidays in the Southern Hemisphere. It’s midsummer in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile.
Australia Day is coming January 26. Australia Day is the official national holiday of Australia. On that day in 1788 the British Admiral Arthur Philip and his fleet of 11 ships arrived in Sydney Cove and set up the Colony of New South Wales. Civic celebrations, music festivals, cricket matches, and fireworks will be the order of the day.
This is the hottest month of the year in the Southern Hemisphere. (This year has been particularly rough in much of Australia where a prolonged drought has emptied many reservoirs and generated more bush fires than usual.) In the more tropical areas of the northern Southern Hemisphere, the rainy season should begin soon.
Here is a planting schedule by region for the southern hemisphere in January:
Temperate regions: Vegetables: beans, beets (beetroot), broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, celeriac, chicory, cress, cucumber, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, marrow (courgette), melons, mustard, okra, spring onion, potato tubers, pumpkin, radish, rhubarb crown, Swiss chard (silverbeet), squash, sweet corn, sweet potato, tomato, zucchini. Herbs: fennel.
Tropical and subtropical northern regions: Vegetables: artichoke suckers, beans, broccoli, cabbage, cape gooseberry, capsicum (sweet pepper), celery, Chinese cabbage, cress, cucumber, eggplant, fennel, lettuce, marrow, melons, mustard, okra, parsnip, peas, pumpkin, radish, rhubarb crowns, silverbeet (Swiss chard), spring onion, squash, strawberry runners, sweet corn, sweet potato, tomato, zucchini.
Cooler southern regions: Vegetables: beans, broad beans, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, chicory, cress, endive, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, spring onion, parsnip, radish, rhubarb crowns, salsify, shallots, Swiss chard (silverbeet), turnip. Herbs: borage, chervil, chives, dill, parsley.
January Harvest Schedule for the Southern Hemisphere:
Here is a roundup of vegetables and fruits ready for harvest during January in the Southern Hemisphere:
Vegetables: Beans, beet (beetroot), carrot, corn, cucumber, lettuce, pumpkin, Swiss chard (silverbeet), tomatoes, turnip, zucchini.
Fruit: early almonds, early apples, late apricots, avocado, blueberries, cape gooseberries, late cherries, gooseberries, early grapes, lemons, loganberries,mulberries, nectarines, Valencia oranges, passionfruit, peaches, plums, raspberries, strawberries.
