Planting now in December for the Australia - temperate zone

There is so much that we can still plant here in December.

Make sure that you water well and then mulch heavily so as to stop the moisture evaporating. Gardening is extremely hard to do here at this time of year because of our extremely high temperatures but with a little prep work we can succeed.

Dive in and take the chance to grow some really healthy vegetables for yourself and your family.

At the homestead here I have begun harvesting Kale and silver beet. I have a few very small tomatoes on the plants and plenty of flowers coming on so I am hoping for a good tomato harvest this year.

I am trialing a new tomato for us but an old heirloom one. It is called a Tomato Pineapple and is a very attractive looking yellow beefsteak tomato. I had been searching for a few years now for such a tomato without any success until just a few months ago. I used to grow one very similar about 40 years ago and then was unable to get any seed and lost what I had saved in a house fire.

So I am really hoping that this is at least a very close cousin to what I used to grow all those years ago.

Finding heirloom seeds is not easy at all where I am, as companies such as Monsanto and other huge seed companies like to keep a very tight control on us here so that we basically can only buy their products.

People living in East Australia are very lucky and are able to get a vast array of heirloom seeds. Some we can get sent here, but not all and those that do are very poor to germinate. This is due to the seeds being over exposed to the toxic sprays used at the border control points to fumigate all transporting sources. By doing this the majority of the seeds are killed and just will not germinate.

If these plants can survive the summer then I will be saving every tiny seed I can find so that I can have a continual supply of really good viable seed to carry on the heirloom variety. Saving our own seed from heirlooms is becoming more and more vital as the seed companies tamper with the plants they grow so as to only produce hybrids. Hybrids will not produce the same fruits as the original parent plants and in many cases, the fruits will not produce seeds at all.

Amaranth (also Love-lies-bleeding)	Plant in garden.	Harvest from March.
Asparagus Pea (also Winged bean)	Plant in garden.	Harvest from March.
Basil	Plant out (transplant) seedlings.	Harvest from February.
Beans - climbing (also Pole beans, Runner beans, Scarlet Runners)	Plant in garden.	Harvest from March.
Beans - dwarf (also French beans, Bush beans)	Plant in garden.	Harvest from March.
Beetroot (also Beets)	Plant in garden.	Harvest from March.
Borage (also Burrage, Bugloss)	Plant in garden.	Harvest from March.
Burdock (also Gobo (Japanese Burdock))	Plant in garden.	Harvest from May.
Cape Gooseberry (also Golden Berry, )	Plant in garden.	Harvest from April.
Capsicum (also Bell peppers, Sweet peppers)	Plant out (transplant) seedlings.	Harvest from March.
Carrot	Plant in garden.	Harvest from April.
Celeriac	Plant out (transplant) seedlings.	Harvest from April.
Celery	Plant out (transplant) seedlings.	Harvest from April.
Chilli peppers (also Hot peppers)	Plant in garden.	Harvest from March.
Chives (also Garden chives)	Plant in garden.	Harvest from March.
Choko/Chayote (also Chayote squash, christophene, chouchou, mirliton)	Plant in garden.	Harvest from July.
Cowpeas (also Black eye peas)	Plant in garden.	Harvest from April.
Cucumber	Plant in garden.	Harvest from March.
Eggplant (also Aubergine)	Plant out (transplant) seedlings.	Harvest from March.
French tarragon	Plant in garden.	Harvest from February.
Kohlrabi	Plant in garden.	Harvest from March.
Leeks	Plant out (transplant) seedlings.	Harvest from April.
Lettuce	Plant in garden.	Harvest from March.
Luffa (also Loofah, plant sponge)	Plant out (transplant) seedlings.	Harvest from March.
Marrow	Plant out (transplant) seedlings.	Harvest from March.
Mustard greens (also gai choy)	Plant in garden.	Harvest from February.
NZ Spinach (also Warrigal greens)	Plant out (transplant) seedlings.	Harvest from February.
Okra (also Ladyfinger, gumbo)	Plant out (transplant) seedlings.	Harvest from March.
Oregano (also Pot Marjoram)	Plant in garden.	Harvest from February.
Parsley (also curly leaf parsley or flat leaf (Italian) parsley)	Plant in garden.	Harvest from March.
Pumpkin	Plant in garden.	Harvest from April.
Radish	Plant in garden.	Harvest from February.
Rockmelon (also Canteloupe)	Plant out (transplant) seedlings.	Harvest from March.
Rosella (also Queensland Jam Plant, Roselle)	Plant in garden.	Harvest from June.
Sage (also Common Sage)	Plant in garden.	Harvest from 18 months.
Silverbeet (also Swiss Chard or Mangold)	Plant in garden.	Harvest from March.
Squash (also Crookneck, Pattypan, Summer squash)	Plant out (transplant) seedlings.	Harvest from February.
Sunflower	Plant in garden.	Harvest from March.
Sweet corn (also maize)	Plant in garden.	Harvest from April.
Sweet Marjoram (also Knotted marjoram)	Plant out (transplant) seedlings.	Harvest from February.
Tomatillo	Plant out (transplant) seedlings.	Harvest from March.
Tomato	Plant out (transplant) seedlings.	Harvest from February.
Turnip	Plant in garden.	Harvest from February.
Watermelon	Plant out (transplant) seedlings.	Harvest from March.
Zucchini (also Courgette/Marrow, Summer squash)	Plant out (transplant) seedlings.	Harvest from February.