Beginner's Guide To Growing Winter Vegetables

Here are some popular options for winter vegetable gardening:

Root vegetables: Carrots, Beetroot, Parsnip, Radish and Turnips.

Leafy greens: Asian Greens (Bok Choy, Chinese Cabbage, Kaiilan) Kale (Cavolo Nero), Spinach, Lettuce, Silverbeet (Swiss Chard), and Spring Onion.

Brassicas or cruciferous vegetables: Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cauliflower, Cabbage and Kale.

Peas or legumes: Snow Peas, Sugarsnap Peas, Telephone Peas, and Broad Beans (early winter in warm areas).

During winter, warm-climate gardeners can also sow and grow Beans, Cabbages, Capsicum, Cucumbers, Pumpkins, Silverbeet, Sweetcorn, Sweet Potato, Tomatoes, and Zucchini, so there are plenty of options to keep your vegie patch packed!

To promote healthy crops and maximise your harvest, it's important to prepare your garden beds. 

1. Clean up Your Garden

Remove any dead plants, weeds, and debris from your garden beds. This will help prevent pests and diseases from taking hold during the winter.

2. Enrich the Soil

Most vegies prefer a spot in full sun with well-drained soil. Before planting your winter vegetables, enrich your soil with organic matter, like Yates Dynamic Lifer Soil Improver & Plant Fertiliser. This helps to improve soil structure, fertility, and water retention, providing a healthy environment for your plants to thrive. 

3. Sow Seeds or Plant Seedlings

There are many benefits of growing your own seedlings, including being able to economically grow as many seedlings as you need, when you need them. It's also immensely satisfying to watch a tiny seed develop into a young leafy seedling.

Many vegie seeds, such as Broccoli, Cabbage and Cauliflower, are best sown into punnets or trays (rather than sown direct into the soil), and then transplanted into their final home when they're around 5 cm tall.

To grow your own seedlings, fill punnets or trays with Yates Specialty Potting Mix Cuttings & Seeds and firm down. Sow seed at the depth indicated on the seed packet.

It's important to keep the mix consistently moist, but not wet, until the seeds have germinated and the seedlings are established. They're ready for transplanting once the roots are well developed.

Once you've planted your winter vegetables, it's important to keep a close eye on them as they grow. Fast-acting liquid fertilisers are ideal at this time of year, providing nutrients quickly to help promote maximum growth. Dilute one to two capfuls of Yates Thrive Natural Vegie & Herb Liquid Plant Food in a 9 L watering can and apply around the root zone everyone to two weeks. Also, check the moisture levels in your soil (or potting mix) by gently digging around in the top few centimetres of soil with your fingers. You'll be able to feel if the soil is dry and dusty and needs watering, or whether it's moist and you can leave watering and check again in a few days time.

Keep the soil or potting mix consistently moist for tomatoes, as any moisture stress can lead to a condition called Blossom End Rot, where the base of fruit develops a sunken black patch. Applications of liquid lime, such as Yates Hydrangea Pinking Liquid Lime & Dolomite can also help reduce blossom end rot, as lack of calcium can exacerbate the problem.

Common insect pests on winter vegies include Caterpillars, Aphids, and Snails and Slugs. Caterpillars can chew through leaves and also into Cauliflower and Broccoli heads.To control Caterpillars, spray plants each week with Yates Nature's Way® Caterpillar Killer (Dipel). Based on beneficial bacteria, Yates Nature's Way Caterpillar Killer is approved for use in organic gardening and will only affect Caterpillars.
 
Aphids are tiny sap-sucking green, grey, brown or black insects that cluster under leaves and amongst stems. Often present in large numbers, they deplete plants, can cause leaf yellowing and distortion and significantly impact your harvest. To control Aphids, spray plants with Yates Nature's Way Vegie & Herb Spray. It's an insecticidal soap that controls soft-bodied insects like aphids, as well as Whitefly, Mites and Thrips. An added bonus is that it's approved for use in organic gardening.

Snails and Slugs love devouring tender new vegie seedlings but can also damage more mature vegies, including sliming their way into Broccoli, Cauliflower and Cabbage heads. Protect your vegies with a light scattering of Yates Snail & Slug Bait around the plants.

In warm climates, watch for Powdery Mildew on Pumpkins and Zucchinis. Initial symptoms are small powdery white spots on leaves, which can multiply and lead to leaves yellowing and dying. Control with regular sprays of Yates Mancozeb Plus.