Vegetables
Sowing, spacing, feeding, pollination and harvest for the kitchen garden, crop by crop.
How to grow parsnips in Australia: getting past the germination problem
Parsnips have the worst germination reputation of any common vegetable, and the causes are few. Here is how to get a first crop up, and why cold makes the roots sweet.
Carrot Growing Problems: Forked, Hairy, Green or Missing Altogether
Carrots that never came up, forked into legs, went hairy or turned green at the top all have simple causes. Here is how to read the root and grow straight, sweet carrots.
All Top and No Bottom: Why Radish, Beetroot and Carrots Do Not Form Roots
Lush leaves and a stringy nothing underneath. The reasons root vegetables refuse to swell, from crowding and rich soil to heat and late harvest, and how to get proper roots next time.
How to Grow Beetroot from Seed in Australia
A root crop that asks very little
Beetroot, Beta vulgaris, is a root vegetable also known as red beet, garden beet and table beet. It suits a small...
Stop being kind to your carrots: why thinning is the step everyone skips
Crowded carrot rows give thin, tangled roots. How and when to thin carrots, beetroot and radish, the two-pass method, what really causes forked carrots, and how to sow thinly in the first place.