The short version: One January afternoon of planning eases the whole year. List what your household eats, measure the beds and note the sun, then group crops by plant family so each bed changes family every season. Size crops per person, mark sowing, succession, garlic and seed potato dates on a calendar, test old seed, and start a diary. Then, where your zone allows, start winter brassicas in summer.
In most southern gardens January is high summer. The tomatoes are colouring, the zucchini has started its daily delivery, and the seed tin holds packets older than you thought.
It is a good month for a plan: the summer beds show what thrived, what sulked and what nobody ate.
Start with the kitchen, then the ground
Grow what your household eats, in the space and time you have. Our What to Sow Now page lists what suits your zone each month, and the Australian sowing almanac shows the whole year in five broader zones.
- Sun. Tomatoes, capsicum, chilli and beans want six hours or more of direct sun; beetroot, silverbeet, parsley and mint cope with part shade.
- Space. Plan to full-grown spacing from each grow guide: zucchini 70 to 90 cm apart, pumpkin up to 1.5 m; climbing beans use height on a 2 m trellis.
- Time. Plant what you can water, weed and pick through summer, and no more.
- Value. Where space is tight, favour crops picked for weeks, such as herbs, salad leaves, beans and tomatoes, over onions, which hold a bed 24 to 34 weeks.
- Flowers. Leave room for calendula or alyssum to bring in pollinators and predatory insects.
Draw the beds and rotate by family
Draw each bed to scale, mark north and hatch in the shade. Winter sun sits lower in the northern sky, so a bed that bakes in January can sit in shadow by June.
Then sort your list into plant families, since relatives share pests, soil diseases and feeding habits. A simple rotation runs legumes, then leafy crops and brassicas, then roots and onions, then the tomato and potato family, each group moving to the next bed every season. Radish, turnip and swede go with the brassicas, and beetroot with silverbeet. Keep last year's map so potatoes do not follow tomatoes. Our guides to vegetable plant families and crop rotation set out the groups.
How much to grow for each person
Garden guides from Kansas State University and Texas A&M in the United States suggest these amounts per person. Yields vary, so let your diary adjust them.
| Crop | Eaten fresh | With some preserving |
|---|---|---|
| Tomato | 3 plants | 5 plants |
| Broccoli | 3 to 5 plants | Up to 8 plants |
| Bush beans | About 4.5 m of row | About 6 m of row |
| Carrot | 1.5 to 3 m of row | About 4.5 m of row |
| Leaf lettuce | About 3 m of row | Best eaten fresh |
Our zucchini guide suggests one or two plants per household, resown four to six weeks later.
Put the dates on a calendar
Write each crop's sowing window on a calendar. For the month itself, see what to sow in January, zone by zone. For lettuce, rocket, radish, bush beans and carrots, add a reminder every two to three weeks, so short rows replace one glut, as our succession planting guide explains. Mix speeds too: radish can be ready about 4 weeks from sowing and zucchini in 6 to 9, while capsicum needs 10 to 15 weeks after planting out.
The year's key windows, zone by zone
These dates come from our sowing data and garlic, potato and soil temperature guides. The zones are broad groupings, so between two, or at altitude, go by your own frosts.
- Tropical (Darwin in the Northern Territory, Cairns and Townsville in Queensland): the main season opens in April as the Wet eases, with beans, broccoli and cabbage to July and tomatoes May to July. Garlic and potatoes are marginal in hot lowlands: low-chill garlic April or May, seed potatoes April, May or July.
- Subtropical (Brisbane and south-east Queensland, northern New South Wales): tomatoes, pumpkin and zucchini are sown August to February; January and February tomatoes crop in milder, less pest-prone weather. Broccoli trays start in February, in shade, and peas run April to July. Low-chill garlic: March or April. Seed potatoes: March to August.
- Arid and semi-arid (Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, Broken Hill in New South Wales, Mildura in Victoria, Kalgoorlie in Western Australia): frost is the gate. Tomatoes start under cover in August, pumpkin and zucchini from September, and tomato and zucchini again in January and February. Broccoli starts in February, in shade. Garlic: April and May. Seed potatoes: August to October.
- Temperate (Sydney and the New South Wales coast, Melbourne in Victoria): tomatoes go out from mid September in Sydney and mid October in Melbourne. Broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower trays start in January, peas from about Anzac Day. Garlic: April and May, from late March in Melbourne. Seed potatoes: August to November, January to February.
- Mediterranean (Perth and southern Western Australia, Adelaide in South Australia): tomatoes start under cover in August. Cauliflower from December or January, cabbage from February, broccoli from March. Garlic: March to May. Seed potatoes: July to October.
- Cool and alpine (Tasmania, Canberra in the ACT, Ballarat in Victoria, Orange and Armidale in New South Wales, Stanthorpe in Queensland): tomatoes go out once frost has passed and the soil holds 16Β°C, often around Melbourne Cup Day in early November, later on colder, higher sites. Brassicas are sown September to February; December and January sowings head in autumn. Garlic: late March to May. Seed potatoes: September to December.
Because of quarantine rules and our shipping policy, we cannot send garlic to Western Australia or Tasmania, or seed potatoes to those states or Kangaroo Island. Western Australian and Tasmanian gardeners can buy locally; on Kangaroo Island, ask PIRSA. The state and territory governments' Interstate Quarantine site explains the restrictions. Our garlic growing guide and potato planting dates by zone have the detail.
Start the autumn crops while summer is still on
Winter brassicas need size before growth slows, so start them while tomatoes ripen. Temperate and cool and alpine gardens sow broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and kale in January, Mediterranean gardens cauliflower and Brussels sprouts; subtropical and arid gardens start broccoli in February and the rest by March, and the tropics wait for April. Keep trays in bright shade, check them daily in hot spells, and harden them off for a week before planting out in a mild spell. Our guide to starting winter brassicas in summer heat has the detail.
Check last year's seed before you buy
Empty the seed tin before you shop. Onion, leek, parsnip, sweet corn and parsley often fade within one to two years, while lettuce, cucumber, radish and rocket can last five years or more, stored cool, dark, dry and airtight.
To test a packet, fold 10 seeds into damp, not soaking, paper towel and seal it in a bag somewhere warm and out of direct sun, keeping it damp. After the crop's usual germination time, count the sprouts: 8 or more, sow as normal; fewer, sow more thickly or replace it. Our guide to how long seeds last covers storage.
Keep a garden diary
A diary improves next January's plan. Note on the day:
- Frost dates. Your first and last frosts; the Bureau of Meteorology maps average potential frost days by month.
- Soil temperatures. Readings 10 cm down at about 10 am, averaged over three mornings; see our lesson on planting by soil temperature.
- Sowings. Crop, variety, date and germination.
- Results. What cropped, what bolted, when pests arrived, and what the household ate.
Set a goal or two
Grow one crop you have not tried before. Join a community garden, garden club or seed-saving group to learn what suits your district. Or try a no-dig bed built over lawn, or a wicking bed that waters from below, or plant a sensory garden from seed.
Frequently asked questions
When should I plan my vegie garden for the year?
January suits most gardens: summer has shown what worked and autumn is ahead. Check in again in late summer and late winter.
How many tomato plants does a family of four need?
About three per person for fresh eating, so around 12, or about 20 if you bottle sauce. Adjust from your diary.
Do I need crop rotation in a small garden?
Yes. Split one bed into sections that change family each season and, where space allows, give the tomato and potato family, brassicas and onions three to four years before they return.
Can I start winter vegetables in January?
Yes, in temperate, cool and alpine, and Mediterranean gardens. Subtropical and arid gardens start in February, the tropics in April.
A pencil and the seed tin will not make the weather behave, but they make every sowing date less of a surprise.
Related growing guides
- Starting winter brassicas in summer heat
- What to sow in January: vegetables for every zone
- A sensory garden from seed
- What to sow in autumn
- Protecting vegetables in a heatwave
Fill the gaps from our vegetable seed range (some lines cannot go to Western Australia, Tasmania or the Northern Territory; check each product page), and start brassicas with our broccoli seeds.