The short version: December sowings feed late summer and autumn, so choose crops that can finish in time. Temperate, Mediterranean and arid gardens still sow beans, cucumber, zucchini, sweet corn, pumpkins and melons. Cool gardens make final tomato, corn and pumpkin plantings and start autumn broccoli and cauliflower. Subtropical gardens favour humidity-tolerant heat lovers, and the wet-season tropics keep to sweet potato, snake beans, rosella and tropical greens.
By December the spring plantings are doing the heavy lifting, zucchini want picking every second day, and the calendar fills with Christmas. If November slipped by, our November vegetable list shows what you may still catch up on.
A few more rows still pay off. Each zone list below starts from our What to Sow Now page.
Count forward to the end of your season
Check that a crop finishes before your season does: the first autumn frost in cool and alpine gardens (from April, occasionally March), frost from May inland, or cooler, shorter days elsewhere.
| Crop | Weeks to harvest | Sown in early December, ready |
|---|---|---|
| Beans | 7 to 14 | Late January to early March |
| Sweet corn | 11 to 14 | Mid February to early March |
| Carrot | 9 to 18 | February to early April |
| Pumpkin | 15 to 20 | Mid March to late April |
Cool or shaded beds take the longer figure; our guide to days to maturity explains why figures vary. To map the whole year this way, see plan a year in the vegie patch.
What to sow in December, zone by zone
These zones are broad groupings. If you garden between two, or at altitude, follow local cues such as your first autumn frost.
Tropical: Darwin in the Northern Territory, Cairns and Townsville in Queensland
December brings the wet: storms, heavy rain and humidity rule out most familiar vegetables until about April. Plant sweet potato, turmeric and galangal on mounds, and once storms soak the soil, sow snake beans and winged beans up a trellis. Sow rosella in its last month, Malabar spinach, Egyptian spinach and purslane in raised beds, plus peanuts. See our wet-season guide.
Subtropical: Brisbane and south-east Queensland, northern New South Wales
Humidity brings mildew, leaf spot and rot, so space plants for airflow. Okra, snake beans, amaranth, Malabar spinach and kang kong (in a tub away from waterways) cope well, and cucumber, zucchini, squash, pumpkin, gourds, luffa, bitter melon, capsicum, chilli and eggplant still go in. December is last call for rockmelon, watermelon, peanuts, rosella and warrigal greens. Late sweet corn meets more rust and earworm, and bean fly strikes beans hardest in their first month. See our subtropical summer guide.
Arid and semi-arid: Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, Broken Hill in New South Wales, Mildura in Victoria, Kalgoorlie in Western Australia
December, between the spring and late January plantings, is the hardest month to establish anything, so sow small and shade everything: okra, amaranth, purslane, rosella, both melons, pumpkin, squash, zucchini, cucumber and sweet corn, and kang kong in a closed tub. Okra, rosella, watermelon and gourds finish their windows. Time beans to flower outside the worst heat, and late in the month start tomato seed in shade. Our arid summer guide covers the January planting.
Temperate: Sydney and the New South Wales coast, Melbourne in Victoria
Sow beans, borlotti and adzuki included, sweet corn, cucumber, zucchini and squash, and plant tomato seedlings. It is the last month for melons, gourds, okra, peanuts (marginal in Melbourne) and pumpkins, so choose quick types such as butternut. For autumn and winter, direct sow carrot, beetroot, radish and silverbeet. Raise leek, a last celery, cape gooseberry and Brussels sprouts in shaded trays, and grow Chinese cabbage under insect mesh.
Mediterranean: Perth and southern Western Australia, Adelaide in South Australia
December is last call for pumpkin, both melons, gourds, okra and peanuts; beans, cucumber, zucchini and squash carry on, and Adelaide favours November to January for sweet corn. Capsicum and chilli still go in, Perth until January, and eggplant seedlings while nights stay above 10Β°C. Start cauliflower and Brussels sprouts in shaded trays, and keep carrot, parsnip, beetroot and turnip rows shaded and watered daily until they come up. See our Perth and Adelaide guide.
Cool and alpine: Tasmania, Canberra in the ACT, Ballarat in Victoria, Orange and Armidale in New South Wales, Stanthorpe in Queensland
With a short frost-free season, December is last call for tomato, cucumber and sweet corn: pick quick types, and plant tomato seedlings, four to eight weeks ahead of seed. Sow a quicker pumpkin early in the month and get early seed potatoes in. Bush beans, zucchini and squash run into January.
For autumn eating, sow broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, kohlrabi and Brussels sprouts (November at altitude), Chinese cabbage to plant out after the solstice, swede, Florence fennel (outside Tasmania and Victoria, where fennel is a declared weed), carrot, beetroot, mangel and parsnip, with rocket and cress for salads. See our short-season guide.
Lettuce and greens through the heat
In temperate, Mediterranean and cool gardens, a short row of slow-bolting lettuce every two to three weeks, in afternoon shade, keeps salads coming through summer. Subtropical lettuce is a gamble until February, because humid spells rot it, and arid gardens pause until March. Heat lovers fill the gap: amaranth, Malabar and Egyptian spinach, purslane, orach and warrigal greens (blanch these for one to two minutes in boiling water, then discard the water). Resow amaranth, beans and cucumber every few weeks while their windows last. Endive, mizuna, mustard and celtuce bolt in heat; most gardens hold them for cooler weather. See summer greens that take the heat.
Tubers, rhizomes and shipping limits
Sweet potato slips still suit December in the tropics and subtropics; temperate gardens should have rooted slips in by mid December, as later plantings give smaller tubers (timing by zone). Turmeric and galangal want soil of about 20Β°C. December suits both in the tropics, on mounds; elsewhere the turmeric window closes in November, and late plantings give smaller rhizomes. In Melbourne and cool gardens, grow both in pots that come under cover before frost, at least 40 litres for turmeric and 75 for galangal.
Our shipping policy stops us sending these rhizomes, seed potatoes or sweet potato tubers to Western Australia, Tasmania or Kangaroo Island, and the rhizomes or sweet corn seed to the Northern Territory; sweet corn cannot go to Western Australia or Tasmania either. Western Australia is also closed to most of our capsicum, many chilli and some tomato lines, a few of which Tasmania also bars. Australian Interstate Quarantine explains state border rules for plants.
December jobs, in brief
- Raise seedlings in larger cells or small pots, which dry slower than tiny cells, and keep trays under 30 to 50% shade cloth, off hot concrete. Vent greenhouses on hot days.
- Plant out late on a mild, overcast afternoon, keeping lifted seedlings under a damp cloth, watering each in as you go and shading them for a few days (planting out seedlings).
- Water early and at the roots, soaking established beds deeply two or three times a week rather than by overhead sprinkler, and finger-testing seedbeds daily. Build soil basins round tomatoes and pumpkins, and treat water-repellent soil (deep watering).
- Mulch once seedlings are up (choosing mulch), and rig 50% shade cloth before a heatwave.
- Keep off storm-soaked beds, or stand on a board (waterlogged soil).
- Check plants daily, hand-pick pests before spraying (organic pest control) and hoe weeds while small.
- Pick often, hand pollinate cucurbits whose baby fruit shrivel, and once fruit sets, cover it with fine insect mesh or bags against fruit fly.
- Short of space? Train cucumbers and climbing beans up a sunny fence, and grow bush beans in large pots.
- Away for Christmas? Sow early in December or once home, not in the fortnight before leaving (holiday garden guide).
Frequently asked questions
Is December too late to plant tomatoes?
Not outside the tropics, which wait for the dry. Use seedlings in cool gardens and cherry types in subtropical humidity. In arid heat, flowers drop, so raise seed in shade for a late January planting.
Can I sow broccoli in December?
In cool and alpine gardens, yes. Sown in December or January, broccoli and cauliflower varieties that mature in time head in autumn, before the hard frosts. Net young plants against cabbage white caterpillars.
Can I still sow pumpkins in December?
Yes in most zones, with a quicker type, but cool districts should skip it if frost usually arrives before late April.
Can I sow rhubarb in December?
In places. Our calendar stops in November, but Peter Cundall's cool-climate guide and the Northern Territory's Alice Springs calendar sow it in December. Artichoke and passionfruit have no December window.
Sow a few rows for autumn, then enjoy the long evenings in the patch.
Related growing guides
- Starting winter brassicas in summer heat
- Netting crops and fruit: exclusion nets, fruit bags and wildlife-safe mesh
- Plan a year in the vegie patch
- What to sow in January: vegetables for every zone
- What to sow in November: vegetables for every zone
- Herbs to sow in December, zone by zone
- Flowers to sow in December, zone by zone
- Heat-loving vegetables for an Australian summer
- What to sow in autumn, zone by zone
Browse our vegetable seed range and sweet potato tuber collection.