When to sow?

[mountaindweller]

We are relatively new to our cool climate in Australia.
When I look sowing dates up, the various sources contradict very often and up to two months. Gardening books advise that you ask local gardeners - not much around here. The bloke in the local garden centre has no clue. The guys in our local community garden disagree as much as the various tables (diggers eden etc.).
In Australia the few cool climate zones are lumped together, but we certainly don't have the same climate like Tasmania and we have much more sun.
As I understand, temperature is the limiting factor, some plants die when there is frost (nightshade family), some need sufficient warmth to germinate and/or to grow. But what is the soil temperature and how far apart is it from the air temperature? Is it enough when it is warm during the day but still the occasional frost at night?
I would like to sow some carrots in between the garlic and I wonder if it is too early to plant some potatoes.

[rowan]

I grow all sorts of stuff so I might be able to help you. If you don't want to give your location on the open forum just message me. I am in far south west vic so my temps may be similar to yours.

[raymondo]

Your climate is a lot like mine mountaindweller - cool temperate modified by altitude. The altitude means that season changes are often rapid but erratic. Frosts can occur well into spring. It means that sowing/planting some things must be done at the right time. Sowing carrots now is absolutely fine. We're at 1000 m here and I'll be sowing carrots in the next two weeks, along with many other things. Check out the Gardenate web site and choose Australia cool mountain as your climate zone. It's not perfect but a useful guide nevertheless.

[templeton]

Mountain dweller, Local variations can occur across very small distances - the suburban house block next to me gets frost, my block is almost frost free, due to position on the slope. Making regional sowing laws is fraught with danger for those bold enough to try. I remember a quote from the great Sam Orren.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Beckett_%28author%29, who said something like "as soon as you say you can't grow bananas south of Coffs Harbour, some reader will send you a picture of a banana happily fruiting on the north face of the south pole"
While it doesn't give you much direction, you do need to 'suck it and see'
Some things will happily sit in the ground waiting for the right conditions, other things sulk or rot, others will bounce back from a frost, others turn up their toes. And just to complicate things varieties within a crop group will perform differently.
I wish there was a magic formula I could give you, but there really isn't any substitute for just having a go and finding out what works for you.
Are there any specific crops you wish to grow, and a bit more info about your particular climate? I don't think you could go past Ray's advice for frosty areas, and I'm sure he could chime with some advice about moving from a benign to a more 'robust' climate
T

[oxbowfarm]

I know nothing about Australia but my recommendation is to try stuff early and see what happens, be ready to replant but a lot of stuff will surprise you. Also take good notes.

[12540dumont]

I would like to add, that what worked for this year, might not work for next year.

As a 20 year farmer, my farm notes indicate that the lilacs are now blooming 3 weeks earlier than 5 years ago. The poplar trees are dropping leaves 4 weeks earlier. The oaks are leafing out earlier. What does this mean? I've had to adjust my planting earlier.

In 20 years, I've even had one year without a summer. Well, summer as I know it anyway.

Farming and gardening, it's a crap shoot. Buy lots of seeds, pretend you're Joseph and plant like crazy, regardless of what the books say.

You'll never know how early is too early till you are sitting with a row of frosty potatoes. Or what's just right until you are sitting smugly with your baskets of spuds while your neighbors are lamenting drought. And then next year, you'll be in the other boat.

Just because the bible says "To everything there is a season," doesn't mean that any of us will know exactly when that is.

I follow my father's advice and watch the trees and the ants and sometimes that helps.

[steev]

It's all a learning opportunity. I never plant all I've got of any variety of seed at once, unless it's something so common I can buy it anywhere. Generally, I take a shot just to see whether it grows at all, whether I want to eat it, whether it's worth the trouble. If it makes the cut on some level, I'll then make a second trial, incorporating whatever I've learned as to scheduling, irrigation, pests, harvesting, whatever. If I seem to be improving my results, I'll make a third trial. Eventually, some things become routinely included in my growing plans. One must be flexible, both in methods and results, if one wants to grow living things, as opposed to cement blocks. I don't remember, but I take it on faith, that I fell down a lot before I learned to run.

[Joseph Lofthouse]

I really like staggered plantings. If I am planting a row of crookneck, I like to plant 1/3 of the row 2-3 weeks too early, 1/3 of the row on schedule, and 1/3 of the row 2-3 weeks too late. That way if we have an early warm spring I get an earlier crop. If we have a late hard freeze I get a late crop. But most years I just end up with a normal crop of crookneck with the maturation dates slightly skewed so that I get an extended harvest.

My garden can be separated into several types of plantings:

0- overwintering crops: Onions, garlic, asparagus, winter peas, winter wheat/rye etc. May be fall planted. In warmer climates this list might be longer.

1- extremely frost tolerant. Can be planted as soon as the ground can be worked. (I prefer planting into soil prepared the previous fall): peas, radish, broccoli, cabbage, spinach, bok choi.

2- cold tolerant. potato tubers, turnips, carrots, beets. Can handle a few hard frosts.

3- mild frost tolerance: squash, muskmelon, corn

4- Hot weather only: watermelon, cucumbers, TPS, tomatoes, peppers.

Course with my luck, you're gardening in a location that doesn't have frost at all!!!! But that's what good gardening is all about: location, location, location.

[mountaindweller]

Thanks for all the input. We're in the Upper Mountains and Ray said it very professional: cool temperate modified by altitude. Nice warm dry weather at the moment, but it's white in the morning.
What I did this year is starting some tomatoes indoors as early as beginning of August. Gardening books tel that you should do this 4-5 weeks before you plant out, but last year these seedlings were too small and got eaten by the slugs. This year I aim for bigger seedlings, maybe that was a bit too early. I start them in these cell trays and transplant them in glossy advertisement paper pots. (this is a bit of work, I think I need a minute each).
The other thing which is important to me is having early stuff. One day I want to have tomatoes or cucumbers when it's getting really hot and not when the cold sets in. I don't really like eating cucumbers in cold weather.
Joseph what are hard frosts? One, two three below zero?
That muskmelon and corn can handle a few frosts is really interesting, then I will risk some early plantings.