Sowing in December

December marks the start of summer in Victoria, and with the Summer Solstice on the 21st, we have entered ten weeks of long, generous days and stretched-out light at both sunrise and sunset. Some years this extended daylight arrives with real heat, but in Southern Victoria this season, that warmth has been slow to appear.

The garden tasks of mid-late November continue with the plants and weeds growing fast.  Plants may require support- not only physically - with tomatoes to tie up and capsicums and flowers to stake and corral - but also patrolling to ensure pest and disease do not gain a foothold.

If you missed it, we’ve put together a guide—5 Steps to Successful Summer Lettuce—to help you keep a steady supply coming through the high-heat, high-light months, when lettuce is at its most challenging. Read More ⟶

SUCCESSION PLANTING
While you may feel as if you have not even begun to harvest warm season crops, now is the perfect moment to keep the summer harvests coming  by getting your next succession planting underway.

Here is our December sowing and growing plan.

SOW AND TRANSPLANT IN DECEMBER:

Greens

• Summer Lettuces - You may feel like you have ample lettuce but soon all the spring lettuces will bolt and go bitter. Lettuces mature quickly at this time of year - especially little gems! Sow now for mid January, February and March harvest - just when you are really wanting sweet juicy lettuce!!
  • Icebergs like Crispino and Salinas 88 cope well with summer heat and make for a juicy, crunchy salad, sandwich and hamburger!
  • Colourful crisped lettuces such as Joker, Jester and Rosencrantz also thrive in summer heat.
  • Gem/Romaine Lettuces like Jericho, Pandero, Fawn, Eruption, Jadeite, Double Density, and Flashy Troutback. These love the heat remaining sweet and juicy, grow quickly and can fit in to all the empty little spots of the garden adding colour. We sow every two weeks to keep a constant supply for salads and grilling!
• Orach is a heat loving spinach like leaf that can be deep purple to golden. We love adding it to salads, putting it under fish or BBQ chicken and sautéing it on its own
• Rocket/ Mizuna - for a constant supply, sow every two weeks
• Celery - we continue to sow and transplant celery each month for a continuous supply

Herbs

• Basil - We ensure a constant supply of high quality leaves by successively sowing all basils. The bees love the flowers but as soon as the plant starts to flower, the leaves lose their quality. Direct sowing is easy now with the soil warmed.
• Coriander - We continue to successively sow coriander every two weeks- as the days grow longer, its desire to bolt or shoot up to flower increases
• Parsley - We usually sow parsley 3 times throughout the season to keep a strong supply. Our second sowing happens in December.
• Dill is not only a favorite in potato salad, we love it in our cut flower bouquets. We sow it every six weeks to keep a constant supply
• Summer Savoury - One of our favourite summer herbs to serve with tomatoes, put into marinades and dressings and harvest at peak freshness and dry for use in soups and stews all winter long, summer savoury is very easy to grow at this time of the season. Beyond its culinary appeal, it also attracts beneficial insects!
• Perilla’s bright, minty perfume with hints of cinnamon and clove are not only delicious with fish or muddled into a mojito, with its long vase life, it also adds lovely colour to cut flower arrangements

Roots

• Carrots - to keep a constant supply, we sow carrots ever 3 weeks from now through March!
• Beetroot - we continue sowing these every month
• Onions
  We sow Long Red of Tropea Onions for quick growing, non pungent, green onions using them in salads, salsas and stirfries.
• Leeks 

  Fast-growing, non-bulbing summer leeks do well sown now for harvest in Autumn. Summer varieties such as LINCOLN grow quickly with slender stems - perfect for Baby Leeks.

Beans

Optimum soil temperature for germination is 21–32°C. Plant when daytime soil temperatures average at least 16°C, or risk poor germination.

Zucchini, Summer Squash and Cucumbers

We successively plant zucchini, squash and cucumbers 3 times throughout the season, with our next planting happening the first week in December. This keeps our plants strong, healthy, contained and productive! Our rule of thumb is when the plants produce their first flowers, it is time to sow the next round.

Flowers

Read more about FLOWERS TO DIRECT SOW Now

Brassicas

We pause our brassica plantings from now until February. Although there are new varieties which thrive in the heat, with our limited space and need to rotate crops to prevent disease and maintain nutrient density, we reserved our space for Autumn brassicas.

Corn

We direct sow sweet corn now ensuring that is planted in a block of at least 1.5m * 1.5m to ensure good kernel pollination

Melons and Watermelon

We transplant a second sowing of quick to mature melons and watermelons in December.

December Sowing Quick-Guide
(Pin it where you’ll see it — and keep the summer harvest flowing)

If you’d like something you can take straight out to the garden or hang on your fridge, click on the chart below to download our quick guide.

PLEASE NOTE - These recommendations are completely based on our 18 years of growing on this patch in Southern Victoria, Australia.