Growing guide
What to grow on your community garden plot
Find crops that suit a shared plot, how much room they need, and how to grow well alongside your neighbours.
Sow in November: choose your climate zone
Cool
Cold winters with frost, and a short summer growing season.
Includes Melbourne, Canberra, Hobart, Launceston, Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong, Mt Gambier
Temperate
Mild, wet winters and warm, dry summers, with a long growing season.
Includes Sydney, Perth, Adelaide, Newcastle, Wollongong, Central Coast NSW, Toowoomba, Bunbury
Subtropical
Mild winters and humid summers. The cooler months are often the easiest.
Includes Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Coffs Harbour, Bundaberg, Hervey Bay, Rockhampton, Mackay
Tropical
A wet season and a dry season. Most vegetables go in as the dry season starts.
Includes Darwin, Cairns, Townsville, Exmouth
Arid
Hot, dry summers and cold nights. Shade and water decide what survives.
Includes Alice Springs, Mildura, Dubbo, Wagga Wagga, Shepparton, Albury-Wodonga
Zones are a starting point. Frost hollows, hills and the coast can shift timing by weeks, so ask the growers at your garden too. These months only apply in Australia.
Growing in a shared space
Your first season on a community plot
What to do in your first few visits, and how to avoid taking on too much.
Being a good plot neighbour
Shade, spreading plants, seed heads and sprays: how your plot affects the next one.
Is your soil safe to grow in?
Why urban soil is worth testing for lead, and what to do if the result is high.
Watering in a shared garden
Getting the most from limited water, limited visits and shared taps.
Getting more from a small plot
Succession sowing, rotating crops and growing up, for plots of any size.
Saving and sharing seed in a community garden
Which seeds come true, why neighbouring plots matter, and how to store what you save.
All crops
- Amaranth
- ArtichokeNeeds a lot of room
- Asparagus garden asparagusStays for years
- Basil sweet basil
- Beetroot beet
- Bok Choy pak choi
- Borage starflowerCan spread
- Broad Bean Fava bean
- Broccoli
- Brussels Sprouts
- Cabbage
- Capsicum bell pepper
- Carrot
- Cauliflower Romanesco
- Celeriac celery root
- Celery stalk celery
- Chickpea Garbanzo
- Chilli chili
- Chinese Cabbage Wombok
- Chives onion chivesStays for years
- Choko chayoteNeeds a lot of room
- Choy Sum choi sum
- Coriander cilantro
- Corn Maize
- Cowpea black-eyed pea
- Cucumber
- Daikon mooli
- Dill dill weed
- Eggplant aubergine
- Endive curly endive
- Fennel Florence fennel
- French Bean green bean
- Garlic
- Garlic Chives Chinese chivesStays for years
- Ginger ginger root
- HorseradishCan spread
- Jerusalem Artichoke sunchokeCan spread
- Kale leaf cabbage
- Kohlrabi German turnip
- Leek
- Lemongrass lemon grassStays for years
- Lettuce
- Luffa loofahNeeds a lot of room
- Marjoram sweet marjoramStays for years
- Mint spearmintCan spread
- Mizuna kyouna
- Okra lady's fingers
- Onion bulb onion
- Oregano wild marjoramStays for years
- Parsley garden parsley
- Parsnip
- Pea
- Peanut Groundnut
- Potato
- Pumpkin Winter squashNeeds a lot of room
- Purslane common purslaneCan spread
- Radicchio leaf chicory
- Radish
- Rhubarb culinary rhubarbStays for years
- Rocket arugula
- Rockmelon CantaloupeNeeds a lot of room
- RosemaryStays for years
- Runner Bean scarlet runner bean
- Sage common sageStays for years
- Salsify oyster plant
- Shallot French shallot
- Silverbeet chard
- Snow Pea mangetout
- Sorrel common sorrelStays for years
- Soybean Soya bean
- Spinach
- Spring Onion Welsh onion
- Strawberry garden strawberryStays for years
- SunflowerNeeds a lot of room
- Swede rutabaga
- Sweet Potato kumara
- Tatsoi tat soi
- Thyme common thymeStays for years
- Tomatillo husk tomato
- Tomato
- Turnip white turnip
- WatercressCan spread
- WatermelonNeeds a lot of room
- Water Spinach kang kongCan spread
- Yardlong Bean snake bean
- Zucchini courgette