vegie garden tips?

[chilly]

i live in the sunshine state of australia reaching summer temps of 41 degress, and the lowest around 27 degrees.

my husband gets severe hay fever from most flowers, so we're opting for our first garden to be vegetables instead. Yum!

we have clay soil which can not be dinted by a shovel, so we are raising our garden beds to spade height with wooden edges and new soil and old mannure as the soil...

it is heating up here and summer is just around the corner.. are there any vegetables i can start planting now?

will i have to check the PH levels or just hope for the best?
yes, it is degrees Celsious - and our day light hours are from approx 5.30am - 6.30pm

[laylah]

Do you mean Celsius? By sunshine state and the rest of the description, I think it's the busiest time of year and their are tons of stuff you can plant now! Early season, slightly colder veggies are probably too late to plant (radishes, peas), but the first spring veggies can be put out. Since you're raising the soil, it's perfect for large root crops like imperator carrots and onions (be sure to check your day length to select the varieties you want to plant). You can also start summer squashes, runner and bush beans, tomatoes from seedlings, cucumbers and sunflowers. Probably two or three weeks from now you can put in peppers, eggplant (from seedlings) and okra from seed. Good luck and happy gardening! (We're fast approaching winter here.)

[LarryC]

I'm in Auckland New Zealand, by now we can plant almost anything, I have tomatoes well under way, beans a few weeks yet for the soil to get warmer, but your warmer than me, go for it.

[KimberlyC]

Hi:
You must be excited about the wamer months coming. You can begin planting most veggies now. Squash, peppers, corn, zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, pole beans, green beans, and even lettuce. Also for a little variety since you are doing a raised bed, how about putting in some herbs and a few flowers for color. Herbs are wonderful to cook with.

Make sure you prepare the raised bed properly and add organic mushroom compost to your soil.

Good luck to you and happy eating. Take a look at my vegetable garden page of my website. Also I will direct you to my site map so you can get some more tips and ideas for your raised bed. Hope this helps you!
Kimberly
http://www.landscape-solutions-for-you.com/Vegetable.html

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