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    Garden Planner

    🇦🇺 Australia version

    Australian gardeners sow with the seasons reversed: spring planting runs from September to November and winter is June to August. This planner starts with the Southern hemisphere switch on, moves every sowing and harvest month by six, and lists 31 vegetables and herbs for the month you choose. Beds are sized in centimetres.

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    Garden Planner

    What to sow and harvest this month, how many plants a bed will actually hold at proper spacing, and which combinations to keep apart. 31 vegetables and herbs.

    Sow indoors
    0

    Nothing needs starting under cover this month.

    Sow outdoors
    6

    CarrotBeetrootRadishLettuceChardCoriander

    Harvest
    22

    TomatoPotatoPepper / chilliCarrotBeetrootRadishRunner beanBroad beanPeaCabbageCauliflowerOnionGarlicCourgetteCucumberLettuceChardBasilCorianderParsleyThymeMint

    Growing in Australia
    January: Summer

    Seasons are reversed: spring planting is September to November and winter is June to August.

    Frost risk is highest in winter, and can run into early spring in the south.

    Months are shifted by six from the northern calendar: a rough first approximation for the southern hemisphere.

    Source: Bureau of Meteorology: Solstices, equinoxes and the seasons; ABARES: Australian Crop Report September 2026

    Your frost dates

    192 days

    Frost dates are the single most important local fact in a vegetable garden, and they vary enormously over short distances — a valley bottom can be several weeks behind a slope a kilometre away. Look yours up once from a local source and everything else follows from them.

    31 plants
    Bed capacity at real spacing
    Saved on this device

    Australia rules and figures

    • Australian seasons are reversed from the north: spring planting is September to November and winter is June to August.
    • The greatest frost risk in Australia comes in winter, and in the south it can last into early spring.
    • The Bureau of Meteorology seasons begin on the first day of March, June, September and December.
    • In northern Australia the wet season lasts from October to April and the dry season from May to September.

    Sources: Bureau of Meteorology: Solstices, equinoxes and the seasons (checked 2026-11-08); ABARES: Australian Crop Report September 2026 (checked 2026-11-08)

    How the Garden Planner works

    The plant table is written for a temperate northern climate, and the planner reads it six months out when the Southern hemisphere switch is on. That shift is a rough first estimate, not a regional Australian calendar.

    plants per bed = ⌊bed length ÷ plant spacing⌋ × ⌊bed width ÷ row spacing⌋ (both in cm)

    • November in Australia reads the northern May row, so the list shows what a northern gardener would sow in May. The Growing in Australia card labels the month Spring.
    • The starter bed is 300 × 120 cm with tomato and basil. Each plant gets half the length, so it counts 3 tomato plants and 24 basil.
    • Frost dates start mirrored for the south at 10-15 and 04-25, a 192-day season. Edit them for your own town, because winters bring the most frost and southern towns can still get it early in spring.
    • Warm northern regions, where the Bureau of Meteorology describes a wet season and a dry season, do not follow the four-season shift, so treat their lists with extra care.

    How to use the Garden Planner

    1. Pick the month. Choose a month in the Month box. Keep Southern hemisphere on, which is how the page starts for Australia.
    2. Read the lists. The first tab shows what to sow indoors, sow outdoors and harvest for that month, shifted six months from the stored northern dates.
    3. Set frost dates. Enter your last spring frost and first autumn frost. The example dates are 10-15 and 04-25.
    4. Fill a bed. Open Beds and enter your bed's size in centimetres. Pick a plant, press add and read the count.
    5. Search and export. Look up a plant by name or family and export the shifted calendar as CSV.

    Example: November in Australia: Spring lists and a cucumber bed

    November shows Spring on the Growing in Australia card. Because the planner reads May's northern table, it lists four plants to sow indoors (runner bean, courgette, pumpkin or squash and basil), 19 to sow outdoors and six to harvest: radish, lettuce, spinach, rocket, thyme and mint. The starting frost dates give a 192-day season and flag no crop. A 300 × 120 cm bed of cucumber alone holds 6 plants.

    When to use the Garden Planner

    • Spring sowing in September. Set September and read the indoor and outdoor lists, which come from the northern March row.
    • Sizing a vegetable bed. Enter 240 × 90 cm and compare lettuce, carrot and kale counts before buying seedlings.
    • Checking a cool-district frost date. Type a late spring frost for a southern town to see the season length and any marginal crop.
    • Planning autumn sowing. Pick April to see broad bean and garlic listed to sow outdoors as the weather cools.

    What the Garden Planner does not do

    • The six-month shift is a crude estimate. Climate, altitude and local frost dates matter more than the month, so check a local calendar.
    • It does not model the wet and dry seasons of the north, where the four-season pattern does not apply.
    • Frost dates alter the season length and warnings only, never the sowing months.
    • The 31 plants and their spacings are fixed, and beds, units and frost dates you set live in this browser only.

    When something else is a better fit

    • When you want sowing dates for your own district, use a local gardening calendar or your state agriculture department.
    • When you want house, car and money jobs by season, use the Seasonal Checklist.
    • When you want to convert soil or mulch amounts, use the Unit Converter.

    Questions about the Garden Planner

    Why does November show northern May plants?

    The table stores northern months. With the Southern hemisphere switch on, the planner shifts each month by six, so November maps to May and a northern May row gives the Australian November list.

    How accurate is the shift for Australia?

    It is a rough first guide. The Bureau of Meteorology calendar fixes the seasons, but frost and rainfall vary by region, so a local calendar should settle exact sowing weeks.

    What frost dates does the page start with?

    It starts with 10-15 for the last frost and 04-25 for the first, a 192-day season. Replace them with your own, since the south can see frost into early spring.

    Do the frost dates change what I can sow?

    No. They set the season length and the warning for frost-tender plants needing more days than that. The sowing months stay the same.

    Are my beds kept between visits?

    Yes, in this browser. Beds, units and your frost dates reload with the page, and a removed bed is listed under Recently deleted.