The Catalogue · 30 Vegetables
Warm-season crops grown for their edible fruit: tomatoes, capsicum, chilli, eggplant
60-90 days from transplant
Tomatoes are Australia's most popular home garden vegetable, and for good reason, a sun-warmed tomato picked fresh from your own raised bed is incomparably better than anything from a supermarket.
70-90 days from transplant
Capsicum (bell pepper) thrives in Australia's warm climate and produces generous harvests when given full sun and a long growing season.
80-120 days from transplant
Chillies are one of the most rewarding plants for Australian raised bed gardeners, they thrive in our warm climate, produce abundantly over a long season, and add enormous culinary versatility to the garden.
65-90 days from transplant
Eggplant (aubergine) is a heat-loving member of the Solanaceae family that thrives in Australia's warm climate.
Fast-growing crops harvested for their leaves: lettuce, spinach, silverbeet
45-70 days
Lettuce is the perfect raised bed crop, fast-growing, compact, and productive over most of the Australian year.
25-50 days
Spinach is a fast-growing, highly nutritious leafy green that thrives in Australian winter and spring gardens.
50-70 days to first harvest; ongoing
Silverbeet (Swiss chard) is one of the most productive and reliable vegetables in the Australian raised bed garden.
Cool-season crops from the cabbage family: broccoli, kale, cauliflower, bok choy
80-120 days
Broccoli is a cool-season brassica that fills the autumn and winter raised bed beautifully.
55-70 days to first harvest; ongoing
Kale is a nutritional powerhouse and one of the most productive winter crops for Australian raised beds.
80-120 days
Cauliflower is the most temperamental of the brassicas, it requires a long, cool, consistent growing season and is highly sensitive to temperature stress, which causes the curd to 'button' (form tiny, immature heads) prematurely.
40-60 days (mini); 60-80 days (full-size)
Bok choy (pak choy) is one of the fastest and most productive brassicas for Australian raised beds.
Underground crops: carrots, beetroot, radish, potato, sweet potato
70-90 days
Carrots reward Australian gardeners who take the time to prepare deep, loose, stone-free soil.
55-80 days
Beetroot is one of the most versatile vegetables in the Australian garden, the roots are roasted, pickled, or eaten raw, while the leaves (beet greens) are a nutritious spinach substitute.
25-35 days (small types); 60-70 days (Daikon)
Radishes are the fastest vegetables you can grow, from seed to harvest in as little as 25 days.
70-100 days (early varieties); 100-120 days (maincrop)
Potatoes are one of the most productive crops per square metre in the Australian vegetable garden.
90-130 days from slip planting
Sweet potato is one of the most productive, heat-tolerant, and low-maintenance crops for Australian raised beds.
Nitrogen-fixing crops: beans and peas
55-70 days (bush); 65-80 days (climbing)
Beans are a reliable, productive, and nitrogen-fixing crop that earns its place in every Australian raised bed.
60-80 days
Peas are one of the great pleasures of winter gardening in Australia, sweet, tender, and eaten fresh from the pod while standing in the garden on a cool morning.
Aromatic culinary herbs: basil, parsley, mint, rosemary, coriander
25-35 days to first harvest; ongoing
Basil is the quintessential summer herb and one of the most valuable companion plants in the Australian raised bed garden.
70-80 days to full harvest; partial from 40 days
Parsley is one of Australia's most widely grown herbs and an invaluable addition to the raised bed garden.
30-60 days from transplant
Mint is the most vigorous, aggressive herb in the Australian garden, one plant can spread to fill an entire raised bed within a season.
Ongoing from establishment; cuttings produce harvestable growth in 60-90 days
Rosemary is a perennial Mediterranean shrub that thrives in Australia's dry, sunny climate, particularly in south-west Western Australia and South Australia, which share similar Mediterranean conditions.
25-35 days to first harvest; bolt-resistant varieties 45-60 days
Coriander (cilantro) is a polarising herb with a devoted following in Asian, Middle Eastern, and Latin Australian cooking.
Onion family crops: spring onion, garlic
60-80 days
Spring onions (also called green onions or scallions) are among the most space-efficient crops in the Australian raised bed garden.
180-210 days (6-7 months)
Garlic is one of the most satisfying crops in the Australian raised bed garden, planted in autumn, it grows quietly through winter and rewards patient gardeners with fragrant bulbs in spring or early summer.
Vining crops from the cucumber family: zucchini, cucumber, pumpkin
50-65 days
Zucchini (courgette) is one of the most productive vegetables you can grow in an Australian raised bed.
50-70 days
Cucumbers are prolific, fast-growing crops that are perfectly suited to vertical growing in Australian raised beds.
90-120 days
Pumpkins are the most substantial crop you can grow in an Australian raised bed, vines can extend 3-5 metres and produce fruit weighing 1-10 kg.
Large crops like sweetcorn
Other vegetables: celery
From the makers
Enter your postcode, family size, and bed dimensions, Plant Planner selects the right vegetables for your climate, calculates quantities, and generates a personalised planting schedule.
Australia's vast geography creates five distinct climate zones, each with different planting calendars. Every guide on this page includes specific planting times for each zone.
Darwin, Cairns, Broome
Year-round growing with a distinct wet season (Nov-Apr) and dry season. Cool-season vegetables are planted in the dry season (April-September).
Brisbane, Gold Coast, Northern NSW
Mild winters and warm summers. Almost year-round growing is possible, with some adjustment in summer for heat-sensitive crops.
Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide
Distinct four seasons. Warm-season vegetables thrive in spring-summer; cool-season crops (brassicas, root veg) do best in autumn-winter.
Canberra, Hobart, Blue Mountains
Frosts are common from May-September. Growing season is compressed; protection (cloches, frost cloth) extends the season significantly.
Alice Springs, Broken Hill, outback
Extreme heat in summer and cold nights in winter. Growing focuses on spring and autumn; irrigation is essential throughout.
Plant Planner analyses your climate zone, bed dimensions, and family size to recommend exactly which vegetables to grow and how many plants you need.
Unlock FreeThe single biggest factor in raised bed success is soil quality. Use a mix of quality compost (40%), aged manure or worm castings (20%), and a free-draining base mix (40%). Top up with compost each season.
Inconsistent watering is the cause of many problems, blossom end rot, cracking, bitterness, and bolting. Install drip irrigation or set a regular hand-watering schedule and stick to it.
Fine insect exclusion netting (not shade cloth) is the single most effective pest control measure for Australian raised beds. Install it over brassicas and other pest-prone crops from day one.
Sow a small amount of fast-growing crops (lettuce, radish, spinach, spring onion) every 2-3 weeks rather than all at once. This gives continuous harvests rather than feast-and-famine gluts.
Add 2-4 marigolds or nasturtiums to every raised bed. These flowering companions attract beneficial insects, trap aphids, and deter soil-borne pests, all for almost zero space and cost.
Record what you planted, when, and how it performed. Year-on-year notes are invaluable, you'll quickly identify which varieties perform best in your specific garden conditions.
The most forgiving crops for new Australian gardeners are lettuce, silverbeet, radish, spring onion, snow peas, zucchini and cherry tomatoes. They germinate readily, grow fast, and tolerate beginner mistakes. Start with leafy greens and herbs in autumn, or zucchini and cherry tomatoes in spring after your last frost.
Planting times in Australia are set by your climate zone, not a national calendar, what suits Darwin's tropical dry season is wrong for cool-climate Hobart. Find your zone (tropical, subtropical, temperate, cool or arid), then check each crop's planting window for that zone. Every guide here lists planting months by zone, and Plant Planner pins it down further from your postcode.
As a rough guide for a family of four: 6-10 tomato plants, 8-10 lettuces (succession-sown), 2-3 zucchini, a 1-2 m² block of potatoes, and ongoing rows of beans, carrots and leafy greens. Exact numbers depend on what you eat most, each growing guide includes a family-of-four estimate, and Plant Planner calculates quantities from your household size.
Almost all vegetables thrive in raised beds because of the better drainage and warmer soil, but the standouts are leafy greens, root vegetables (carrots, beetroot, radish), brassicas, bush beans, and compact fruiting crops like cherry tomatoes and capsicum. A 30 cm-deep bed suits nearly everything; go deeper (40 cm+) for long roots like parsnip and full-size carrots.
In most of Australia, yes, there's something to plant every month. Temperate and subtropical gardeners simply switch between warm-season crops (tomatoes, beans, cucurbits) in spring-summer and cool-season crops (brassicas, peas, leafy greens, garlic) in autumn-winter. Tropical zones grow most vegetables through the dry season, and even cool/alpine gardens stay productive with cold-hardy greens and protection.
Enter your postcode, family size, and bed dimensions, Plant Planner automatically selects the right vegetables for your climate, calculates quantities, and generates a personalised planting schedule. No spreadsheet required.
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