Together Melanie and I own a number of gardening books and have a sow when poster on the wall. I have referred to all of these, among others, at different times for advice on when and what to plant. However it escaped me unnoticed for some time that all these sources gave differing advice. Of course one would expect slight discrepancies, like planting in January instead of December, but on close inspection I have discovered all these guides to have what would appear blatant contradictions. Just look at this example for planting cauliflower in a cool climate:
For most beginner gardeners this will hopefully go unnoticed, like it did for me for so long. But if like me you are unfortunate to become aware of this fact, oops! sorry, it might cause a great level of anxiety because now who are you going to believe and trust? Seriously, I have got to choose one of these guides to follow but I don’t know which?
Looking at the cauliflower example has me wondering whether any of these authors know what the hell they are talking about. In fact, maybe they are not gardeners at all? Despite the excitement of possibly uncovering the greatest conspiracy of the gardening world, sadly I think this highly unlikely. So what is the reason then?
It could be that each of the authors is talking about a different plant variety, or maybe there were seasonal differences in the years the guides were written. Another thought of mine is that each of these authors could be drawing on experiences from the neighbourhood in which they garden. They most likely would consult with their peers, but is it possible they too would be confined to their local knowledge?
So driven by the desire for a solution, there is now a gardening site called Sowity that enables you to produce a planting guide specific to your local area. Powered by the recommendations given by other gardeners within your neighbourhood, my hope is that this guide offers the best chance of being the most accurate, as gardening guides go at least.
Thankyou Jason. This is why I have had problems determining when certain vegetables should be planted. Also the "experts" tell me that this is the month for planting garlic. According to Sowity I have a few months to wait and have already bought my heads from Diggers. If you look at my blog it will tell you that I can never get the planting of celery right. I am going to follow the Sowity planting guide for a while and see how it goes. I assume there will be a few local differences which I can work out and having a greenhouse to overcome the slight differences helps.
ReplyDeleteRegards,
Steve
Nice to hear from another person working towards self-sufficiency, and blogging about it. Hopefully some of your local neighbours contribute to Sowity and the guide gets pretty close to meeting your needs.
DeleteI think that there are three reasons why this annoying problem occurs: the first is there that there are different definitions about what constitutes a cool climate, for instance I have seen Melbourne as being cool, temperate and even occasionally mediterranean. The second is that some guides are talking about seeds and others about seedlings but they haven't bothered to distinguish between the two. I usually sow Cauliflower over the summer months but would happily plant out seedlings until about mid winter - which covers most of the possibilities in your chart. The 3rd possibility is difference in the varieties they are talking about - different varieties do require different temps to germinate so that would account for some of the differences.
ReplyDeleteYes I too have see Melbourne classified as both cool and temperate. I would assume cities to be warmer than the surrounding area due to man made heat sources and black roads and roof tops. This is where I hope Sowity can help.
DeleteThat is an excellent point about seed vs seedling. I never thought of that one, I just assumed growing from seed. It's the old comparing apples with apples problem.
Are all the sources listed from the Southern Hemisphere? I would expect to plant caulis in the UK in late summer as I believe they need the cold weather in Dec/Jan to form proper heads. That would account for the sowing guidelines from the organic Gardening and Sow When contradicting the Australian guides. But could be wrong!! ;)
ReplyDeleteHi Jason, do you know if sowity still exists? I've tried your link and can-not access the page. Thanks for your excellent blog. I enjoy your logical way of working through some of the problems growing your own food throws up.
ReplyDeleteSadly very few people contributed, so I took it down. I hope to release a new incarnation that will be allot more engaging. Stay tuned.
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