Crop rotation may sound overly scientific for the ordinary gardener but it is an important way of getting the most from the vegetable garden.
Hedges can protect vegetable crops from wind damage but, because they need regular clipping, busy gardeners and those with small patches may prefer to use windcloth, manuka scrub or similar.
Although the weather may be cold, every opportunity should be taken over the next few weeks to dig and manure the vegetable garden, leaving the ground exposed to the ongoing winter weather, which will help ensure it is in good order for next season’s crops.
Potatoes are an easy-to-grow staple vegetable, and southern gardeners have the advantage of many varieties available from garden centres.
June is a good time to develop or extend a rhubarb bed as the plants (crowns) are dormant during winter.
Lettuces are thought of as a summer vegetable but seed of the hardy loose-leaf types, such as old French variety Merveille des Quatre Saisons, can be sown under cloches or under glass now to make slow growth until longer days and more sunshine return.
As winter comes closer, the opportunities for growing vegetables are reduced, but garlic and shallots should go in from now until early spring.
Lettuces are thought of as a summer vegetable, but the seed of some hardy types, such as the old French variety Merveille des Quatre Saisons, can be sown under cloches or under glass to make slow growth until longer days and more sunshine return.
This is a good time to look at starting a herb patch or rejuvenating an existing one.
Traditionally, broad beans are sown from March until mid-May, to stand through the winter and bear crops in early summer.
Think ahead to next spring and improve the quality of heavy, clay-based soil by digging it roughly, so different levels are exposed to winter frosts, winds, rain and sun.
Depending on their position and soil types, not all gardens can be cultivated intensively from now on.
Cabbage, cauliflower and silverbeet can still be planted to stand the winter.
Parsley may still be sown in warmer districts. Sow thinly and, when seedlings are strong enough, move so they are 10cm apart.
Cabbage, cauliflower and silverbeet stalks should be cleared from the ground once plants have been harvested.
Potato crops can be harvested before the tops have died right away from the plants.
Brassicas planted in late December or during January will need protection from white butterfly caterpillars and grey aphids.
Garden maintenance is very important at this time of the year.
Onion seed sown this month will withstand the winter months, then mature into good-sized bulbs for harvesting next summer.