Enjoy growing your own
Spring & Summer
Vegetable Planting Spring and summer in New Zealand bring a bunch of tasty veggies you can easily grow in your garden. We’ve put together a simple guide to help you know what to plant and when. You have two main choices for planting: you can start your seeds indoors in little trays, or you can plant them right in your garden, depending on the veggie.
So, if you have a 1cm seed, plant it about 1cm deep. If you’re dealing with tiny seeds like lettuce or radish, just sprinkle them in a row and lightly cover them with soil. If you want to save some time or don’t want to fuss with seeds, you can also buy young plants from your local garden centre. They’re a great way to kickstart your garden without much effort.
Here’s a helpful tip: put the seeds in the ground at about the same depth as the size of the seed.
Vegetable
Sowing time (warm)
Plant seedlings (warm)
Sowing time (cool)
Plant seedlings (cool)
Spacing between plants*
Harvest (approx)*
Eggplants
Sow in seed trays from Oct
Nov
Sow in seed trays from Oct
Late Nov/Dec
30cm
90-100 days
Lettuce/salad greens**
Direct sow any time of year
Throughout the year
Direct sow any time of year
Throughout the year
10cm
6-8 weeks
Onions
Direct sow anytime of year
Throughout the year
Direct sow any time of year
Throughout the year
3cm
3cm apart, rows 30cm apart
Potato
Use seed potato from Oct till mid Nov
30cm
110-120 days
40-50cm
100-110 days
Easy to grow.
Use seed potato early Nov till mid Dec
Harvest when plants top stop flowering and leaves turn yellow. Pumpkin
Direct sow in late Oct till Nov
Nov
Direct sow in Nov/Dec
Allow plenty of room as plants spread vigorously.
Nov/Dec