The constant gardener

Garden diary

Clear spent crops from the vegetable bed and compost. Or cut them down, chop up the thicker stalks, and leave on the top of the soil to break down over winter. Tomatoes, however, should be removed as they can harbour diseases that may over-winter in the soil.

Keep your household in nutrient-rich greens all winter long by sowing or planting silverbeet and/or spinach. Or sow fast-growing Asian brassicas such as bok choy, which takes a mere 55 days from seed to plate.

Many plants will enjoy a head-start on spring by being sown in the garden now. This gives them time to get established before winter, meaning stronger plants and earlier blooms in spring. Prominent in this group are broad beans, which