Free guide
The Southern Sowing Calendar
A Dunedin garden runs on a different clock. Our springs come late and linger, our summers stay cool, and the first frosts return early — so a sowing calendar built for Auckland will quietly let you down. This one is built for the South.
Draft guide — written to show the format. To be reviewed with our gardeners before publishing
Right now — mid June
It's the quiet season. Plan, prune, and plant garlic by the shortest day.
Deep winter in Ōtepoti. Lift and savour the frost-sweetened parsnips and leeks, get bare-root fruit trees in the ground, and plant your garlic around Matariki and the winter solstice — the old southern rule is "shortest day to longest day."
How to read it
Most of New Zealand plants tender summer crops — tomatoes, beans, courgettes — out around Labour Weekend. In Dunedin that late-October marker matters more than anywhere: in the city it's about right, but up in the hill suburbs and frost pockets, a fortnight's patience saves a tray of seedlings. When in doubt, wait for the soil to warm and the nights to lift.
| Month | Sow under cover | Sow / plant outside | Harvesting now | This month in the South |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JanuaryHigh summer | Winter brassicas, leeks, spring onions | Successions of beans, carrots, beetroot, lettuce | Tomatoes (under glass), courgette, beans, berries, new potatoes | Peak growth — feed and water well, and start sowing for the autumn garden. |
| FebruaryLate summer | Winter lettuce, Asian greens | Brassicas, spinach, coriander, silverbeet | Tomatoes, sweetcorn, beans, plums, early apples | The autumn garden begins here — get cool-season greens in while the soil is warm. |
| MarchEarly autumn | Winter lettuce, hardy greens | Broad beans, onions, green-manure crops | Maincrop potatoes, pumpkins, apples, late tomatoes | Harvest and store. Cooling fast — clear spent summer beds. |
| AprilMid autumn | Winter lettuce, spinach | Broad beans, garlic (early), shallots | Pumpkins, leeks, brassicas, feijoa | First frosts arrive. Lift the last tender crops and mulch bare soil. |
| MayLate autumn | — | Garlic, shallots, rhubarb crowns, bare-root fruit | Parsnip, swede, leeks, brassicas, silverbeet | Put the garden to bed. Bare-root planting season opens. |
| JuneWinter · Matariki | — | Garlic by the shortest day, fruit trees, rhubarb | Leeks, kale, Brussels sprouts, parsnip (sweeter after frost) | Matariki, the southern new year. Prune, plan and plant trees. |
| JulyDeep winter | Broad beans, onions, sweet peas | Garlic, shallots, rhubarb, bare-root fruit trees | Leeks, winter brassicas, silverbeet, parsnip | Shortest days. Order seed, sharpen tools, dream up the spring beds. |
| AugustLate winter | Tomatoes (heated), brassicas, lettuce, onions | Early potatoes (chitted), peas, broad beans, asparagus | Kale, leeks, winter greens, stored roots | Start seed on a warm windowsill. Still frosty — don't be fooled. |
| SeptemberEarly spring | Tomatoes, capsicum, basil, courgette, pumpkin | Carrots, beetroot, spinach, peas, potatoes (sheltered) | Spring greens, rhubarb, sprouting broccoli | Soil is warming, but frosts still linger in the hills. Harden off slowly. |
| OctoberMid spring | Harden off summer seedlings | Maincrop potatoes, carrots, beetroot, lettuce, brassicas | Asparagus, rhubarb, late brassicas | Labour Weekend nears — the South's traditional tender-crop marker. Almost time. |
| NovemberLate spring | — | After the frosts: tomatoes, beans, courgette, pumpkin, sweetcorn, cucumber | Asparagus, early lettuce, radish, herbs | Plant tender crops into the warmest, most sheltered spot. Cloche the marginal ones. |
| DecemberEarly summer | — | Successions of lettuce, beans, carrots, beetroot | New potatoes, peas, strawberries, early salads | Longest day. Keep the water up and stake the tomatoes before they bolt. |
Timings are a southern guide, not a guarantee — a sheltered coastal garden on the Peninsula and a frost pocket in the hills can be three weeks apart. Watch your own patch.
Friends unlock the printable
Become a Friend of Ōtepoti for the one-page printable PDF, a companion-planting chart for the South, and reminders the week each crop is due.