OPINION: Make a start on a veg patch

Here are edible plants you can get ready or plant right now but be aware they sometimes take a while before you can enjoy the fruit of your labour. These notes may help you work that out. It is hard to get seedlings, but planting seeds is fun and builds your gardening skills. Vegetables like beans, lettuce, and beets can take up to 70 days; other vegetables such as peppers, potatoes, and carrots can take up to 120 days. One of the fastest-growing vegetables is the radish. Most varieties will be ready for harvest in just 25 to 30 days after planting. It can take six months for onion bulbs to mature, but the green onion stalks can be harvested after just three or four weeks. You can grow onion microgreens and have baby onion greens in two to three weeks. A lot depends on rainfall, soil and weather conditions in all of these quoted times. Baby carrots may be harvested after about 30 days and spinach could be ready four to six weeks after planting. Peas are one of my favourites and you probably are aware that snow peas take only about 10 days to germinate but up to 60 days before harvest. Most bush beans are ready to harvest in 40 to 65 days from planting. Kale, mustard greens and watercress are delicious, super healthy greens that are fast growers. Most take about 50 to 65 days to mature, but baby leaves can be picked as early as 25 days. Kale will continue to grow as leaves are harvested, although aphids and caterpillars love them. Turnip roots are ready for harvest after about 60 days, and the highly edible leaves can be harvested in only 40 days. Many varieties of squash, including zucchini, are usually ready after about 70 days. For best flavour, harvest squash when they are still small. Eggplants grow well in Geraldton. They can be grown in pots and will supply fruit for a long time. So that’s it folks. Better get started in the veggie patch or organise your pots; it could be a while before you have fresh produce for your table.