February

With heavy seasonal rain ahead, protect soil from compaction and minimise moisture loss through hot, humid days. Mulch will feed your soil and micro-organisms and insulate them from hot summer days.

With any planting you're tempted to do now, consider DTM (days to maturity). Radish can have a short turnaround with as little as 21 days to maturity. Eggplant could be as much as 80 days or more. You need to consider these times in planning your plantings, or, use this window to prepare your soil, and sit tight till late March or early April to plant out.

While lawns are actively growing, compost lawn clippings with straw/shredded paper at a ratio of about 10:1. In a tumbler or bin, you can make usable compost in about 2 weeks. Store and use on vegetable beds in March.

Amendments like weed tea and worm tea can be added to soils to give them a boost prior to autumn planting.

Consider bed rotations - a four-bed rotation looks like this - Legumes, Leafy greens, Fruit crops(tomatoes etc), Root crops (see below)

You may be able to get a green manure crop into the bed that will become the leafy green bed. Any of the beans will fix nitrogen (you’ll dig them in so even broad beans will work). Cowpea, millet, lablab, mung bean, marigolds and soybean will all work. This will provide biomass which contribute towards healthy soils.

Plan for plants to attract pollinators and beneficial insects - zinnia, cosmos, marigold, ammi majus (Queen Anne's lace), nasturtiums. Consider placement depending whether they’re a companion or decoy plant.

Do a pH test on your vegetable garden soil. Add lime if your pH is “low” - the ideal range for growing most vegies is 6.5 - 7.

Lots of organic material in either sandy or clayey soils will help buffer against pH movement.