Winter garden: gloves on a hook?

If you think that there is no much work to do in winter and hung your gardening gloves a couple of month ago, you made a really big mistake and want to reconsider.
In fact, you can do even more during the winter, than during the summer, because:

• you don't need watering, mother nature will do it for you;
• you can work longer hours, there is no biting sun, looking upon you from the sky;
• its the perfect time to grow cabbages, radishes and broccolis, all these veggies that performing not so well during other seasons (we are talking about Melbourne, Victoria, Australia now).

And here is my personal list of what to do in June, that I'm still mastering, as I've done quite a few mistakes since I come to live here.

• Plant in a warm place seedlings of capsicums and eggplants, as they take ages to grow. I plant them inside the house in the sunny spot.
  Very important hint! Even you make you own beautiful and precious organic soil, for the seedlings that inside the house you'll need to buy soil from the shop as this soil is sterile (you don't want to get some nasty infection, do you?). Or, alternatively, if you still want to stick to you own soil, and I don't blame you, soil in the shops is a disaster, “cook” it or “bake” it in your outside oven or stove, if you have them for about 20 minutes before bringing in.
• Make sure that you chicken house insulated well. Cold draft can kill your chooks.
• It's time to go through your tool shed, discard tool that beyond any repair and fix that still look good.
• Check on your bees, how they are doing.
• Order and inspect seeds catalogue for spring. You can cooperate with your fellow gardener/s
  to order the bulk amount of them, because, usually, more you purchase greater price discount you get and some of the seeds you can store up to three years (check expiry dates with the supplier).
• Feed rhododendrons, azaleas and camellias.
• If you have a wood heater you can use the ashes mixing them in with the soil (not to much) these contain all the mineral residues from the burnt wood.
• Rake fallen leaves, add them to compost bin.

Now we come to the most important post of this post.
What we are planting during the winter?
Beetroot.
They prefer sunny position with generous amount of sand incorporated (for drainage and soil composition), as the most of Victorian soil is clay. Add a well – rotten manure as well. Very hardy plant, excellent liver cleanser, love it, here is one of my favourite recipe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In7z9VWTKRE
I usually interplant them with spring onions.
Broad beans.
Another hardy plant to grow. Find some sheltered place, add some manure, not much though as this plant is as other beans is a “soil nitrogen fixer”. Remember, that at some stage it will need stalking and also produce a lot of shade.
Stick to a crop rotation technique and don't plant where other beans used to grow last season (minimises Fungle and pests problems). I like to plant tomatoes after them.

Cabbage.
Here is my post how to grow cabbages.
Just an important addition: if you live in a night frost area, plant them in a high raised bed.

Carrots.
Here is my post how to grow carrots.
And here something new that I've learnt: before planting, mix seeds with finely ground black pepper to ward off ants, they like to eat sweet carrot's seeds.
With carrot you add to salads, soups, roasts and can prepare kimchi, fermented food that will boost your metabolism and improve digestive system.
Cauliflowers.
Like there relatives – cabbages, cauliflowers like rich, heavy and firm soil with a lot of manure applied. Interplant them with onions, garlic, nasturtium.

Broccoli
As broad beans likes sheltered position and produce a lot of shade.
Soil: as for cauliflower and cabbage, see above.

Kale
Easy to grow, yet it hate waterlogging (needs good draining) and this can be a challenge for a winter Melbourne condition. Try to grow them in a well – established no-dig, raised garden bed.
Spinach and Silverbeet.
Hungry and thirsty leafy vegetables. Plant in a soil where you applied A LOT of manure (after harvesting apply a lot of manure again, as they take a lot of nutrients).
Leeks
Very easy to grow, however, they love well – rotted compost applied before planting.
don't like to be too wet. Plant them in a raised beds, if possible, apply well – rotten manure before.
Parsnip
can grow quite long, that why you need to choose a deep bed and incorporate sand and well – rotten manure before.
Turnip
Very easy to grow. For the best results, ad some well – rotted manure before.
Herbs:
coriander, parsley, dill... You can plant all of them now. It's bit too hot for them during the summer here.
Some of the winter vegetables takes a few months to grow (garlic, onions, cauliflower). I've always found that it's a good idea to interplant them with some faster growing vegetables as salad, rocket, radishes, spring onions, shallots etc.
Advantage:

• you'll harvest a double from your bed;
• interplanting veggies is a good technique against pest, as a monocultural bed is a pest's paradise.

And the last hint how to grow during the winter successfully: apply mulch. It protects well against heat during summer and against cold during winter (plus helps to retain water, plus break down and improve soil).
Don't be disheartened if something go wrong (hail, waterlogging, snails, aphids, list is endless). It's better to eat cabbage touched with a bit of frost than to buy one from the shop that always looks like it was kept since Christmas; or add in your sandwich salad with a holes than the perfect supermarket's one (11 pesticides, herbicides and insecticides were applied for a stunning look).
Happy winter gardening!