Planting guide

What to plant in Melbourne, Australia in August

Cool temperate Southern Hemisphere August

August in Melbourne is still winter — cold soil, short days and frosts that can run well into spring. But it is also when the spring garden actually begins: hardy crops go in outdoors, and the summer crops are sown in trays indoors so they are ready the moment the frost risk fades.

Plant now

Broad beansVicia faba

Direct-sow — they shrug off Melbourne frosts and fix nitrogen for the bed that follows them.

Peas and snow peas

Direct-sow now for a spring harvest; give them a frame to climb before they need it.

Cabbage, kale and other brassica seedlings

Transplant seedlings now — they hold through the cold and heart up as days lengthen.

Onion seedlingsAllium cepa

Mid-to-late winter is onion transplanting time in cool climates — they need the long run-up to summer.

Seed potatoes (late August)

Plant toward the end of the month — shoots emerge after the worst frosts, in time for spring growth.

Tomatoes (seed, indoors)

Sow in trays indoors or in a heated propagator now; the traditional Melbourne plant-out is around Cup Day in early November.

Timing notes

  • Melbourne frosts continue into October — nothing tender goes outside yet, no matter how warm a single week feels.
  • Cold, wet soil is the limiting factor: raised beds drain and warm noticeably faster and buy you weeks at both ends of the season.
  • Sowing tomatoes indoors now versus buying seedlings in November is the cheapest upgrade a Melbourne garden gets — more varieties, stronger plants.
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