Owen Pidgeon: What to plant in a raised garden bed in the ACT

It is just great when the days begin to get longer and you can spend a little time in the garden in the late afternoon, rather than coming home to darkness and cold winds. In the last few daysfriends have told me how they have completed building raised garden beds or cleaned up overrun gardens ready for new season plantings.

A nearby rural restaurant has set up a whole collection of raised garden beds to service the kitchen with fresh herbs, vegetables and berries.

It is transition time though, so planting some things is fine but it is far too early for many other garden plantings. But here is your challenge: what can you begin growing now that can be harvested and chopped or cooked in the next couple of months. Strategic decisions to be made with plenty to choose from.

Don't get carried away with everything that is on offer at your local garden centre. For the moment, stay with plants that can withstand further frosty nights and cool daytime temperatures. There is plenty that you can plant out in the garden now and you will see noticeable progress with all of these choices in the coming weeks.

Legumes

Broad beans are a good and easy crop to grow. Aquadulce is a good, strong, tall variety which bears well. Tripoli is another good variety, now available, which produces superior-sized pods, up to 20 centimetres. It yields well and will still do well when the days are heating up. Plant broad bean seeds just 10-12 millimetres deep, leaving 20 centimetres between seeds. You can plant a second row quite close so that you can harvest both rows from the one side, after just 8-10 weeks. Then leave at least 30-35 centimetres to the third row, so that you can walk between the rows.

Snow peas, sugar snap peas and shelling peas can also be planted now. I like to plant double rows and set up a trellis in between. Melting Mammoth and Oregon Sugar are two good climbing snow pea varieties and the plants can grow up to two metres. They will produce sweet pods that are 10-14 centimetres long after 10 weeks.

Sugar Ann is my favourite sugar snap pea variety. The bushes will grow to around 60 centimetres and will produce a bountiful crop. Cascadia is another good option. Many folk love the sugar snap pea because of its tenderness and the fact that it can be served whole.

Shelling peas are a delicacy when harvested while still young and tender. No wonder the French have the phrase "petit pois" to describe the small, tender, sweet shelling pea. Try to find some space to grow at least one row of these, during spring. Maybe plant along your back garden fence, provided that it is not too shady. Greenfeast is the well known variety that can be harvested over several weeks. Telephone is another good option. It is a vigorous plant, producing large-sized pods. Telephone will grow to 1.8 metres high and needs some form of trellis.