General Advice

Pot care and planting

Dig a hole in your prepared soil that is twice the size of the pot. You can add a little compost to the hole before planting if you have it - this is recommended for plants that will grow fruits, in particular. After a brief watering, use the fingers of your non dominant hand to create a ‘net’ over the top of each pot, with the plant poking through. Turn the pot upside down and tap firmly on the bottom of the pot, until you feel the weight of the soil drop into your hand. Don’t pull on the plant to remove it from the pot. Some squeezing and gentle shaking of the pot may help, if the plant is hard to release.

When you first get your plants home, water them no more than once per day, until each pot starts to drip from the bottom. Overwatering can leach the nutrients from your soil, affecting the health of the plants, while underwatering causes some vegetables to go to seed early. Potted vegetables should never sit in a dish of water or on a surface that doesn't let all of the water drain out - you want to allow the surface soil to become lighter and drier before watering again, without letting the soil underneath dry out completely.

Companion planting overview

This pack is made up mostly of plants that are big, thirsty, and sun loving (tomatoes, zucchini, silverbeet, and beans), but which also compete with each other for resources and need to be spread out a little from each other. The pack also contains a number of smaller plants like a moderate amount of sun and an average amount of water (lettuce, carrots and nasturtium) which you can plant in-between and underneath the larger plants, in companion relationships which will improve your overall harvest. This pack isn't recommended for planting in pots, but you could get a really good harvest by growing it in a long, narrow garden bed 3-4 metres long, especially along a low east-west facing fence. Care should be taken not to plant this pack in too shady or dry of a spot. There may already be features about your garden that cause some areas to be drier or wetter than others, such as low elevation, or the drainage of pipes - have a look around your garden space and identify these areas, making sure that they get well over half of the day with sun touching the ground - it might take you 24 hours or more to complete this stage of the process. Aim to get an understanding of how the shade moves around your place at this time of year. Now that you've chosen your area, choose four large spots along the length or at the corners of your garden bed. Plant your zucchini in the corner where you're least likely to walk, or in the hottest spot, whichever is more obvious. Plant the tomatoes next to each other, 50cm apart, in a spot where something tall can support them. Finally, plant the silverbeets in the second last spot, and leave the last area empty until the end. Take the nasturtium and plant it near the zucchini, in between it and the next large plant; and do the same with the lettuces by planting them beneath the tomatoes (about 25cm away). Push bean seeds into the soil about 2-3cm deep in the empty corner now, and you can put a few around behind and next to the silverbeets too. Finally sprinkle carrot seeds all around, and scuff the soil around a bit with your fingers to get them buried by a couple of millimeters. Now all you need to do is water your tomatoes, zucchini and silverbeet very well every day - the nasturtium, lettuce and carrots will mostly soak up their share on the edges, but keep an eye on them if they are planted far apart. Don't water the bean seeds anywhere near as much as anything else until they germinate, because they can rot - only water deeply on the first day or two - but as soon as they're up, give them more water, and you'll soon have beans coming out your ears! This companion planting arrangement is very easy to add to - you can continue to plant herbs and salad greens in the shade of your tomatoes, silverbeet and beans throughout the rest of the season.

Watering

The exact amount of water you use after planting isn't as important as being consistent - you can use your finger to check whether the soil has been watered deeply enough, to help you learn how long it takes to reach that point in your garden, on average. It should never be dry under the surface, but its best if it looks dry on the surface just before you water. If its still wet on top, try watering a bit less the next day - but if its dry underneath, you'll know to spend a bit longer on watering in future.

Don't water the garden if there's been more than 5mm of rain that day - but remember that some rainy days aren't wet enough to keep your garden healthy, so you'll need to water anyway. Mulching your garden with dried materials like leaves, bark, straw or shredded paper helps keep the moisture in, so you can water less. Allowing a few weeds to cover the soil with tiny leaves and flowers is healthy too. Too much water will encourage slugs and cause the roots of some plants to rot.

Sun exposure

All of these plants need to be in direct sunlight for at least part of the day - each has its own preferences, but planting them close together in clumps with their companion plants can make the most of space. It's a good idea to imagine how wide and tall each plant will get, and plant them as close together as you can without them shading their neighbours too much in the future.

Seed saving and propagation

Always air-dry your seeds completely before you store them away to prevent mould growth, and keep them in an airtight container like a jar with a lid or a resealable bag.

Pest control

Sometimes, the biggest threat to your garden is bugs! These seedlings are quite big and should be able to resist a few nibbles, but there are some things you can do if your pest problem is out of hand, or if you try starting fresh seeds in the garden bed.

More information about controlling pests is on our "Growing your food" page