What does spring mean down under

[Andy Hamilton]

I was just writing up a bit about herbs and got to thinking about you lot living in the southern hemisphere. I imagine that there a few gardening books from this side of the planet that end up down there. Is there a rule of thumb to working out the differences in seasons? I mean for example - if something says plant in April do you just add 6 months and plant in October?

[Cornelian]

As a general rule of thumb, yes, but then Australia is so huge and has so many climatic ranges from tropical to virtually arctic that you need to then factor in local conditions. The northern half of Australia doesn't have 4 seasons as such - just hot and dry-ish, and hotter and very wet, while here in Tasmania the seasons are very much like s-e England. My spring here really starts about November, and autumn stretches over almost 6 months, but in Victoria on the mainland my springs started much earlier.

So generally, yes, but then you need to factor in all the big climate differences about Australia. I sort of play it by ear.

I'd be interested to hear how it affects NZ.

[Magpie]

Here in the deep south of NZ I do usually just add 6 months - I actually did that just now, working out how late those frosts are for you guys!

Our season is a bit longer here, but adding 6 usually does it.

[ohareward]

I live mid South Island. The end of May is usually the end of autumn, start of winter. May here has been the driest for many years. Most of the leaves have fallen. A few frosts, down to 2-3 degrees C. Daytime temps range from 12- 20 C. Very variable climate here in NZ.
The winters can be cold, wet and very frosty. After a frost, usually a clear sunny day.
I love spring. Everything starts to green up again.
I have a UK gardening book, "Kitchen and Herb Gardener" by Richard Bird and Jessica Houdret. Most of the time it talks about seasons instead of months, so it is easy to follow.
I notice from the different postings that some of your plants and vegetables are different to ours, and so you have slightly different times for sowing. My wife was saying that she had not heard of pumpkins before she came to NZ. (She is from Cumbria). This is going back a bit. Does everybody eat pumkins now?

Robin

[autumnleaf]

There seems to me to be a huge range in NZ and the seasons can overlap a fair bit from year to year. I've given up following books with planting advice. Its come down to just bunging things in through intuition gained from living in my own microclimate.

[possum]

I am still a newbie to NZ, so still gettin to grip with the seasons, I haven't been here a full year yet and didn't buy this place till decemeber, so missed out growing lots of things.
We are in a little microclimate here, not far from Christchurch but on the coast (the sea is all of 500m away)
In summer it is hot, darned hot, temperatures (we are told) usually getting into the 40s, though this year only up to the high 30s, also very dry.
In winter we are told it is frost free, certainly haven't had one so far
Although close to the sea we don't seem to suffer in the slightest from salt.
For us irrigation is the key to keeping things alive.
The sun is very harsh in summer and our place gets sun all day round, pretty well every last inch of the 10 acres (only the tall pine tree shelter belt provides a tiny amount of shade)
Despite being on the south island we sucessfully grow some citrus trees

[Wombat]

I have read that the aboriginals recognised 6 seasons on the mainland, but I don't know the detail. Here in Sinny I just add 6 months and give it a go from there

Nev