Dayboro 12 Month Crop Planner
What I plant here, month by month. Not the generic Southeast Queensland calendar.
The free tier shows what to plant right now, a colour coded calendar for the whole year, and the warm and cool season lists. If you become a member you get the interactive Gantt timeline, the rotation advisor (with family conflict warnings), succession schedules for the crops that bolt fast, a monthly task list, and a bed allocator for 3 to 12 beds. I've set it all up based on how I actually run my own garden.
Why I built this planner
When we first moved to the Dayboro valley I did what most new gardeners do. I read three or four Southeast Queensland vegetable guides, followed the months they told me, and watched a good chunk of the first season fail. The tomatoes I put in late August got frost damaged in the begin of September on one of those clear still nights the valley is famous for. Seedlings I rushed out in May because a Brisbane calendar said I could just sat there and did nothing for six weeks because the soil temperature had already dropped.
The problem is not that those calendars are wrong. They are fine for suburban Brisbane, or for the ridge up at Mount Mee, or for the warmer pockets near Samford. The problem is that Dayboro sits in a bowl. Cold air drains down the hills on still winter nights and collects on the valley floor. I've had nights where my frost calculator was waiting on a +5°C forecast and actually recorded -1.2°C at 4:30 am. Brisbane on the same night was 12°C. That kind of gap makes generic calendars useless for us.
So I made my own. Every planting window in this tool comes from what I've actually planted here, watched fail, watched thrive, and adjusted. Twenty seven crops. Twelve months. Rotation logic that stops you from planting tomatoes where potatoes just were. That last one I learned the hard way since three years ago I put a second round of Romas straight into a bed that had King Edward potatoes the previous winter. Half of them eventually wilted out with fusarium. Now the rotation advisor flags that before you do it.
The two season rhythm of the Dayboro valley
The Dayboro valley has a real subtropical climate with a cold winter twist. Warm season crops run September through March. Cool season crops run March through September. A frost risk window sits on top of that from late May to early September, and for tender plants that window is absolute. No amount of optimism saves a basil if the valley drops to -2°C on a still night in July.
The upside is we can grow something every single month of the year. Suburban Brisbane gardeners get the summer crops but the winter is too mild for proper brassicas. We get both. My best broccoli heads come out of May and June plantings. Garlic going in late March pulls up in November as fat purple bulbs that absolutely shame anything from the supermarket. Silverbeet and parsley just keep going through all of it, which is why they live in the corner bed I never bother to rotate.
Crop rotation for a subtropical garden
Crop rotation is not just for big farms. Even in a backyard with four raised beds, rotating plant families through different beds each season stops soil borne diseases building up, manages the nutrient draw, and breaks pest cycles. The rule is simple. Do not plant the same family in the same spot two seasons in a row. I missed that once with my potatoes and tomatoes, as I mentioned above, so now I trust the planner more than my own memory.
These are the seven main vegetable families I work with here in the valley, and the reason rotation matters for each of them. Follow legumes with heavy feeders. Follow heavy feeders with alliums. Keep brassicas out of the same bed for at least two seasons. That is most of it.
Solanaceae (Nightshades): Tomato, Potato, Capsicum, Eggplant
Heavy feeders. Susceptible to soil borne diseases like bacterial wilt and fusarium, which is how I lost my Romas that year. Follow nightshades with legumes to replenish nitrogen. Never plant tomatoes where potatoes grew last season or the other way around. They share the same pathogens.
Brassicaceae (Brassicas): Broccoli, Cabbage, Kale, Radish
Prone to clubroot, which persists in the soil for years once it gets in. Rotate away from brassicas for at least two seasons. Follow with legumes or alliums. In our humid summer the diseases build up fast if you keep replanting the same bed. I learned to keep my brassica rotation on a hard three year cycle.
Cucurbitaceae (Cucurbits): Cucumber, Zucchini, Pumpkin
Susceptible to powdery mildew and downy mildew, both of which thrive in our humid summers. Do not follow cucurbits with cucurbits. They are heavy feeders and benefit strongly from following a legume bed.
Fabaceae (Legumes): Beans, Peas
The nitrogen fixers. Legume root nodules pull nitrogen from the air and put it into the soil in a form other plants can use. Plant legumes before heavy feeders (nightshades, cucurbits, brassicas) and you boost the fertility naturally, no fertiliser required. They are the foundation stone of any rotation plan I trust.
Apiaceae (Umbellifers): Carrot, Parsley, Celery, Coriander
Moderate feeders. Susceptible to root knot nematodes in our warm soils. Follow with a brassica crop. Brassica root exudates have natural biofumigant properties that suppress nematode populations. It actually works. My second run of carrots in a bed that previously had kale always did noticeably better than the tomato bed next door.
Amaryllidaceae (Alliums): Onion, Garlic
Natural pest deterrents. The sulphur compounds in allium roots discourage a lot of soil pests, which makes them a good choice to plant right after nightshades. I run garlic into any bed that had tomatoes the previous summer. The soil feels cleaner the next season, and I reckon the allium residue is part of why.
Amaranthaceae (Amaranths): Spinach, Silverbeet, Beetroot
Moderate feeders. Mostly trouble free in rotation. Good gap fillers between the heavy feeders. Silverbeet will survive almost anything you throw at it. Mine has been in the same bed for four years now against all the rules, and it still crops fine. That is the exception that proves the rule, probably.
Warm season vs cool season planting in the D'Aguilar Range
| Crop | Season | Planting Months | Days to Harvest | Family |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tomato | Warm | Sep–Feb | ~75 | Solanaceae |
| Lettuce | Cool | Mar–Sep | ~52 | Asteraceae |
| Carrot | Cool | Feb–Sep | ~75 | Apiaceae |
| Broccoli | Cool | Feb–Aug | ~85 | Brassicaceae |
| Beans | Warm | Sep–Apr | ~60 | Fabaceae |
| Potato | Cool | Feb–Apr, Jul–Sep | ~105 | Solanaceae |
| Cucumber | Warm | Sep–Feb | ~60 | Cucurbitaceae |
| Spinach | Cool | Mar–Sep | ~45 | Amaranthaceae |
| Capsicum | Warm | Sep–Jan | ~75 | Solanaceae |
| Zucchini | Warm | Sep–Mar | ~52 | Cucurbitaceae |
| Basil | Warm | Sep–Mar | ~37 | Lamiaceae |
| Parsley | All year | Jan–Dec | ~80 | Apiaceae |
| Kale | Cool | Feb–Sep | ~65 | Brassicaceae |
| Cabbage | Cool | Feb–Aug | ~85 | Brassicaceae |
| Pumpkin | Warm | Sep–Feb | ~102 | Cucurbitaceae |
| Corn | Warm | Sep–Feb | ~75 | Poaceae |
| Onion | Cool | Mar–Jul | ~120 | Amaryllidaceae |
| Garlic | Cool | Mar–May | ~180 | Amaryllidaceae |
| Peas | Cool | Mar–Aug | ~62 | Fabaceae |
| Radish | Cool | Feb–Oct | ~30 | Brassicaceae |
| Silverbeet | All year | Jan–Dec | ~57 | Amaranthaceae |
| Beetroot | Cool | Feb–Oct | ~62 | Amaranthaceae |
| Eggplant | Warm | Sep–Jan | ~75 | Solanaceae |
| Sweet Potato | Warm | Sep–Feb | ~120 | Convolvulaceae |
| Strawberry | Cool | Mar–Jun | ~75 | Rosaceae |
| Celery | Cool | Feb–Aug | ~100 | Apiaceae |
| Coriander | Cool | Mar–Sep | ~37 | Apiaceae |
Monthly Planting Guide for Dayboro
| Month | Plant | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| January | Capsicum, Basil, Beans, Parsley, Silverbeet | Peak summer heat. Water deeply. Mulch everything. |
| February | Tomato (last chance), Carrot, Kale, Radish, Beetroot, Celery | Transition month. Start cool season seedlings in trays. |
| March | Lettuce, Spinach, Broccoli, Peas, Garlic, Onion, Strawberry | Cool season begins. Get brassicas in early. |
| April | Lettuce, Spinach, Broccoli, Cabbage, Peas, Garlic, Onion | Ideal planting weather. Soil still warm, air cooling. |
| May | Lettuce, Spinach, Kale, Cabbage, Peas, Garlic, Coriander | Frost risk begins late May. Protect tender seedlings. |
| June | Lettuce, Spinach, Kale, Peas, Coriander, Strawberry | Short days, slow growth. Frost cloth on cold nights. |
| July | Potato, Lettuce, Spinach, Kale, Onion, Peas | Peak cold. Great for potatoes and leafy greens. |
| August | Potato, Carrot, Broccoli, Kale, Radish, Coriander | Spring approaching. Start warm season seedlings indoors. |
| September | Tomato, Beans, Cucumber, Capsicum, Zucchini, Corn, Pumpkin | Warm season starts. Wait for last frost risk to pass. |
| October | Tomato, Beans, Cucumber, Capsicum, Zucchini, Eggplant, Basil | Prime planting month. Everything grows fast. |
| November | Tomato, Beans, Cucumber, Zucchini, Corn, Sweet Potato | Heat increasing. Water consistently. |
| December | Tomato, Beans, Cucumber, Zucchini, Basil, Sweet Potato | Summer heat. Shade cloth for sensitive crops. |