How to Use the ABC Gardening Australia Magazine Planting Guide and Garden Planner

Updated

The ABC Gardening Australia magazine site (gardeningaustraliamag.com.au) gives you two connected tools: a Planting Guide that answers "what can I plant now?" and a Garden Planner that turns that into a calendar for your climate zone. Use the Planting Guide when you need a quick seasonal answer, and the Garden Planner when you want a month-by-month plan you can actually follow. Both sit alongside a Plant Index organised by plant type, so you can move from "what should I plant" to "how do I grow this specific thing" without leaving the site.

What each tool is for

Tool Question it answers Best used when
Planting Guide What can I plant in my climate zone right now? You're at the nursery or planning a weekend of planting
Garden Planner What should I be doing month by month in my zone? You want a season-long schedule rather than a one-off answer
Plant Index How do I grow this particular plant? You've chosen a plant and need growing detail

The site describes the planner's job directly: "Wondering what to plant when? Use our planner to create a planting calendar for your climate zone."

Step 1: Find your climate zone

The planner works by climate zone, not by postcode, so the first job is identifying which zone you garden in. Australian climate zones in this context generally run from cool/temperate through to tropical, and your zone determines which planting windows apply to you. If you're unsure, the practical test is to look at your local frost dates and summer heat — those two factors separate most zones for planting purposes.

Step 2: Generate your planting calendar

Once you've selected your zone, the planner produces a calendar showing what to sow, plant and tend in each period. Treat this as your baseline schedule rather than a fixed rule — it tells you the window, and you adjust within it for your specific microclimate (a sheltered courtyard warms earlier than an exposed ridge).

Step 3: Cross-check against the Plant Index

The Plant Index is organised into clear categories, so you can go straight to the group you're working with:

  • Roses
  • Citrus
  • Native plants
  • Edible gardens
  • Groundcover plants
  • Shrubs and trees
  • Grasses and strappy leaf plants
  • Indoor plants

If the planner says it's time to plant citrus, the Citrus index entry tells you how. This pairing — timing from the planner, technique from the index — is the main way to get value out of the site.

Step 4: Use the advice sections for the "how"

Beyond plant selection, the site's Advice section covers the tasks that determine whether your planting succeeds:

  • Edible gardening
  • Pruning
  • Composting and mulching
  • Soil
  • Propagating
  • Pests and diseases
  • Lawn care
  • Supporting wildlife

These are the follow-through topics. A planting calendar tells you when; these pages tell you what to do once things are in the ground.

Step 5: Tie it to the current issue

The magazine content is seasonal by design, so the current issue usually matches what the planner is telling you to do. Recent examples from the site show this alignment:

  • The November issue profiles "10 top-performing cottage plants for all climates" — useful if your planner has you planting flowers.
  • A feature on creating a layered garden to attract birds explains building from ground level up to the canopy.
  • A piece on Australian native bees covers attracting pollinators, which matters if you're planting natives or edibles.
  • A "Rookie errors" feature collects 20 common mistakes and how to avoid them — worth reading before you commit to a new bed.
  • Growing guides for correas and grevilleas sit under native plants.

There's also a free spring e-book offered on the site, aimed at planting and planning for the warmer months.

Practical sequence

  1. Identify your climate zone.
  2. Open the Garden Planner and generate your calendar.
  3. Note what's in season now.
  4. Check the Plant Index for the specific plants you're considering.
  5. Read the relevant Advice page for soil, pruning or pest issues.
  6. Cross-reference the current issue for seasonal features and plant profiles.

Common sticking points

  • Zone mismatch: if results look wrong for your area, you've likely selected the wrong zone. Recheck against your frost and heat patterns.
  • Calendar treated as law: the planner gives windows, not fixed dates. Local conditions shift things by weeks.
  • Skipping the index: the planner tells you when, not how. Pair them.
  • Ignoring the advice sections: most planting failures trace back to soil, watering or timing rather than the plant choice itself.

The site also carries a Subscribe option and back issues if you want the full magazine rather than the web content — pricing and access terms aren't specified in the available material, so check the subscribe page directly for current details.