By Abby Walter

Warmer weather, longer days of sunshine and the chance of rain means spring is the best time of year to plant flowers and vegetables in home gardens.

Wimmera Aquatrail’s Brenda Marsh said many plants emerged from dormancy in spring and began to flower.

“People should be planting now, especially veggies, to give summer crops the best chance,” she said.

“Planting can be done with seedlings or seeds, but seeds take another six weeks to emerge and see growth.

“Everything looks nice and colourful at this time of year.”

Popular flowers to plant in spring in Victoria include petunias, snapdragons, marigolds and geraniums.

Common herbs planted in spring include basil, chives, coriander, dill, mint, oregano, parsley, sage and thyme.

Vegetables and fruits that tend to thrive in Victoria when planted in spring include strawberries, leeks, onions, parsnip, radishes, spinach, sweet corn, beetroot, tomatoes, peas, silver beet, lettuce, swedes, turnips and cucumber.

Ms Marsh said warm weather also encouraged people to get out and about in their gardens.

“It’s too hot in the Wimmera to plant during summer, so everyone does their planting now,” she said.

“Everybody gets into the garden this time of year because the rain and a bit of sun is good for the plants.

“We could do with more rain, or people need to keep their watering up.”

Ms Marsh said she hoped to see many people at Horsham’s Spring Garden Festival at the weekend.

“We’re getting 60 trays of vegetable seedlings in for the event and have many more plants, which look great,” she said.

Wimmera Aquatrail’s Adam Brockenbrow said the business’ site at the festival in Horsham would contain everything from edibles to large ornamental trees and indoor plants to natives.

“The warm weather in spring makes it the prime time of year to plant more in any garden,” he said.

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