The coastal areas of Sydney sit half way between temperate and sub-tropical climates. This has historically been great for growing vegetables: just like a temperate climate, but without frosts and overall a bit warmer.

In recent years, however, Sydney has become hotter and more humid, at least where we live in Lewisham. This has led to vegetables prematurely bolting to seed, and to us losing the fight with powdery mildew (and its cousins).

So I’ve recently started to shift my mindset, to increasingly treating Sydney as a sub-tropical climate.

This was reflected in my last seed order from Green Harvest (who are located in Queensland):

• Coriander ‘Slow Bolt’
• Cucumber ‘Giant Russian’
• Onion ‘Green Stem Welsh’
• Cauliflower ‘Sixty Days’
• Mexican Tarragon

These are all listed as being suitable for hot climates, slow to bolt to seed, and/or being disease resistant (in particular, powdery mildew).

We’ll see how they go!