16–22 November 2026

Right. Now we get dangerous.

I have been trying not to start talking about vertical growing because I am a recovering hydroponic freak and there is a perfectly usable wall sitting beside my garden.

You can see the problem.

The moon reaches first quarter late Tuesday 17 November, and our traditional calendar moves into a particularly strong fruit-and-flower period from Wednesday into Friday, with another useful window beginning Sunday evening.

Traditionally, that puts the attention onto crops grown for flowers, fruits and seeds.

Tomatoes, capsicum, chilli, beans, cucumber, zucchini, pumpkin and corn all fit that broad category, along with the flowering plants we’re deliberately weaving into the edible garden.

The wall

The aloe is going.

It has been overwatered, it is half dead and, frankly, its lease has expired.

Its position backs onto a wall, which means the replacement doesn’t have to occupy only the horizontal plane.

A full-height or widened upper trellis gives us another growing surface for peas initially, then perhaps beans or another suitable climber as conditions change.

Whether the peas produce brilliantly is not the only measure of success.

They can provide foliage, flowers, vertical structure, biomass and — through their association with nitrogen-fixing bacteria — another biological function within the system.

When they’re finished, healthy tops can become compost, worm feed or chopped organic material, while roots can be left to break down in the soil.

Food is only one possible yield.

Then fill the bottom with flowers

Under and around that vertical structure I want a flowering station.

Not simply something pretty.

Something alive with functions.

Snapdragons because I like the bloody things.

Nasturtiums spilling over.

Calendula.

Alyssum around an edge.

Possibly borage where there is sufficient room for the monster it becomes.

And then, importantly, individual flowering plants scattered around the other beds.

The large pot becomes headquarters.

The singles become outposts.

Sustainable Gardening Australia recommends keeping flowers among productive crops precisely because blossom provides habitat and food for beneficial insects; its November suggestions include snapdragons, marigolds and other flowering species alongside the vegetables.

WEATHER CHECK BEFORE PUBLISHING

[Add current BOM outlook. Particularly check hot north winds, sudden temperature jump, rain and whether newly planted seedlings need temporary shade.]

By late November, heat can begin changing the rules remarkably quickly.

New seedlings that were perfectly happy yesterday can become compost by lunchtime tomorrow.

Don’t worship the companion chart

Two plants can be described as companions and still be appalling flatmates.

In a container the limiting factor may simply be root volume.

Water.

Nutrients.

Sun.

Physical space.

A chart can say that two plants are compatible.

It cannot enlarge the pot.

That distinction is going into TEC.

Dirty job of the week

Look upward.

Find one vertical surface around your growing area that currently produces absolutely nothing.

Don’t necessarily build anything yet.

Observe its sun, shade, wind and accessibility.

The next square metre of your garden may not be on the ground