Start growing now

[annie8]

Am starting to get some space in the beds as I lift things like early potatoes and peas are finished. Have got some things to come like autumn rasps, sweetcorn, maincrop tatties, red cabbages and squash. Have also got kale that’ll run for while, beetroot, leeks and carrots plus cauliflowers won’t be ready til March. Any other things I could plant now that will fill in the gaps, hate to have wasted space. I had been debating growing autumn onions but are they worth taking up a bed for well into next year? Any ideas welcome.

[SimpleSimon]

Spinach, lettuce, radishes, Pak Choi, tatsoi, Chinese cabbage, field beans, broad beans (well maybe later for those). Rocket, parsley, coriander, spring onions, spring cabbage.

So plenty

[quanglewangle]

We'll be putting out Japanese onions in October. They've been successful for us.

A few broccoli stand over winter but other than that the garden shuts down soon until we start early potatoes after Christmas.

Doesn't get that cold here in winter but windy and foggy so best to stay in, tend greenhouse, or go on holiday.

Edit: forgot, couple of rows of broad beans stand over winter.

[Snoop Puss]

Great list there, SimpleSimon. Me, I'd add mooli/daikon radish (serves a useful purpose of opening up soil and rotting down even if I don't get around to eating it). Plus, depending on where you are, you might still get a harvest of turnips and kohlrabi.

[Penellype]

To add to your list:
Florence fennel (for baby bulbs), corn salad (lambs lettuce).

[FromYorkshiretoBucks]

I just sowed some Cavalo Nero yesterday which will be great for harvesting over winter, Swiss chard too which I planted 3-4 weeks ago but I think you’d be fine plantinggn now!

[quanglewangle]

To add to your list:
Florence fennel (for baby bulbs), corn salad (lambs lettuce).

Tell me all about Florence fennel.

Tried forever to grow it resulting in catalog of failure: bolting; green all through; ...you name it. Sown early and late but no go. Here you are saying start it now!

Do tell.

Mrs quanglewangle spends a fortune on it in sainsburys.

[greenishfing]

I always find Autumn onions are a bonus. I plant 2 or 3 rows that I start using as soon as my maincrop run out. We haven't bought an onion for years. I also plant garlic shortly and Spring cabbage.

[nickdub]

A bit late to be sowing leeks, but if you can cadge some plants, they are good for filling odd spaces.

[Sweet savory]

I grew autumn onions last year and it was easy to do although I did not get particularly big onions (probably my fault). They tide you over until the spring sown ones kick in but I am not convinced that it is worth the effort for us as the shop ones are so cheap although cook tells me mine are a lot more eye watering. I did cover them over winter to stop them getting rust which is everywhere on the allotments. Also a dozen does not take up much space when very little else is growing. I might have persuaded myself to do it again!

[annie8]

Thanks guys lots of ideas. Will def look at some leafy crops - got lams lettuce seeds somewhere and maybe rocket. Simplesimon the herbs you are taking about like coriander are they for cropping autumn - don’t think they would last through winter (?). Think I’ll try autumn onions too.is there a particular one you would recommend?

[quanglewangle]

Senshyu onions work for me. They get quite big though. We plant them quite widely spaced for easy hoeing and walking, which may explain the size.

Feed and especially water well to start since the ground is likely to be dry in October after the summer.

We expect to lose about 10% to miss-hoeing, bird disturbance, and weather. In three years growing them we have had zero bolting and we used to get quite a few when we grew spring started sets.

Some of this year's can be seen on this thread
https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...9-onion-string

[ameno]

Thanks guys lots of ideas. Will def look at some leafy crops - got lams lettuce seeds somewhere and maybe rocket. Simplesimon the herbs you are taking about like coriander are they for cropping autumn - don’t think they would last through winter (?). Think I’ll try autumn onions too.is there a particular one you would recommend?

Parsley and coriander are both frost hardy, but whether they will survive the winter without any protection does rather depend on where you live. Here in the south west where I am they'll be find unprotected most years. In colder regions, they would benefit from being fleeced over winter, or else grown in an unheated greenhouse.

[annie8]

I’m in Edinburgh so yes was thinking it would struggle over winter. Maybe I could plant in my beds then lift and put in the greenhouse later in the year.