What can we plant in mid-September?

[tafkam]

I'm a schoolteacher about to launch a new WW2 project in September. We'll be looking a lot at the Home Front, and I'd like to develop an underused patch of school garden as a mini vegetable plot.
Unfortunately, September is obviously not the best time to be planting! Can anyone recommend anything that we might simply plant in mid-September in a sheltered spot on the south coast that might fit in with our 'Dig for Victory' thinking?

[zazen999]

Onion sets, garlic, leeks, brassicas, winter lettuces.....

[rustylady]

Mid September is not an ideal time for planting veg, but how about some fruit bushes? Raspberries, black and red currants, rhubarb, strawberry plants.

[Jeanied]

September listing from my Granny's wartime veg growing book
Plant out spring cabbage plants raised in July
Make sowings of cauliflowers for wintering in cold frame
Plant out more rows of coleworts
Sow winter lettuce - both cos and cabbage
Cut back old leaves of parsley to promote sturdy new growth - arrange to cover if necessary
Make further sowings of radishes for autumn salads
Make final sowings of spinach for the year on a dry bed
Sow turnips - a variety such as Green Globe - for the tops in spring.

There may be a couple of ideas in that list!

[Two_Sheds]

Can you plant anything in containers that can then be moved? I'm growing gourds, pumpkins and kidney beans for my school, in pots: they'll magically appear in the garden when we return in September

[nataliehix]

You will still be able to sow Pak Choi until October.
Thats a very easy veg to grow, and it grows really quickly.

[tafkam]

Thanks all - we have some options to consider now at least!

[taff]

what's a colewort?

[Snadger]

Softfruit...blackcurrants,redcurrants,whitecurrants,gooseberries,raspberries and rhubarb to name but a few!
They are highly productive, easy to look after and were a wartime mainstay for jams etc!

[Snadger]

what's a colewort?

Wild cabbage I think?

The nearest we would get nowadays I would think, are Collards. I am trying three varieties of these this year for my own consumption but also for the chooks! Yates is the only varietal type I can remember though!

[Jeanied]

Here is a link to a wartime veggie list - they used the term coleworts for kales as well as collard greens - it was to differentiate from the tighter formed cabbages.
http://www.thomasetty.co.uk/seeds/ve...s_handbook.pdf

Hope the link works - it is a 4 page wartime seed variety list.

[Twinkle]

we're doing kale - I've raised it from seed planted a few weeks ago but if you're in the South you could probably get away with it now - or buy ready grown plants from a GC

I swear by a variety called Red Russian which seems to withstand everything the wet and windy West of Ireland winter can throw at it.

[StephenH]

Broad beans to overwinter? I think they're more usually sown late October to November, but I'd've thought September'd be o.k. as well.

[StephenH]

what's a colewort?

See other replies, but N.B. that "wort" (pronounced "wert") as part of a plant's name simply means "plant". It's anglo-saxon. Click here.