But but but, let that not be an excuse to share some of the fruits of my research which I ventured into while 9 months pregnant.
Not having done awfully well on the harvest side of food growing (garden is still filled with leaves, but with very few edible fruits), I was rather keen on finding out what can be grown from now to winter. It took a little while to pull all the suggestions together and for the benefit of anyone asking the same question, here's what you can sow and plant in September and October. Bear in mind the information may not be for exactly your climate - it should work in most parts of the UK unless we get another frosty winter (in which case some of these plants may not make it).
If you have any experience planting vegetables over the winter and have some top tips to share, please do! I'm really not an expert and don't know if all or just some of these work, or if there's anything that can help things along a bit.
For my part, I've sown rocket, basil and coriander in the conservatory (which is cold at night and on cloudy days but very warm as soon as the sun shines) and at least they've come up. I've planted spinach outdoors which doesn't grow much at present, and planning to do a few set garlic coz they're easy. I don't have a greenhouse or cloches, but may try some winter lettuce under empty water bottles which can be used as cloches (not pretty but functional).
Other than that I'm looking forward to catching up with my local vegetable growing friends tonight, with the hope of setting up a busy bee rota, where we help in each other's gardens and make things happen with a few more helping hands. A great idea which will make a massive difference to all our gardens big or small. I feel a bit guilty about that one, what with not being able to do much gardening in the next few weeks due to c-section recovery, and I don't like to take help without being able to return it. But maybe I need to leave my pride at home because the only way to my raspberry patch for next year will be with some help. And I will return the favour eventually of course!
So here's the list for your autumn sowing and planting:
September:
- lettuce (ideally cover with cloches)
- spring cabbage
- spinach
- endive
- overwintering onions
- turnips
In October you can sow:
- rocket
- mibuna and mizuna (I don't know what they are either)
- early peas (under cloches)
- winter lettuce
and plant out:
- onion sets
- garlic sets
- broad beans (under cloches)
- rhubarb
It's also the season to plant out any fruit and soft fruit trees, but you can apparently do that in any month that has an "r" in its name. As ever, if you've been busy growing food, please add your bloggy goodness in the linky below.
And rather randomly (if you're still reading), here's a photo of my lovely acer (which was a birthday present last year) in all its autumn glory after the Great Rain the other day:
