Ruud Kleinpaste: Vegetable crops in autumn

Autumn can be busy!

It might be getting cooler and days shorter, but some vegetable crops can be planted right now.

Use the warmth that is still in the soil to germinate the seeds or to give small punnet-seedlings a better start for growing through the late Autumn/Early winter months.

Fresh Peas:

Easy peasy, as the seeds of those peas (the peas themselves!!) have enough reserves inside them to make them grow.

Nice, friable soil that can drain the winter rains away. Good nutritious compost in there as well

Broad beans:

Similar gig! Plenty of growth potential and they might ripen quite early too. These are good greens for the winter (if you like them).

Broccoli:

Another suitable winter vegetable that can be planted now —there’s still some warmth in the soil they’ll grow well in the next month— even if they slow down afterwards, you’ve got a month’s worth of advance before they start taking it easy. Slow ripening means that they don’t all ripen at once, so pick the biggest ones as they mature

Most other cabbage varieties will also grow from now on

Carrot seedlings:

These will also germinate at lower temperatures. Remember to create a soil that is free of lumps and stones, so that the carrots keep straight and do not “fork”.

An extra handful of Phosphate will give them the impetus to grow nice roots

Egyptian Walking Onions:

These are my favourite onions and they’ll be quite happy to be planted (the small bulbils that form at the top of the mature plants). I tend to give them a bed on their own, so they can “walk” anywhere they like and right throughout the year; a raised bed with a regular dose of compost/mulch plus some seafood soup (liquid fertiliser) will sustain them ad infinitum.

Maybe now is a good time to prepare a new bad for your garlic. (Garlic should really not be grown in the same bed, year after year. To avoid getting hammered by onion rust, I plant my garlic in early May to be at least a month ahead of the mythical and prescribed planting routine (shortest day) and harvest time (longest day). I’ve noticed many people struggle with these dates due to debilitating rust.

Go early!!

And Julie reminds me of the bulbs that need planting this autumn, so that we can look forward to some colour and cheer in spring: Narcissus, Tulips, Ranunculus and the wonderful smelling Freesias.

Honestly, grab a catalogue (Wildflower world, Palmers, Oderings, etc) and spoil yourself; Good well-drained soils are often essential.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.