So, there I was the other day, browsing the plants for autumn growing and thinking about what I’d like to plant in September, when I suddenly realised what a mistake I’d made this year. I dedicated my top raised bed, the one that gets the most sunshine in the winter months, to winter squash. They won’t be ready to harvest until at least early October, possibly a little later as I only planted them in mid-June and they took a while to get going.
This means that, when it comes to September planting, the sunny bed will be full, so I will either have to plant in another bed which I know will get far less sunlight due to the surrounding trees and the sun being that much lower in the sky, or I could plant in pots to begin with and then plant them on when the sunny bed opens up after I’ve harvested the squash.
I find that sunlight is absolutely key to autumn and winter growing – in the past I have planted in beds that don’t get a lot of sunshine over winter, and the growth has been so much slower. If you haven’t yet decided where to plant things next month, I’d definitely recommend thinking hard about where gets the most sunlight.
