There isn’t long now before the dark evenings return and the nights turn cold. With the change in seasons, things slow down in the veg garden but there are still crops to harvest and nurture, and we have a small window of opportunity over these next weeks to plant for winter.
September Pickings
Keep picking tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes, beans and peas until the plants fully give up. You should get a few more weeks out of them yet! Chillies and peppers will probably start ripening around about now too, so harvest them as they come through.
You may have some beetroot, carrot and turnip/swede that is harvestable – for the most part they will stand in the ground well for a few weeks, so just harvest them as and when you want to use them. Lift any maincrop potatoes before slugs get to them.
Most summer lettuces will be going over by now, but if you planted late you may still have some leaves to pick. We’d suggest letting some reach maturity and harvesting as whole heads, and harvesting the others as cut and come again – that way they will probably keep you going for longer.
If you planted in spring, or even early summer, you should have a good supply of spinach, chard and kale now – harvest what you need as you want it. It’ll keep going quite happily as the seasons change.
October Pickings
Towards the end of the month, pumpkins and winter squash should reach maturity – you’ll notice the plants turning fully over to mildew as the leaves die back. If possible, don’t harvest them until the stalks have turned woody and the skins have hardened, but if there’s a frost forecast, you’ll need to harvest regardless.
Cabbages and cauliflower are usually good to harvest now, and you can keep going with kale, spinach and chard. You may find your leeks are ready to pull up – harvest them as you want to use them as they will be fine left in the ground over winter. Hold off on harvesting parsnips and sprouts until the first few frosts have come.
Keep harvesting chillies, peppers and other late cropping veggies – if you’re growing peppers and chillies in pots, you can move them under cover when the weather turns cold and they should keep going for a while yet.
Autumn Planting
As a general rule, the sooner you can plant up the better. The soil is still warm, and there’s still a good level of sunlight to help plants get a bit of growth behind them before the cold nights move in.
We’d recommend getting beetroot, carrots and fennel planted in early/mid September if possible, or plant them in a greenhouse/polytunnel. They will do better for the warmth.
Hardy leaves and winter lettuces can go outside happily, but choose a spot that gets the most sunlight. Radishes, turnips and swede will all need plenty of sunlight too, and good fertile soil – dig in extra compost if needs be.
Pak choi and tatsoi are excellent additions, and quick growers, but be careful to protect them from slugs.
Leeks and broccoli will grow slowly, but both will tolerate pretty much whatever weather gets thrown at them and should be harvestable in spring.