Page 33 - Simply Vegetables Autumn 2021

Garlic ‘Mersley Wight’ Broad Bean ‘Aquadulce’
AUTUMN SOWING
Readers may remember that I was keen that you kept sowing crops in July and even August for Autumn and next spring harvests to make full use of your ground especially if you are paying rent for it. The
even over winter, although members in the north of the U.K and cold districts may need to give some protection. I will mention where protection is or may be required under
in books and magazines are broad beans and peas, the beans are easy and very successful; peas I have to admit to having little success with but are worth a try as you have nothing to lose. Both crops can be sown directly outside where they are to grow and should be successful in milder areas. I prefer
to sow the broad beans in modules
in late October / November in a cold greenhouse as they are out of the way for when I do the digging and have
had very good results doing this. Apart from the occasional watering there
is little work, check for any mouse damage and germination is OK. I sow into 75mm modules into whatever growing media I have available, but John Innes would be fine or a good
modern thinking is that the soil is kept covered all the year round to avoid damage to the structure, erosion and leaching of nutrients. This can easily be done using green manures (more later) which I have mentioned before in Simply Vegetables.
The two most common crops stated in books and magazines are broad beans and peas
each crop. The type of protection required would be cold frames (very underutilised these days) polytunnels or cold greenhouses. No heating is required, and most are better grown cold.
How good a crop you get depends a lot on the weather overwinter, if mild good crops can
be achieved but if cold,
But it struck me that
there are vegetables that can still
be sown in October and November ready to harvest next spring and early summer. This gives you vegetables when there are not a lot about, hence the saying “Hungry gap”, and when they are expensive in the shops; not
to mention many are imported they therefore having a high food miles and carbon footprint. Growing your own avoids this and saves you money as well as using the ground overwinter.
Some of the vegetables covered in this article can be grown outdoors
frosty and / or snow then crops will be poorer. It is still likely even with climate change that we will get some cold winters or cold periods which will affect the crops especially in the northern areas. It is predicted that winters will be milder and wetter and that seems to be right so far.
The vegetables set out below are worth a go as most years a good crop should be achieved, they will be early and often miss the main pest and disease problems.
The two most common crops stated
Lambs lettuce
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