Page 39 - Simply Vegetables Winter 2021/22

A look back at our late summer sowings
BY EMILY PLUMB FNVS
Further to our article in the October SV magazine, we wanted to share
how we got on with the crops that
we sowed later on in the season. We said in that article that we’d share this update – good, bad, or ugly! And as you’ll see once you’ve read the article, unfortunately there was quite a lot on the ugly side this time round. Never mind, you can’t win them all!
Peas
Firstly, we’ll start off with the Eddie and Cascadia peas. These were sown on 24 July and planted out on 8 August.
As planned, we did manage
to start harvesting peas in early October – the Cascadia sugar snap peas even contributed to a first prize in the legume collection at the RHS Show at Hyde Hall at the start of October to go with our French beans and runner beans. However, the peas quickly caught the rust off the broad beans just before this and so the crop wasn’t as big as we would’ve liked. That being said, we still had a few feeds of sugar snap peas.
The Eddie peas were less successful. Albeit we had some pods that set, the rust took over before they’d got a chance to bulk up, so we didn’t get any to eat
off these. Next year, we think we might try sowing slightly earlier to see whether we can get the peas to form and bulk up before the weather turns cooler and the rust takes over.
Pea Sugar snap
Legume collection
Broad beans
Unfortunately, the Luz de Otono broad beans didn’t turn out quite how we wanted them to. They got chocolate spot followed by rust and so many pods didn’t fully form. We certainly didn’t get the 25cm long pods that were advertised as a result of the pests and diseases! It’s a shame really, but I suppose we’ll just have to give them another try next year!
These were sown on 12 July and planted out at the start of August with the intention of being ready to harvest in early October. To give them their due, the pods that properly formed were ready for the end of September, it was just a shame that we lost lots of the later set pods to disease before they had bulked up.
Courgettes
The Tuscany and Midnight courgettes were a success at least! These were sown on 24 July as well, and we started harvesting at the end of September. Luckily, the weather stayed mild enough for us to get some courgettes before it turned cooler. We can’t say that the plants were as productive as some of the plants sown earlier in the season, but they still helped prolong our courgette harvesting season by a few more weeks which is always welcomed in our opinion!
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