There is a lot to do in the vegetable garden now.The harvest of lettuce, carrots and beans is in full swing, so now it is worth thinking about the seed material for next year.Peas and early potatoes are also disappearing from the flower beds, leaving behind deeply fluffed, fertile soil, perfect for the cultivation of tasty autumn vegetables.
The best time to sow Chinese or Chinese cabbage is the second half of July. If we only need a few heads or when there is no room to sow seeds, buy seedlings for gardening.A little known new variety of Far Eastern cabbage is 'Tatsoi', which can be sown in the flowerbed until the end of August and harvested after a month.
Its leaves form a compact, dense rosette. Either the whole head is cut, or only single leaves are cut.The slightly better known kale also offers new forms, such as 'Starbor', which tastes best in the "baby" phase.For this purpose, it is grown more densely, in approx. 20 cm intervals. Young leaves are added to salad salads or stewed for a short time.
Swiss chard and red beet
Chard, or leaf beet, can also be grown for young, very delicate leaves or just like an ordinary leaf vegetable. The 'Fantasy' variety has a great taste with fiery red, delicate and quite thin petioles. We sow it in rows every 30 cm. Interrupt young plants, depending on their destination, every 7-15 cm.
Red beet is also suitable for post-crop cultivation. In areas with milder climates, beets sown in late July and early August are suitable for consumption at the end of September.Under favorable conditions, some varieties, such as the 'Red Ball', can be harvested when the roots reach the size of a table tennis ball.
Fennel produces very large onions at the end of summer. We plant the young plants grown earlier in the plot until mid-August. Bulbs can be harvested after 8 weeks. In regions with more severe climates, this autumn vegetable should be grown in an inspection area with the soil covered with a layer of mature compost 2-3 cm thick.The limited area can be used optimally by sowing radish or Chinese cabbage in the inter-rows.Both plants will grow so fast that they will disappear from the bed before the fennel bulbs begin to bulge, requiring more and more space.
Growing lettuce is quite easy today. You can already buy seeds, e.g. 'Lento' butter lettuce, on the tape, spaced at the right intervals. Young plants do not need to be interrupted, which is a tedious and time-consuming job.It is also easier to weed the bed. In warm weather, sow lettuce in the evening. Water the unfolded tape with cold water. Treated in this way, the heat-sensitive seeds will arise reliably.
Growing herbs in pots
Annual herbs needed in the kitchen can be successfully grown in pots or flat bowls on the balcony, terrace or kitchen window sill.Coriander leaves enrich the taste of Asian dishes.Chervil is used in French cuisine. Add the dill to the dish of eggs, fish, salad and salad. The arugula has a sharper flavor. All herbs also grow well in light partial shade. We sow them in portions every 2-4 weeks until mid-September.Cover the seeds with a thin layer of soil, keeping it moist until germinating.
During the summer holidays we can plant :
- Leaf beetroot with golden yellow or dark red petioles decorates the vegetable patch.
- Spinach for autumn harvesting or wintering can be sown at the beginning of August.We choose varieties resistant to mildew.
- You can eat a radish already 4 weeks after sowing.
- Endive 'Eminence' creates large heads with firm, slightly bitter leaves.If there is no space, we sow it in pots at the beginning of August and then plant it on the flower bed.
- We collect Rapunzel sown in August from mid-September.
- Sow fennel in the second half of June or plant young plants until mid-August.
- You can harvest leaf lettuce 2-3 times.
- Red beet grows well also in a semi-shaded place.
An example of a summer vegetable patch
In the example flower bed about 1.2 m wide, the colorful mixture is made up of different vegetables in the coordinate crop. We can sow and plant them even now. At the end of July to the beginning of August, as an aftercrop we grow green kale (in the middle of the bed), e.g. the 'Winterbor' or 'Hektor' varieties, and the red-leaved 'Redbor' form.Sow one row of spinach on the right and left.
Instead of it, we can plant chard seedlings with colorful petioles. On the right side of the bed, sow a radish, on the opposite side - winter-hardy chives.On the edges of the bed there is a place for lamb's lettuce: sow two rows at intervals of 8-10 cm.
