It's high time to think about the coming months and take care of the autumn and winter crops from vegetable patches.Well-chosen varieties will give us a liveliness to the beds that are empty at the end of the season, and also diversify our dishes.Leaf lettuces, such as oak and batava lettuces, grow quickly and can be used repeatedly. The only problem is with the seeds …
Many varieties germinate poorly at temperatures above 18 ° C. In high summer it is best to sow them only in the evening or in a semi-shaded place, sheltered by taller vegetables, e.g.leaf beets or green beans. Sprinkle the sown bed with cold water straight from the water supply.You can also pre-grow seedlings in a litter box in a cool place at home.Young plants should only be planted in the garden when they have 3-4 leaves.
If you are looking for proven and ecological advice on pests, diseases and plant slurries, we suggest where to find them:Red beets can be sown until the end of August. The tubers are now growing slower than in spring, but they accumulate more sugar and aromatics. The seeds can be sown a little more densely than recommended by the manufacturer. Stop young plants when the tubers reach a useful size in the kitchen.
These small beets are appetizingly sweet, do not have an earthy aftertaste and grated raw, they are also tasty in salads.Cultivars suitable for longer storage in a cool cellar should grow up in the bed as long as possible. We take them home only when frost is forecast.
Turnip long, sometimes even today, was called a vegetable of poor people. Still not very tasty varieties are fed to livestock. The changes came from France, where new varieties with smaller, more delicate in taste tubers were appreciated.For example, the May turnip has become a valuable addition to many different dishes.Its small, tasty tubers ripen for harvest just eight weeks after sowing. During this time, the flesh becomes firm and has a slightly spicy radish flavor.
Turnip grows best in loose garden soil supplied with a solid dose of compost, it always likes a slightly moist soil.The distance between plants should be at least 5 cm. Salad chicory like endive and radicchio are easy to grow. Summer varieties, such as 'Palla Rossa' or 'Galileo', can be harvested as early as 10-12 weeks after sowing. Winter chicory, e.g. 'Veroneser', first consists of open rosettes with long green leaves.
Only when the temperature drops significantly, compact heads with new dark red or dark purple leaves grow.As yellow chicory, endive and radicchio can survive only slight frosts, in late autumn the bed should be covered with agrotextile at least for night.
What else can be sown?
In early August, we can start growing iceberg lettuce, lamb's lettuce and spinach for the autumn harvest. In addition, we also sow Japanese radish, such as 'Mino Early', winter radish, seven-year-old onions and Chinese cabbage.Until the middle of the month it pays off to sow Asian lettuce, pak choi, radish, leaf lettuce, watercress, dill, one-year-old marjoram and winter garlic.
Later, by the end of the month, sow rocket, once more radish, rapini and coriander, and for spring harvest again winter spinach and winter head lettuce.
Best late-growing strains
1. Endive 'Breedblad Volhart Winter' also develops delicate yellow middle leaves without covering.
2. Rapunzel 'Elan' is growing very fast. To be harvested in September and October, it is sown in the flowerbed until mid-August. In a greenhouse, it can grow all year round.
3. The 'Golden Ball' turnip forms spherical roots with white flesh.They can be prepared like kohlrabi.
4. The May 'Declic' turnip has the best flavor if we sow it not in May but in August. The juicy and tender roots can be eaten raw or stewed.
5. Radicchio 'Galileo' develops nice red mottled leaves devoid of bitterness.
6. Red Giant cabbage produces small leaves suitable for salads just 8 weeks after sowing.
7. Klajtonia is pierced with a wild vegetable containing a lot of vitamin C.
8. Chervil 'Verena' also grows well in a balcony box.Until October, it provides fragrant leaves that are an addition to herb butter and herbal sauces.
