Vegetable Growing

There is something lovely about this time of year: even on the less appealing days it rarely gets too chilly, the soil is warm and feels all the more full of potential. But there is no doubt that your vegetable growing may seem to be close to peaking and perhaps in some areas on the decline. Rather than forgetting the fun of growing your own until next year, why not add to what you already have and start some crops from fresh?

If you’ve missed the boat totally and never actually planted anything this year, there’s still time to grow some tasty home grown vegetable and herbs .... it’s not too late to start, but you’ll have to get your skates on.

Knowing what responds best to late sowing is the key, and knowing what might be worth the risk has the potential to be the icing on the cake. That lovely warm soil is a real advantage to those somewhat tenuous sowings made right at the start of the season, but you may also have to spend more time watering your vegetables, especially when the plants are small.

Sow yourself some ruby chard. These fantastically brightly coloured plants mean you can create something seriously good-looking as well as tasty. ‘Bright Lights’ is the wackiest with bright yellow, orange, red, pink and purple stems. It can be sown successfully into August and can be used as ‘baby leaves’ for salads or as an alternative to spinach.

Spring onions make really tasty additions to salads, ploughman’s lunches and stir-fries. They grow rapidly and although it is getting late, a prompt sowing now should still give you a crop of tiny spring onions in October. Sow enough to leave some in the soil where you can then harvest full-sized versions in March.

Carrots can be sown for many weeks of the year and some varieties of ‘main crop’ carrot including ‘Ideal’ can still be sown until early August. Sow within the week and you’ll be cropping from autumn to Christmas time. Choose a light soil, free from stones, or grow in a deep container. If in doubt about sowing times, just check the packet.

I love eating them, but hate buying those ridiculously expensive baby spinach leaves, but grow your own and you can have as many as you like for little outlay. They are perfect in salads and sandwiches....and much, much tastier and more tender (and a lot cheaper) than those you buy in cellophane bags. Make successional sowings from now and in to September and in five to six weeks you can harvest the baby leaves. If you like full-sized spinach leaves, then just leave the crop in the ground and allow it to grow a little more.

Chinese cabbage is another late-season stalwart. It is one of the fastest growers I know and perfect for anyone who wants a delicate steamed vegetable or a wonderfully tasty and crunchy addition to a Chinese style meal. Also known as Chinese leaves, if you sow promptly you should be harvesting in late October.

French beans are so much better when grown at home. It is hard to make them tough or tasteless. A speedy sowing now should produce plenty of beans that you can harvest in mid-autumn. Choose a variety such as ‘Tendergreen’ and it should perform well.

Kohl rabi is, admittedly, a peculiar looking vegetable as it has really tasty and crisp swollen stems, but it is perfect for adding to salads and great in stir fries too. It performs well in most areas if sown up until about the middle of this month, and just nine to ten weeks after sowing you should be able to harvest your first crop.

There are numerous different colours and shapes of salad leaf available and they can be sown now, either singly or in combination. Simply use scissors to snip off what you need and as long as you don’t cut too low, they’ll act as a cut-and-come-again crop. Look out for mixed seed packs including all sorts of tasty varieties such as rocket, baby beet, lettuce and basil. As conditions become cooler, cover the row with fleece.

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