Vegetable beds doing well, but thinking ahead to autumn and winter...

[IlanaK]

This is our first year gardening and I am loving growing food. We have on raised bed of lettuces, one of herbs and one very large one of mixed veg and strawberries.

I assume that all of this only grows in the summer? What do you plant for winter? And when do you plant it?

I know it is too early, but just thinking ahead.

Thanks!

bump

I'm not sure I'd worry too much about winter veg in your first year. The problem is that a lot of it (like sprouting broccoli, etc) takes up a lot of space which I think is more effectively used for summer veg. Because things don't really grow much over winter, winter veg often needs to go in in summer, when you're still harvesting your summer veg.

Your strawberries will need to stay in for next year, and so will your perennial herbs. This means you've got some space in your mixed veg and space in your lettuce bed.

The most effective, space / cost wise, that I've grown is winter salads, like lambs lettuce, rocket, mizuma, and so on. I'd recommend those if you want to try something for winter.

Having said that, I also grow chard, leeks, beetroot, sprouting broccoli, cabbages, etc. One downside is that they have to be heavily netted against hungry pigeons over winter, which does not look elegant: in the wonderful words of Jane Austen, 'who can endure a cabbage bed in November?'

If you are into Italian cooking you can plant cavolo nero for winter but I'm not sure of the ins and outs of when to do it etc. There are some potatoes that can be harvested at Christmas I believe (overheard this on another thread). Brussels sprouts are fun looking for the DCs but I guess you have to like eating them. All sorts of salad leaves can be grown throughout winter if you have a polytunnel, a friend has one and she has permanent supply of salad all year round.

Get your leeks and brassicas in now ffor winter. I also put in celeriac and parsnips for winter. Chard/spinach will overwinter a bit too.

Try looking at these websites, they seem quite useful.

gardenate
the school veg patch
garden action

I would sow chard/perpetual spinach, kale and orientals like mizuna/mustard greens for overwinter - sow them any time from now til mid/late August (kale & the orientals fine to start in modules or a seedbed then transplant, chard better sown direct). Winter salads also good, plus if you want to then in the autumn you can sow garlic for next year (and broad beans too if you want for an early crop).

Thanks everyone. I don't have enough space to put anything in now for winter. All space is taken up by summer veg.

I am interested that Grendelsmum says that some lettuces grow in winter. Do you mean unprotected? I have lambs lettuce and rocket in my lettuce bed now. Will they grow throughout winter??

We love brussel sprouts so would happily grow them, but when do they have to be put in? Leeks and cabbages are also something we eat so I would grow them, but again - when do they have to be put in?

I think you're in London, aren't you? Then yes, you can get hardy salads going all the way through winter, especially if you have a little cloche or mini-tunnel to put them in. We had salad for 12 people on Boxing Day from our garden last year - but it did use up all our salad until spring!

www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/healthyeating/4375279/Winter-salads-from-the-garden.html

How much space have you actually got for veg? I suspect a lot of us here have more veg space than you may have.

I wouldn't go for cavolo nero unless you've worked out what to cook with the bloody things. We haven't. But it does grow all winter through.

You'll want to sow more salad seeds (e.g lambs lettuce, spinach and so on) in the space left when you've eaten your current lettuces.

I put a couple of leaves of cavolo nero into tomato sauces and soups. recipes here Mine is more purple than the picture.

Ribollita is an Italian soup made with cavolo nero. There are quite a few recipes in the River Cafe cookbooks using cavolo nero iirc. It should be more black than in the picture.