Time for autumn sowing

THE weather has overtones of winter and this year’s growing season is drawing to a close. However, with good planning, the proper choice of varieties and a glasshouse, polytunnel, cloche or conservatory, fresh produce that will invigorate the body through the darker months is there for picking all year round.

Once August and September hit, we are all so carried away with weeding, harvesting and preserving the wares that we forget to make autumn sowings for early crops next year. For polytunnel proprietors, now is the time to sow seeds to ensure nutrient-rich leafy greens right through the winter.

If you have a polytunnel or a sizeable cloche, there are many possibilities for crops to over-winter, but only if sowings happen now. Winter salads, oriental greens, perpetual spinach, salad rocket, spinach, landcress, lambs’ lettuce, winter purslane, coriander and chervil are to name but a few. All of those listed will certainly enliven winter dishes with their different texture, tastes, colours and nutrient-rich health benefits. If you don’t have a tunnel, a decent-sized container in a conservatory, a sheltered patch in the garden, or a cloche will do the same job. A hardy, outdoor option for sowing is spring cabbage, which will slowly grow outside over winter, and provide you with tasty heads next April or May.