Things that can be sown now for winter.

[featherstick]

In my opinion an allotment really proves its worth in growing crops that are available in winter. The nutritional value is almost outweighed by the boost in morale (to me, anyway) when I come home with a bunch of swedes, leeks and beetroot. Our swedes and cooking radish last year were such a revelation I am doing lots more of them this year. Swede in particular was tender and sweet, nothing like the stuff you get in the shops. Here is a list of what can be sown now for winter harvesting:


Lettuce for overwinter can be directly sown or planted out
Oriental salads and mustards such as Mizuna, Komatsuna can be directly sown now and will stand over winter
Chard and beetroot can be directly sown now, and thinned in a few weeks
Cooking radishes such as Wiener Kohlscwarz and Spanish black can be directly sown now, and thinned in a few weeks
Turnips such as Purple-Top can be directly sown now, and thinned in a few weeks
Carrots can be sown, you might get a crop of finger carrots if the weather gets cold early
Early peas can be sown for a picking in October
Charlotte seed potatoes can be planted in a sheltered container for a harvest in December
Dwarf French Beans can be directly sown now (I put them in straight after the potatoes) for a picking later in the year
In October, onion setts can be planted to an early summer harvest
Broad beans can be sown in Oct/Nov for an early harvest in June next year

[birds&bees]

Thanks this is a great post, can;t wait to get my Christmas potatoes in.

[Brambles]

On the back of reading this post I went off in search of some more French Beans to sow. Imagine my delight and surprise at finding a variety of bean I have been looking for for twenty years! If you have ever been to the south-west of France and had the excellent Jambon Vendeean avec Haricots, well you probably know what beans I'm on about.
If you're interested,

http://www.suttons.co.uk/Gardening/Vege ... 240955.htm

I ordered some the other day and they arrived this morning.I'm chuffed to bits.

Edit: I also ordered some Garlic.

[birds&bees]

http://www.territorialseed.com/product/ ... pring_2015

save your self some soil and time with this marvel of science.

[featherstick]

Birds&bees they are on sale in the UK for about GBP15 a go - that would buy an awful lot of spuds, let alone seed. I haven't tried these but I doubt they'd do well - I imagine they would need a lot of artificial feeding.

Brambles glad you found your bean, let us know how it goes. I'm always looking for variety recommendations. I'm growing Czar this year, a big white runner bean that can be eaten fresh or saved as a butter bean. It's delicious and I will save some seed from it.

[Brambles]

Will do featherstick. I intend to save some seed from these too. Maybe we could do a swap.

I've sown them in trays, I need to wait for the onions to come out before I can get the beans in, and my *ahem* 'soil' is concrete at the mo.

[featherstick]

I'm all for a swap, let's be in contact when we have some.