Growing Winter Veg

apple_mint

Following the OS route, we dug up part of our lawn and invested in some cheap buckets and had a great time growing our own. The peppers have been particularly OS as they were grown from the seeds of a supermarket pepper (five plants each with their own crop).

Had a massive clear up yesterday. Composted the plants that had finished producing veg / peas etc. Had the final root of potatoes (grown in a bucket from a netto potato.

I now have some bare patches of ground and would like to continue growing through the winter months. I have some baby leeks growing (bought from a car boot sale). Does anyone have any ideas for what will be suitable for putting in now for some follow on crops? Should I start from seed or is it better to go to a garden centre and get some ready started crops?

apprentice_tycoon

Hello Apple,

I hope that someone will contradict me on this but I think that there are only a couple of things that can grow from seeds now, one of them is a lettuce called Lambs Lettuce, it has little round leaves in clusters.
Most of the winter veggies like sprouts and swede have been growing for a while now and things that can be planted later like spring cabbage should have been started in July (it's nothing to do with warmth, it's still warm enough but the light is diminishing)

I would certainly go to a garden centre and see if they have seedlings that are ready to go in now

apple_mint

Thanks apprentice tycoon ... thought I might be a little late. I'll try the garden centre as you suggest. It seems a shame to have a bare patch of ground

se999

What about perpetual spinach, you can pick individual leaves as you need them. It's not like normal spinach though, I've grown it before and it's very easy.

http://www.humeseeds.com/spnchp.htm

There was a perpetual spinach thread here a few days ago about how to use it started by apple-mint

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=82533&highlight=perpetual+spinach

Other than that if you can buy reduced price lettuce seeds, do a quick 'baby' crop, just eat them as young leaves, as you're unlikely to get time to get real sized lettuces, this works best if you mix a few packets of different type, so you get a pick your own ready mix baby leaf salad

Edit - Sorry I was half asleep this morning, didn't realise it was apple-mint who started this thread

apprentice_tycoon

Do you plan to grow strawberries next year? they could go in now and if you know someone that has grown them this year they will have loads of spare runners to give you.

If that isn't a good idea I think that you can sow green manure now (this is a quick leafy crop that is specifically chosen for the nutrients in the leaves that you dig in) there will be seeds at the garden centre

se999

Just thought after apprentice tycoon's idea of the strawberries, are you wanting some long-term fruit bushes/raspberry canes. These are cheapest to buy bare rooted but that means you have to plan when to order/buy as you can only do this at certain times of the year, you also need empty spots ready to put them in .

If you go to the Ken Muir website you can look up when to do this:

http://www.kenmuir.co.uk/

Loadsabob

Hello there. I've just sown seeds for some hardy lettuces (some can stand much colder weathers than others ), chard (which with withstand the cold, too, for either cut and come-again or some spinach-type leaves in the Winter), Kale, which may be a bit late, but will stand and grow through the Winter, I'll probably cut leaves as and when I need to, also chinese mustard, which I've never grown, but it's very hardy, and I see you can either use it for cut-and-come-again leaves or leave the plants to get bigger and more established. I also have rocket sown, as that's okay in the cold later on, and doesn't like the hot weather too much anyway, and there are various Winter salad leaves you can harvest through the Winter. I had a really good Winter salad mix from Halcyon seeds, who I think closed down.

A lot of oriental vegetables sown now will go through the Winter, as far as I see. I have Joy Larkcom's books "The Organic Salad Garden" and "Grown Your Own Vegetables", and she is very big on oriental vegetables! She has a book devoted to them, which I don't yet have.

A good guide to what you can sow now:

http://www.hdra.org.uk/todo_now/veg_gard_now.htm

A seed seller with some ideas as to the types of oriental veg you can try:

http://www.nickys-nursery.co.uk/seeds/pages/altsal.htm

And the HDRA selection:

http://www.organiccatalog.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=21_22_210_28

Not all of these are for sowing now or later.

You may look at vegetables that over-winter, that is, stay alive in the ground and get growing well again as soon as the Spring weather warms up - this can give you the earliest Spring crops next year. I think Japanese onion seeds are suitable...though I've not tried them. Or, if you keep a bit of ground back, in November you could pop some garlic in, to be pulled up around June/July next year?

Hope you find something you lke, to fill those gaps!

apprentice_tycoon

Just looked at the first link, there are loads of things that can go in now, that's great news - I'm inspired!

squeaky

Good grief I'm supposed to be busy catching up on indexing today not reading!

Please stop posting informative and helpful posts!

Immediately!

Harumph!

se999

Loadsabob- Thanks for your post. DS1 is already at Warwick Uni, DS2 going there now too. They're so close to the HYDRA organic gardens at Ryton, I'd been meaning to pop in for a look around for a while, so thanks for the reminder!!

Got an idea this is going to involve short term money spending though

Loadsabob

se999, you're welcome - how lovely to be near the gardens! I'd love to visit. They say the veg is a little pricey (they sell their own produce), but I bet you can pick up some seeds there for the same price as on their website.

Yes, I'm sure I don't save money by growing my own. Not with the outlay involved! But I tell myself it's a hobby, too!