[crosseyedsheep]

I just read the how to grow garlic post and I noted that the time to plang was Autumn, I also came across a mention of over winter onions so I was wondering what other veg can I plant around now?

[James Kilkelly]

Well crosseyedsheep, lets see.....

Carrots and peas can still be sown if you have a cold frame or tunnel in a mild areas.

You can also plant autumn onion sets for a crop in early to mid-summer next year.

Garlic can still be planted in mild areas having free-draining soil.

Radishes, mustard cress, and winter lettuces can be sown in grow-bags under glass, in a poly tunnel or on a windowsill.

Above all, this time of year is a good time for digging over vacant areas of the vegetable plot, as the approaching cold weather will help to improve the soil structure by breaking it down into crumbly particles. After digging, cover any vacant ground with black polythene, to prevent re-colonisation by weeds.




If you are looking for onion sets you should be able to source some here..... Onion sets

[galwaybeginner]

(hate rasishes and not into cress)

[galwaybeginner]

What I've started growing this month:

Planted garlic 3 weeks ago and up to about 10 inches already in polytunnel. Very impressive growth.

Also have some carrots which are just coming above ground after 4 weeks of patient watching!

Colis were doing ok but have flopped down now since transplanting from propogator to bed last week. Hope they will spring back to life.

[Marc]

Hi James,
I read with interest your advice and especially your what to sow when updates, they have helped me a lot. Last year, in September I came across a video from a fellow gardener "Back to Eden", have you seen or heard of it ?
I tried this method of gardening starting last autumn, after digging my veg plot for 20 years and I can now sell my spade, the joy of no more digging, having zero weeds, no watering issue and enough organic veg to give away. Just sowing planting and harvesting and topping up my mulch materials with woodchip, horse manure, chicken manure, straw, grasscuttings, compost and comfrey and nettle teas, all of it very low labour, happy days. http://www.backtoedenfilm.com/#movie

[Sive]

OK Marc, that answers my horse manure question....and I see you mention grass cuttings too.....now all I need is a good-enough internet connection to watch that film. Dream on !

[Blowin]

Like Sive, I couldn't muster up enough steam to play the movie but the 'No Digging' method isn't new. In the 70s there was a chap called Dr W E Shewell Cooper who advocated it, coupled with composting everything in sight BUT, by contrast with most other people on this forum, his compost heap was never touched, once he'd put stuff into it.

I mentioned some time back that I take this approach to my own compost and half the members rose up in indignation, saying it was vital to turn it regularly.

We touched on personal preferences in another recent post and I think we all have to read what others say, adopt it or try it, and then make your own decision.

[Freckles]

[Sive]

Blowin....in nearly 40 years of composting, my better half and I have never once turned a heap and we've never yet failed to produce perfectly good compost. I watched Monty Don on TV talk about turning his large compost heaps and felt tired even thinking about it...... but then he does have help I'm quite certain !

[My Potatoes]

Turning the compost really depends on how well it is composting. If it's composting grand, don't turn it; if it's not composting, turn it. Not frequently, just on occasion.