NON-STOP harvests till spring

If your summer vegetables are coming to an end, or you didn’t get around to growing any this year, don’t worry. There are lots of vegetables you can sow and plant now, to give you fresh pickings all through autumn and winter. They will also fill next spring’s ‘hungry gap’ – those months of the year when you’re busy sowing but your summer veg have yet to start cropping. While winter stalwarts like Brussels sprouts and parsnips needed to be in the ground months ago, there are quicker-growing crops that can be sown now, and many are surprisingly hardy, needing only a little protection from the worst of the weather.

As you clear away spent summer crops over the coming weeks, you’ll create gaps where you can squeeze in some new crops for winter harvests. Don’t be tempted to leave the ground empty, as weeds will soon take over. And if you still have no space left in the ground, many of these veg can be grown in a large pot. So there’s no excuse – let’s get sowing!

SPINACH

Spinach can survive frosts and winter rain to give you pickings in autumn