Landshare

The nights are arriving earlier, and the temperatures are swinging down sharply into the evening. We can expect the frosts to come fairly soon: it’s autumn proper. Along with the arrival of spring, this is one of the main corners of the growing year – time to enjoy the end of a few harvests and welcome in some others, and to invest a little in next year.

First, take care of the tail end of the summer harvests: lift any late maincrop spuds that are in the ground. You can store them in a cool, dark place for using through the winter. If you’ve any green ones, and chances are you will, store any less than half green – they may well revert to their proper colour after a month or two without light. Compost any that are more than half green.

If you haven’t already, call time on your Mediterranean favourites. Chillis that have grown to a good size but not ripened fully should still be good, so pick any and use or dry them in a low oven. Take any larger green toms for chutney and salsa, and be ruthless with anything small and weedy – they won’t mature now, so give them to the compost. You can always try ripening green ones indoors – put them with a banana, as the ethylene it gives off should help ripen them fully.

You may still be getting some beans – runners and French – into October. Eat the good ones, and save and dry any larger ones. Tear up the whole plant, hanging it somewhere light and airy to dry, or pull all the pods off the plant and lay them out in the greenhouse to dry. Once completely dry, get the beans from the pods and store them in an airtight container – you can use them through winter in soups and stews, and any you have left can be sown for next year’s crop.

The run into autumn sees space coming increasingly available, and this presents you with a choice: get some sowing and planting done for early crops next year or sow some late green manures to enrich your veg patch while you take it easy.

Now’s the time to get in any over-wintering onions, broad beans, and (in November) garlic. An early harvest, perhaps a few weeks ahead of early spring sowings, will be your reward. Whatever you do don’t panic: getting them in now is great, but you can always play catch-up in February and March. With all three, the key is to sow them when the weather is dry – you’ll have a reduced success rate if you sow into wet soil.

Early autumn is a great time for sowing green manures. As space becomes available, green manures offer the perfect solution for those who don’t want to completely fill their veg patch with winter crops. Green manures typically grow very quickly, covering the ground and protecting it from erosion, and helping to retain moisture. They keep the opportunity for weeds to get established to a minimum, and when you come to dig the leafy growth into the soil, you’ll be adding organic material that will not only improve the soil structure, but also help nutrients become available by increasing the airspaces in the soil. Depending on the type you sow, you may also add nitrogen to the soil – green manures for the legume family take nitrogen from the air and make it available through their root systems. If you then dig the roots into the soil before you sow your next crop, that nitrogen will enrich the soil giving you a bigger harvest to follow. It also gives you the opportunity to ‘turn off’ at least part of your veg patch for the colder months, safe in the knowledge that even in your laziness you’ll be improving the quality of your soil.

Field beans are the best all-round green manure to sow in autumn – their deep roots break up the soil and improve structure, while the roots release nitrogen. Do remember that field beans are legumes and should fall easily into your rotation as a legume, but in practice as long as you avoid growing them ahead of the roots (which may be inclined to split and fork into amusing shapes in soil too rich in nutrients) they’re a good choice for an easy life over winter. If you live in the south of the country, Hungarian grazing rye is another good option – growing quickly and adding excellent volumes of organic matter to your soil. Try www.gardenorganic.org for seeds and more detailed information about different green manures.

Many people are moving towards a low or no-dig approach to growing, but if you are one of those who favour digging, autumn is a good time to do it. The ground is unlikely to be too hard, and as long as you avoid any wet periods, you can get the ground ready well ahead of time, and even get your compost or manure on early, before winter sets in. If you do, don’t bother to dig it in – the rain, the freezing and thawing of the cold months, and the worm action will incorporate it for you.

If you have any seedlings started (or are feeling optimistic enough to try sowing a few winter lettuces and leafy greens undercover) wait for a dry period to transplant them out as this will get them away to a better start.

These two months will also see the start of some of those hearty cold-month harvests. Pumpkins and squash, cabbages, caulis, early Brussels, leeks, turnips, swede, celeriac and celery, as well as more spinach and chard mean that this is a marvellous time in the kitchen. And if you can bear to wait until the first frosts, you’ll be rewarded by extra-sweet parsnips and Jerusalem artichokes, which like the cold to turn their starches into sugars.