Autumn vegetables to grow
Autumn can often feel like it isn't possible to grow any more produce. However, there are still plenty of vegetables to grow through the autumn months to give you a head start next year.
Carrots
Humble carrots can be quite frost-hardy, so are great to continue growing in autumn. One carrot variety suitable for growing into the autumn months is 'Autumn King'.
Autumn is still a great time to grow these root vegetables, and they might even be ready by Christmas if you're lucky!
Make sure when you're growing them, thin the seedlings out. This will allow the roots to expand, giving them more space to grow.
Potatoes
To succeed in growing potatoes for autumn vegetables, you need a specific variety of seed potatoes. These seed potatoes are Second Cropping Potatoes, and look out for 'Christmas potatoes'. These are specially cold-stored, main crop varieties.
When growing potatoes, the crop needs to be earthed up once they start to appear. This prevents them from suffering any frost damage as the winter sets in. Also, doing so may even encourage more tubers to be produced.
You can expect to start harvesting your potatoes about 10 weeks after planting. However, Christmas potatoes can be left in the soil until Christmas if that's when you want to use them.
A great way to reliably grow potatoes in a greenhouse at more consistent temperatures is by using growbags. This will give you the depth of soil needed for potato growing, but portable! So you can move it indoors if the weather takes a dip, and outdoors if temperatures rise.
Root Vegetables
Autumn root vegetables to grow include radishes, beetroot, and turnips. Each is great at tolerating cooler temperatures in autumn and winter.
Radishes are nice and quick to crop, thanks to their smaller size. You can enjoy them as early as four weeks after planting them, depending on the conditions and variety. Also, their limited underground space requirements make them ideal for growing in containers too.
Another root vegetable small enough for containers, is beetroot. Another fast grower, beetroot is a great autumn vegetable for making into healthy vegetarian burgers, and salads, and even added into baked recipes.
Turnips are an underestimated vegetable that is great to sow in autumn, for enjoying in winter. If you grow them in a greenhouse, they'll be ready to crop even sooner. Wonderful for roasting or adding to broths and stews, they are well worth growing in autumn.
Salad Leaves
There are a few different salad leaves which can be grown in autumn, particularly those hailing from East Asia. Including mizuna, mibuna, pak choi, rocket, and mustard leaves, these are all cut and come again.
You can sow these salad leaf seeds directly into soil, or buy them as plug plants to get a head start.
Spinach and kale can both also successfully grow as autumn vegetables. These superfoods are well worth considering for their huge health benefits. Kale is great for heart health and is very rich in antioxidants and vitamin C. Also, spinach is high in iron, vitamins C and E, and can be great for your immune system. Perfect for cold and flu season.
How to succeed growing autumn vegetables
Choosing the hardiest varieties suitable for autumn and winter growing is essential. Tender vegetable varieties will struggle to thrive when temperatures reach very cold or freezing levels. More robust varieties will have a much better chance of successfully reaching cropping size.
If you have a greenhouse, now is the time to use it! Being able to maintain a more consistent temperature will do your plants the world of good. It is also a great place to get seedlings established before planting out into the garden.
However, if you don't have a greenhouse, there are alternatives to use for your autumn vegetables. Consider using a polytunnel if you can. They don't have to be particularly large ones, just big enough to comfortably cover your plants to shield them from the worst of the weather.
Continue to enjoy growing autumn vegetables well into the latter stages of the year. You could even enjoy some of them by Christmas!