You can’t beat the satisfaction or taste of eating something you have grown yourself. Growing our own reminds us of just how much skill, work and water goes into producing fresh fruit and vegetables.
Cool, showery weather is great for our greens but not so good for ripening fruits of tomatoes or strawberries. Air circulation is everything just now so keep up the weeding, remove lower leaves on tomatoes and savour the sunshine when it comes!
There is still time to sow and grow a few fresh things into our soil to eat into the winter.
If you’ve missed something, you can scroll through weekly updates or Grow 6 crop pages to catch up.
Peas
Early sowings will now be over. Remove the pea tops by cutting the plant off at soil level and leaving the roots in the soil . Pea plant tops can be cut up and composted. If you have space, try sowing something into the empty soil- radish, cut and come again lettuce or some winter spinach.
Tomatoes
Remove lower leaves on cordon plants to encourage fruit to ripen, keep up the weekly liquid feed to coax plants into producing more flowers and fruit, and watch outdoor tomatoes for tomato blight, where stems and leaves begin to rot, and leaves discolour.
Berries
Autumn raspberries and currant plants will love the wet weather, ripening strawberries less so! If you are still cropping strawberries, keep the fruits off damp soil to encourage ripening over rotting. Mixed weather does highlight the need wherever possible, to grow a range of varieties that flower and fruit over time.
Greens
Time to grow some late summer crops; try winter spinach, mixed lettuce, rocket, parsley and coriander. If you have big gaps in your soil you might find some pre grown winter cabbage, kale or leek plants at your nearest community garden, allotment site or local garden centre.
Herbs
Flowering herbs, marjoram, thyme and sage will provide essential nectar for butterflies and bees in between showers. In a small growing space or doorstep, flowering herbs are important plants to grow, providing for you and local nature.
Tatties
Tatties planted in April/May will now be ready for lifting; when your tatties are ready, the lower leaves will slowly turn yellow. Maincrop tatties planted from late May will be enjoying the rain as the crop continues to grow. Continued wet weather can result in a number of problems that all threaten your crop so keep your eye on your plants and our socials as One Seed Forward provide a weekly update on what to look out for.
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If you are new to growing and have a bit of soil to cover, have you considered green manures as a winter cover crop? It is a bit early to sow but now is the time to buy your seed in. See our Soil pages for more guidance.
