Winter Veg...

igorbiscan

Hi all,some advice please,.
I have a raised bed 8x4 which for the most part will shortly be unused because my current veg are almost ready for harvest.All that will left are a few leeks and a few strawberry plants.
So im wondering what is the best thing to do for the autumn/winter.Should I dig in some manure/let the bed rest idle or plant more winter veg?not sure what grows best at this time.
All input much appreciated,Thanks
I

Clare man

hi,
some things I am doing/planning do for Autumn have just planted some Turnip, Spinach and salad for over winter Purple sprouting Broc, you mght need to buy/get some plants now, to late to propogate from seed. Broad Beans, garlic, winter onions,Kale, Cauliflower, Cabbage, lambs lettuce - had it on christmas day last year.these can go into ground over coming months. check online for specifics

The trick is to have fresh veg in the garden in March/April timeframe. For Autumn produce go for fast growing crops, buy a few plants in your garden centre,

if not bothered, grow a green manure,

wait4me

I am like igorbiscan - I want to plant for the winter to have growth in the beds and get me through to the spring planting season next year. And of course I have now left it too late to grow from seed.

So I now need to buy plants. It probably be mainly cabbage; I'll have to cultivate a love for cabbage in my house(!). Anybody suggest where the best place in west Dublin to buy plants? Or have any other suggestions?

Technophobe

you can still plant cabbage, broccoli, brussels sprouts, radish (grow from seed) and as mentioned above a host of salad leaves amongst others..Any good garden centre (e.g Johnstown GC) should have these plants

The Garden Shop

I have only cabbages and turnips planned, but the pigeons already at the cabbages forgot to net them... drastic action required

igorbiscan

Hey all,thanks for the replies,
thats great,just one more question,,
I presume I need to dig in more manure once the current veg are harvested??
Otherwise will the soil become degraded and become less productive?
Turnips it is,love them...:D
Thanks,
Igor.

Clare man

If you have it to hand, dig it in, would not hang around though, season is fast fading, what i do is propogate in house and then harden off and plant out rather than seed direct into ground to speed up proceess

Turnips tops can be eaten also and are nice, if you do a later sewing they can be left in ground, under cover, over winter

Micheal GIY

Igor, if you ar going to have some parts of the bed with nothing growing, you could cover them with a layer of fresh seaweed (if you have access to it). By spring this will have rotted in and fertilised the soil.

Corsendonk

Micheal GIY wrote: »

Igor, if you ar going to have some parts of the bed with nothing growing, you could cover them with a layer of fresh seaweed (if you have access to it). By spring this will have rotted in and fertilised the soil.

Would you wash the seaweed or spread as is?

Micheal GIY

The seaweed doesn't usually need to be washed - just spread as it is. You might need to check with your local council as there are some prohibitions on removing beach material, including seaweed. On a recent visit to Aranmore island in Donegal it was very interesting to see how seaweed was shared out - each household had its own share of the bog, but they also had their share of the foreshore for gathering wrack.

hornet1

i have an allotment in skerries there is a mobile service that visits us and has a massive range of vegetable plug plants if you want the contact details of the company pm me.

sponge_bob

iam nearly finished building my own greenhouse and should be ready to start planting (something) in the next few days hopefully.
what veg could i plant in it for the winter months or is it just gone to late?

hornet1

i suppose it depends if you propagate seeds or buy in plug plants, If you buy plug plants it definitely is not too late for lots of veg, sprouting broccoli, kale , swede , Brussels sprouts, different types of chicory, savoy and winter cabbage winter dose not generally mean no veg if you plant the right stuff in the right method.