As you sow, so shall you eat

Despite a cold spring and a sizzling summer, it’s not too late to plan for a delicious, free, autumn harvest from your garden, because...

IT’S been a funny old year in the garden. Normally, at this stage in the summer, we would be desperately trying to find more interesting ways of eating piles of courgettes, but there are no piles and they remain a delicacy. That cold spring followed by a drought means that the vegetable plot is not nearly as luxuriant as it should be.

Where vegetables would normally be doing a good imitation of triffids, we have crops doing their best but not exactly delivering an abundance of home-grown produce. There is an upside, of course, in that we really appreciate what we have, especially the peas which have been given horticultural intensive care.

They and the ruggedly determined globe artichokes have been our salvation. The squashes look promising for autumn, but that’s a while away.

But now, just as the year is about to turn – or so it always seems at this stage every July – I want to make up for our earlier losses and sow lots of stuff to ensure, as best we can, a great autumn harvest.

But most of us think that it’s too late. Don’t most seed packets seem to say that their contents need to be in the ground by March or April?

Well, it’s not the whole story. So, you might like to join me in getting my top ten mid-summer sowings done. Then we can relax and wait for the bounty – provided, of course, that we keep them watered. Vegetables are perfectly happy with bath water or washing-up water, so there’s no need to worry about hosepipe bans.

And finally, think of what a packet of seeds costs and consider how much edible produce it contains. This is as close to free food as it gets!

LETTUCE

This is my desert-island crop. Without lettuce, salad is a challenge, and life without salad, for us, is unthinkable. The easiest kind to try at this stage is the cutand-come-again sort, which you can buy in packs of mixed seed. Just sow broadcast, i.e. not in rows (although you can if you like). Scatter them thinly on the ground or in containers and cover very lightly with soil or compost. In six weeks, you will have salad. Pick leaves as you need them and leave the rest to grow on.

SPINACH

The best time to sow spinach is as the season cools down (or in most Irish years, of course, any time during what normally passes for our summer). In really warm, dry weather, spinach runs to seed in the blink of an eye. I find it best to broadcast it, like the lettuce, and pick baby leaves as required. Just make sure you keep it generously watered. When I was a small boy, I grew radishes because they are so easy and quick, not because I would ever have dreamed of eating one. These days I can’t get enough of the peppery, fresh crunch of a just-picked radish. I sow them in short rows, quite thinly and get a crop after about six weeks, but they will hold in the ground for a while. A short row sown every couple of weeks until late September is a good plan.

Possibly the easiest vegetable ever, but watch out for slugs and snails. That’s what we and the Americans call spring onions, a survival from Elizabethan English. They do take their time but, sown now, they will keep going through the winter. And they are not just for salads; think of all those stirfries where they work their green and white crunchy magic. Sow thinly in rows, and when they are just big enough to bother eating, start to thin them gradually. The longest standing ones will be a very decent size by spring.

PAK CHOI

This oriental vegetable, great in stir-fries or with Chinese oyster sauce from a jar, hates hot weather so, like spinach, is best sown around now or into August. Station-sow three or four seeds every six inches (15cm) in a row, and when they come up, pull out all of them but the biggest seedling at each station. Keep very regularly watered and protect from the slugs which can eat a whole row in one short night.

BEETROOT

If you like your beetroot small and tender, there’s still time to sow some and it will stand through the winter, giving you fresh veg on the darkest days of the year. Each ‘seed’ actually contains several seeds, so sow two every three inches (7cm) and thin to one seedling when they come up.

When big enough to eat, start to harvest by picking every second one, allowing the others to bulk up.

TURNIP

Turnips, not swedes! We’re talking the little, tender white ones, sometimes with slightly purple shoulders. They are delicious sweated in butter and a little white wine, then given a dusting of pepper. Sow thinly and then thin the seedlings, as for beetroot.

ROCKET

Well, it sure grows like a rocket and it makes a lovely addition to salads or mixed with olive oil, lemon and salt and then spread on top of a hot pizza. It can become a weed, but a very welcome one. Take a bare patch, or a container, and sprinkle the seed on. You don’t even have to cover it. Pick the leaves soon as they are big enough to handle, and it will keep giving.

CARROTS

If you like your carrots small and tender, sweet enough to eat in a couple of bites, this is the time to sow – and the bonus is that the carrot fly is dying back at this stage. Sow very thinly; carrot seed is very small and you want to give the little plants room to grow properly. You can thin, of course, but there’s no point in wasting seeds.

HERBS

I know that pots of herbs in the supermarkets are very cheap, but growing your own is cheaper and better. Use pots so that you can position them close to the kitchen and sow coriander, basil and parsley (these are the essentials for us) and cover lightly with compost. Try to give them as much light as possible and keep them regularly watered. These herbs will be more pungent than the supermarket ones so you need less.