Kitchen Gardener Rob Smith is sowing and growing plenty in his greenhouse
There's still plenty to sow and grow now in our greenhouses
As we prepare our gardens for the leaner months of the year it can seem a little disheartening that there isn't that much to sow in the garden; yet if you have a cold greenhouse there are plenty of vegetables you can sow and grow happily all autumn and winter.
As you know, I’m already growing several varieties of winter lettuce, but why not grow a few mizuna plants to add interest to your winter salads? This Oriental veg has sharply seated leaves and can be used as a salad veg when young (think cut-andcome-again) or left to produce larger plants which work well in soups, stir-fries and casseroles, just chop them up and add with your other veg. Simply scatter a few seeds where you want the plants to grow in a bed or container – they aren't fussy – then cover with compost and keep moist. Plants will germinate within around 14 days and can even be sown in the container you grew tomatoes in this year – there’s no need to change the soil, just loosen the top as this allows the plants’ roots to grow with ease.
If you've taken your own strawberry runners from your favourite plants it’s time to plant them out and allow them to get settled for winter. Make sure not to bury the crown under the soil as it will cause it to rot and never plant strawberries in an area that stays very wet for winter or you’re asking for trouble. I find that taking runners now, potting them up and leaving them in a cold frame or greenhouse works well for me and produces plants that are ready to plant out next year. I’m also splitting the day neutral strawberry plants I grew this year as three per bucket have proved too many plants, so I’ll give each plant its own bucket and leave them in the cold greenhouse, hopefully giving me a head start on harvesting next year.
While talking about greenhouse fruit, don’t forget to pick all your grapes before mildew becomes a problem on your fruit, otherwise you could lose the entire crop. It’s worth removing the fruit that's ripe, even if you won’t eat all of them fresh – remember that more tart fruit can make a lovely jam as you add sugar, plus fruit can even be made into juice or wine if you’re
feeling adventurous, far better than letting your fruit spoil.
I’ve already planted my elephant garlic and regular garlic outside but, like every gardener I know, there's always another variety that catches your eye! With that in mind I’m extending my garlic harvest by planting ‘Paradour', which will be ready to harvest from May for storage and as early as April for green garlic, and ‘Rose De Lautrec’, which is supposed to be one of the best-tasting garlics in the world and will be ready to harvest in August/September. By planting a few varieties it allows you to have a succession of fresh green garlic to use in the kitchen, and if you’ve never tried green garlic you don’t know what you’re missing. So why not plant another variety of garlic today?