Autumn gardening - September greenhouse

Decide what you want to bring back into the greenhouse from the garden. Check to make sure the plants and pots are insect-free before you bring them in, as insects and diseases that are a problem in the garden will become an absolute epidemic in the greenhouse where conditions suit their rampant growth and multiplication.

Winter Vegetables

Winter vegetables can be raised in your greenhouse and you can plan your Christmas dinner now! As an example potatoes can be grown in a big flower pot or bucket in the greenhouse as can lettuce. Check the seed catalogues and your local garden centre for suitable varieties - small potatoes are the best and winter lettuce is becoming commonplace now. However, even if you don't have room for (or the income to maintain) a greenhouse, don't despair. Winter vegetables are still possible. You will need to invest a good cold frame or a cloche and some top quality mulch. Locate you cold frame on the south side of your house or garden, ideally in a sheltered location that gets several hours of sun a day.

What should you plant?

Spinach, kale, and some varieties of lettuce will live through the winter in a cold frame. Certain kinds of onion work well from an autumn sowing as well and you'll get a much earlier crop than if you'd waited till spring. Other possibilities are cabbage, bok choi, Chinese cabbage, and most root crops. Leeks, beets, carrots, turnips, parsnips, and radishes can be sown for winter harvest - look out for large oriental radishes with brown or black skins that have a milder flavour than our miniature red-skinned variety. In all the latter cases, plant flavour improves if they're left in the ground until a hard frost brings extra sugars into the plant.

September greenhouse photograph by newenglandange, used under a creative commons attribution licence