Weekly Green Tips - 7 Vegetables you can sow in late July/Aug

Week 17 - 7 Vegetables you can sow in late July/Aug

If you have decided rather late in the year that you would like to grow some vegetables or you find you have some gaps in your veg patch there are still seeds you can sown in late July and August.  At this time of year the soil will be dry so do ensure you water seed drills well before sowing and continue to give the seedlings plenty of water once they have germinated.  This blog post gives 15 tips for successful watering which you might like to read. 

7 veg to sow in late summer

1.  Root crops

If you are quick you can sow beetroot, carrots, turnips, winter radishes and swede up to the end of July.

2. Swiss chard & leaf beet

These leafy vegetables come into their own late in the season and in mild areas or with some protection will crop through the winter.  Even after a hard winter they will often regrow in the spring for an early crop of fresh greens.

Swiss chard

3.  Oriental vegetables

There are a whole range of Oriental vegetables you can sow now that can be used in both salads and stir fries through the autumn and early winter.  Mizuna, mibuna, komatsuna and mustard greens are the most commonly found seeds but specialist suppliers will have other varieties as well.  The Organic Gardening Catalogue has a good range to choose from.

4.  Salad crops

Keep sowing small amounts of lettuce seeds every few days although by late august you need to remember to sow winter varieties.  You can also still sow rocket, radishes, cress, spring onions and lambs lettuce.

5.  Fennel

OK - I have to admit to never having grown fennel as none of us like its aniseed taste but if you are a fan you can sow it now.

Fennel bulb - image from Pixabay

6.  Spring Cabbage

Sowing spring cabbage seeds from late July for transplanting in the autumn will give you fresh greens in the spring when little else is cropping. Transplant the seedling to just 10cm apart you can harvest every other one as soon as they are big enough to eat as spring greens allowing the remaining ones to heart up as spring cabbages.

7.  Seedlings to Transplant in July and August

You can cheat a bit too and buy seedlings to transplant - suitable vegetables for planting out in late July and August include French beans, leeks, cauliflowers and winter cabbages (July only for the latter).  If you are buying them in pots remember to check that they are not root bound and do not buy if they look weak, yellowed or diseased.

It is worth pointing out too, that if you have a polytunnel you can sow all these seeds under cover just a bit later to crop even further into this year and next.

Do you  know any other seeds you can sow in late July/early August?

<div align="center">
<a href="http://eco-gites.blogspot.fr/p/weekly-green-tips.html" rel="nofollow" title="A Green and Rosie Life" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyLP2VgKLDbYAtRcjY-D8n7jX8BpqTpHdExT30IIjJBXIkaRDMDFSRlBTZol4bmPdhK87xoxJ1C1dumMVnQBuNZ41SOwQoGcPSNrkwakp3bmWbH_oeduNXufnpPe2jNp018UBNNIG2_CcL/s1600/Weekly+Green+Tips+Badge.jpg" alt="A Green and Rosie Life" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Generate your button code