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What to Cook in October: Easy Recipes from the Autumn Garden

October is the month when the vegetable garden starts deciding what’s for dinner.

By now, the leisurely summer business of picking a tomato here and a handful of beans there has changed rather dramatically.

There are pumpkins that need bringing in before the weather turns. Potatoes waiting beneath increasingly damp soil. Leeks standing patiently in rows. Carrots, beetroot and kale still going strong.

And somewhere, almost certainly, there is a courgette you failed to notice in August which has quietly grown to the dimensions of a small submarine.

This is exactly the sort of cooking I love.

Rather than choosing a recipe and going out to buy twelve ingredients, you take a basket into the garden, see what’s ready and work backwards.

Three leeks and some potatoes?

Soup.

Half a pumpkin, carrots and onions?

Into the roasting tin.

A glut of green tomatoes that clearly aren’t going to ripen before Christmas?

Chutney.

October ingredients lend themselves particularly well to uncomplicated food: soups, pies, curries, traybakes and things that bubble quietly in the oven while you get on with something else.

So, following on from our guide to what to harvest from the vegetable garden in October, here are ten easy recipes to turn that harvest into dinner.

1. Roasted Pumpkin and Carrot Soup

There are countless ways to make pumpkin soup, but roasting the vegetables first makes a considerable difference.

The edges caramelise, the natural sweetness intensifies and the resulting soup tastes as though you’ve put far more effort into it than you actually have.

Always useful.

Serves 4–6

You’ll need

750g pumpkin or winter squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into chunks
3 large carrots, roughly chopped
1 large onion, quartered
3 garlic cloves, left in their skins
2 tablespoons olive or rapeseed oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 litre vegetable or chicken stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
A little cream or crème fraîche, optional
Pumpkin seeds, to serve, optional

Method

Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6.

Put the pumpkin, carrots and onion into a large roasting tin.

Drizzle over the oil, sprinkle with cumin and season with salt and pepper. Toss everything together.

Tuck the unpeeled garlic cloves amongst the vegetables.

Roast for 35–45 minutes, turning everything once or twice, until the vegetables are soft and beginning to caramelise around the edges.

Squeeze the roasted garlic from its skin into a large saucepan. Add the remaining roasted vegetables and the stock.

Bring gently to the boil and simmer for about 5 minutes.

Blend until smooth.

Add a little more stock or hot water if it’s thicker than you’d like, then taste and adjust the seasoning.

Serve with a swirl of cream or crème fraîche and a scattering of toasted pumpkin seeds if you have them.

And bread.

Soup without bread always feels as though somebody has forgotten something.

2. Leek, Potato and Cheddar Pie

Leeks and cheese are extremely good friends.

Add potatoes and put pastry on top and they become the sort of dinner that makes a dark October evening seem like a positive development.

Using ready-made puff pastry keeps this firmly in the easy category.

Serves 4–6

You’ll need

750g potatoes, peeled and cut into 2cm chunks
3 large leeks
40g butter
40g plain flour
500ml milk
1 teaspoon Dijon or English mustard
150g mature Cheddar, grated
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 sheet ready-rolled puff pastry
1 egg, beaten

Method

Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6.

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil.

Add the potatoes and cook for around 8–10 minutes, until they’re beginning to soften but aren’t falling apart.

Drain well.

Meanwhile, slice the leeks and wash them thoroughly.

Melt the butter in a large frying pan and cook the leeks gently for about 8 minutes, until softened.

Sprinkle over the flour and cook for another minute.

Gradually add the milk, stirring as you go, until you have a smooth sauce.

Add the mustard and most of the cheese, reserving a small handful.

Stir until the cheese has melted.

Season generously with black pepper and add salt if needed.

Fold in the potatoes.

Spoon everything into a pie dish and scatter over the remaining cheese.

Lay the pastry over the top, trim the edges and press down around the rim.

Make a small slit in the centre for steam to escape and brush the pastry with beaten egg.

Bake for 25–30 minutes, until puffed and golden.

Serve with cabbage, kale or whatever else the garden is currently producing in alarming quantities.

3. Sausage and Autumn Vegetable Traybake

This is the dinner for evenings when you want proper food but don’t particularly want to cook.

Everything goes into one roasting tin.

The oven does the work.

You wash up one pan.

Frankly, the recipe is already winning.

Serves 4

You’ll need

8 good-quality sausages
500g potatoes, cut into chunks
3 carrots, cut into thick pieces
2 medium beetroot, peeled and cut into wedges
400g pumpkin or squash, cut into chunks
2 red or brown onions, cut into wedges
2 tablespoons olive or rapeseed oil
1 teaspoon dried thyme or several fresh thyme sprigs
1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard
1 tablespoon honey
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6.

Put the potatoes, carrots, beetroot, squash and onions into a large roasting tin.

Add the oil, thyme, salt and pepper and toss well.

Roast for 20 minutes.

Remove the tin from the oven, turn the vegetables and add the sausages.

Mix the mustard and honey together and brush or spoon it over the sausages.

Return everything to the oven for another 30–35 minutes, turning the sausages halfway through.

It’s ready when the sausages are thoroughly cooked and the vegetables are tender and caramelised around the edges.

Serve straight from the roasting tin.

Plates are advisable, although by this stage of October eating directly from the kitchen does become tempting.

4. Green Tomato Chutney

Every gardener who grows outdoor tomatoes eventually reaches the same point.

It’s October.

It’s getting colder.

The leaves are looking increasingly unhappy.

And there are still approximately 4,000 green tomatoes hanging from the plants.

This is why chutney exists.

Makes approximately 4–5 jars

You’ll need

1kg green tomatoes, roughly chopped
500g cooking apples, peeled, cored and chopped
300g onions, finely chopped
200g raisins or sultanas
350g soft brown sugar
500ml malt vinegar or cider vinegar
2 teaspoons mustard seeds
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon chilli flakes, optional
1 teaspoon salt

Method

Put all the ingredients into a large preserving pan or heavy-based saucepan.

Stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved.

Bring gently to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for 1½–2 hours.

Stir regularly, particularly towards the end, so the chutney doesn’t catch on the bottom.

It’s ready when it is thick, dark and a wooden spoon drawn across the bottom of the pan leaves a channel that doesn’t immediately fill with liquid.

Spoon the hot chutney into warm, sterilised jars and seal.

Leave to cool, label and store according to safe home-preserving guidance.

The flavour will improve if you can resist opening it immediately.

Give it a few weeks and serve with mature Cheddar, cold meats, pork pies or sandwiches.

Suddenly those green tomatoes don’t seem quite so disappointing.

5. Pumpkin, Kale and Chickpea Curry

This is one of those recipes that tastes even better the following day.

It’s inexpensive, filling and very forgiving.

If you don’t have pumpkin, use another winter squash.

If you don’t have kale, use chard or spinach.

Gardens rarely produce ingredients according to recipe quantities, so recipes occasionally need to learn who’s in charge.

Serves 4

You’ll need

1 tablespoon vegetable or rapeseed oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon chilli powder, or to taste
600g pumpkin or squash, peeled and cut into chunks
1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 x 400g tin chickpeas, drained
400ml coconut milk
150g kale, tough stalks removed and leaves chopped
Salt
Fresh coriander, optional

Method

Heat the oil in a large saucepan.

Add the onion and cook gently for 8–10 minutes, until soft.

Add the garlic and ginger and cook for another minute.

Stir in the cumin, coriander, turmeric and chilli and cook for 30 seconds.

Add the pumpkin and stir until coated in the spices.

Pour in the tomatoes and coconut milk, then add the chickpeas.

Bring to a gentle simmer.

Cover and cook for 20–25 minutes, or until the pumpkin is tender.

Stir in the kale and cook for another 5 minutes.

Season to taste.

Serve with rice, naan bread or simply a bowl and a spoon.

Any leftovers make an excellent lunch.

Assuming there are leftovers.

6. Cheesy Leek and Potato Soup

Leek and potato soup is one of the great economical lunches.

Adding Cheddar turns it into something substantial enough for dinner.

It’s also an excellent destination for leeks that aren’t quite handsome enough to win prizes at the village show.

Once they’re chopped, nobody knows.

Serves 4–6

You’ll need

30g butter
3 large leeks, sliced and thoroughly washed
1 onion, chopped
600g potatoes, peeled and diced
1 litre vegetable or chicken stock
150ml milk
125g mature Cheddar, grated
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Melt the butter in a large saucepan.

Add the leeks and onion and cook gently for around 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until soft but not browned.

Add the potatoes and stock.

Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are completely tender.

Blend until smooth, or leave slightly chunky if you prefer.

Return to a low heat and stir in the milk, cheese and mustard.

Don’t allow the soup to boil once the cheese has been added.

Season generously with black pepper and taste before adding salt, as the cheese and stock may already provide enough.

Serve with thick slices of toast.

Ideally buttered.

October is not the month to start being mean with toast.

7. Beetroot, Carrot and Goat’s Cheese Tart

This looks rather beautiful when it comes out of the oven, which is useful because it’s extraordinarily easy to make.

The beetroot and carrots become sweet when roasted, while the goat’s cheese adds a salty sharpness.

Serves 4

You’ll need

300g beetroot, peeled and cut into thin wedges
300g carrots, cut into batons
1 tablespoon olive or rapeseed oil
1 teaspoon thyme leaves
1 sheet ready-rolled puff pastry
100g soft goat’s cheese
1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard
1 teaspoon honey
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
A handful of rocket or salad leaves, optional

Method

Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6.

Put the beetroot and carrots into a roasting tin.

Add the oil, thyme, salt and pepper and toss together.

Roast for 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, unroll the pastry onto a baking tray, keeping it on its baking paper.

Score a border about 2cm from the edge, taking care not to cut all the way through.

Prick the centre several times with a fork.

Spread the mustard thinly over the centre.

Arrange the partly roasted vegetables over the pastry and crumble over the goat’s cheese.

Drizzle lightly with honey.

Bake for 20–25 minutes, until the pastry is puffed and golden.

Serve warm with salad leaves, or cold the following day.

It’s particularly good for lunch and gives the impression that you have made far more effort than you actually have.

Always a useful recipe characteristic.

8. Bubble and Squeak with Fried Eggs

Bubble and squeak is less a recipe and more a brilliant answer to the question: What on earth am I going to do with all these leftover vegetables?

Traditionally made with potatoes and cabbage, it welcomes almost any cooked autumn vegetable.

Kale?

In.

Carrots?

Absolutely.

Brussels sprouts?

Perfect.

Yesterday’s roast potatoes?

You are already halfway to dinner.

Serves 4

You’ll need

600g cold cooked potatoes
300g cooked cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts, carrots or a mixture
1 small onion, finely chopped
25g butter
1 tablespoon vegetable or rapeseed oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 eggs
Brown sauce or chutney, to serve, optional

Method

Roughly mash the potatoes.

Chop the cooked vegetables and mix them into the potato.

Season well.

Heat half the butter and oil in a large frying pan.

Add the onion and cook gently until softened.

Add the potato mixture and press it down into the pan.

Cook over a medium heat for around 8–10 minutes, allowing a good golden crust to form underneath.

Turn sections with a spatula and continue cooking until you have plenty of crisp brown edges.

You are not aiming for perfection.

The crispy, slightly chaotic bits are the whole point.

In a separate pan, fry the eggs in the remaining butter or oil.

Divide the bubble and squeak between plates and put a fried egg on top of each.

Add brown sauce or chutney if that’s your thing.

Dinner from leftovers.

Our grandparents knew what they were doing.

9. Autumn Vegetable Cottage Pie

This meat-free cottage pie is inexpensive, filling and extremely adaptable.

The quantities below are a starting point rather than a legal agreement.

If the garden gives you more carrots and fewer leeks, adjust accordingly.

Serves 6

You’ll need

For the filling

1 tablespoon oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 leeks, sliced
2 carrots, diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
200g mushrooms, chopped, optional
150g dried green or brown lentils, rinsed
1 tablespoon tomato purée
1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
600ml vegetable stock
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce or vegetarian alternative, optional
100g kale or chard, chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the topping

1kg potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
40g butter
75ml milk
75g mature Cheddar, grated, optional

Method

Heat the oil in a large saucepan.

Add the onion, leeks and carrots and cook gently for 10 minutes.

Add the garlic and mushrooms, if using, and cook for another 5 minutes.

Stir in the lentils, tomato purée, chopped tomatoes, stock, thyme and Worcestershire sauce.

Bring to a simmer and cook for around 30–40 minutes, or until the lentils are tender and the mixture is thick.

Add a little more water if it becomes too dry before the lentils have cooked.

Stir in the kale for the final 5 minutes.

Season well.

Meanwhile, boil the potatoes in salted water until tender.

Drain thoroughly, then mash with the butter and milk.

Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6.

Spoon the vegetable mixture into a large ovenproof dish.

Top with the mashed potato and rough up the surface with a fork.

Scatter with Cheddar if using.

Bake for 25–30 minutes, until bubbling and golden on top.

Leave it to stand for five minutes before serving.

Not because of culinary sophistication.

Because molten cottage pie can remove the roof of your mouth.

10. Apple, Pear and Blackberry Crumble

After ten months of gardening, I think we’ve earned pudding.

This is an ideal October crumble because it uses the fruits that naturally meet at the changing of the seasons.

If the blackberries have finished where you live, use frozen ones gathered earlier in the year, or simply make apple and pear crumble.

It will still be excellent.

Serves 6

You’ll need

For the fruit

500g cooking apples
300g pears
150g blackberries
50g soft brown or caster sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon water

For the crumble

200g plain flour
100g cold butter, cubed
75g demerara or light brown sugar
50g rolled oats
A pinch of salt

Method

Heat the oven to 190°C/170°C fan/gas 5.

Peel and core the apples and pears and cut them into chunks.

Put them into a baking dish with the blackberries, sugar, cinnamon and water.

Give everything a gentle mix.

For the topping, put the flour and butter into a bowl.

Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.

Stir in the sugar, oats and salt.

Scatter the crumble mixture generously over the fruit.

Do not press it down.

Bake for 35–40 minutes, until the top is golden and the fruit is bubbling around the edges.

Allow it to sit for ten minutes before serving.

Then add custard.

Or cream.

Or ice cream.

There is no need to choose sides.

Straight from the garden: the recipes that aren’t really recipes

Not every harvest needs turning into a proper recipe.

Some vegetables are at their best when you simply cook them and get out of the way.

Roasted beetroot with goat’s cheese: Roast wedges of beetroot until tender, then add crumbled goat’s cheese, walnuts and a little balsamic vinegar.

Garlicky kale: Fry chopped garlic briefly in olive oil, add shredded kale and cook until wilted. Finish with lemon juice and black pepper.

Honey and thyme carrots: Roast carrot batons with a little oil, honey, thyme, salt and pepper until sticky around the edges.

Squash with sage: Roast chunks of squash with oil, sage leaves and plenty of black pepper. Add a little grated Parmesan towards the end if you fancy it.

Leeks in cheese sauce: Steam or gently cook whole or halved leeks, cover with cheese sauce and bake until golden.

Butter-fried cabbage: Finely shred cabbage and cook quickly in butter with black pepper and a tiny splash of water.

The perfect baked potato: Rub a large potato with a little oil and salt and bake until the outside is properly crisp. Split it open, add butter and fill with mature Cheddar and baked beans.

Nothing clever.

Nothing fashionable.

Just very good food.

Cook what you’ve got

Perhaps that’s one of the nicest things about cooking from a garden.

It changes your relationship with recipes.

Instead of deciding what you fancy and buying everything required to make it, you start with what’s ready.

A leek needs using.

The kale has gone slightly berserk.

There are six carrots that won’t win any prizes for beauty.

A pumpkin is sitting on the kitchen table.

So that’s dinner.

It is an economical way to cook, certainly, but there’s something satisfying about it too.

You become less worried about exact quantities and more confident about swapping ingredients around.

Chard replaces spinach.

Squash replaces pumpkin.

Cabbage goes into bubble and squeak.

Yesterday’s potatoes become today’s lunch.

Very little needs wasting.

The pleasure of an October kitchen

By October, the garden itself may be looking slightly tired.

Leaves are dropping.

Beds are gradually emptying.

The evenings arrive earlier and gardening increasingly involves putting on a coat you didn’t think you’d need when you first stepped outside.

But indoors, it’s a different story.

There might be pumpkins on the shelf.

Potatoes stored somewhere dark.

Apples in boxes.

A jar of green tomato chutney beginning to mature.

And dinner bubbling away on the hob containing vegetables that were still in the ground a few hours ago.

That’s the real pleasure of growing food.

Not perfect carrots.

Not enormous pumpkins.

Not posting photographs of an immaculate vegetable patch.

It’s this bit.

Growing something.

Picking it.

Cooking it.

Eating it.

Preferably while it’s raining outside.

And if there’s apple crumble afterwards, so much the better.

Further Reading: Grow Your Own Food: Save Money & Eat Well, How to Keep Your Vegetable Garden Productive into Autumn, What to Sow in September: Vegetables, Salads & Herbs, Runner Bean Chutney: A Taste of the September Garden, How to Store Potatoes for Winter, What to Harvest from the Vegetable Garden in October

Not sure where to start? Take a look at our Grow Your Own Packs with detailed step by step instructions, seeds and 1 years online support.

What to Harvest from the Vegetable Garden in October

October is a satisfying month in the vegetable garden.

There may not be much sunbathing involved, admittedly. By now, a trip down the garden is more likely to require wellies than sandals, and the watering can has finally stopped being your constant companion.

But there is still plenty happening.

Pumpkins are sitting heavily among fading leaves. Leeks are standing to attention in neat rows. The last tomatoes are stubbornly refusing to turn red. Beneath the soil, potatoes and root vegetables are waiting to be discovered.

It feels like the garden is emptying its cupboards before winter.

And after months of sowing, planting, watering, weeding, feeding and occasionally staring accusingly at slugs, October brings one of the great pleasures of growing your own food:

bringing it indoors and eating it.

So, put on your boots, find the garden fork and let’s see what’s ready to harvest from the vegetable garden this October.

Pumpkins

Nothing says October quite like a pumpkin.

If you planted yours in spring, those tiny seeds may by now have produced great sprawling plants and fruits that appear to have been designed specifically to test the structural integrity of a wheelbarrow.

Pumpkins are generally ready when they’ve developed their mature colour and the skin has hardened.

Try pressing a fingernail gently into the skin. If it resists, that’s a good sign.

The stalk should also be becoming hard and woody.

Harvest before severe frost arrives. Cut through the stalk rather than pulling the pumpkin from the plant, leaving a good length attached.

And handle them carefully.

A pumpkin with damaged skin won’t store as well as an undamaged one.

If you intend to store pumpkins, allow them to cure somewhere warm and dry first, then keep them somewhere cool, dry and well ventilated.

Of course, you could simply turn yours into soup.

Or curry.

Or pie.

Or put it outside the front door, carve a face into it and promise yourself that this year you really will use the flesh rather than discovering it collapsing sadly on 3 November.

Winter squash

Squash are another of October’s great harvests.

Butternut, Crown Prince, acorn squash and the many other varieties grown in British gardens should be reaching maturity now.

Like pumpkins, winter squash need mature, hardened skins if they’re going to store well.

Cut them from the plant with some stalk attached and treat them gently.

Stored properly, some winter squash will keep for months, which makes them one of the garden’s great winter gifts.

One afternoon’s harvesting can provide soup, risotto, curry and roasted vegetables for weeks to come.

And they sit rather beautifully on a kitchen shelf while they’re waiting.

Not many vegetables can double as interior decoration.

Maincrop potatoes

If you still have maincrop potatoes in the ground, October is the time to think about getting them up.

Choose a reasonably dry day if possible.

Cut back any remaining foliage and carefully work a fork into the soil some distance away from the plant, then lift.

And there they are.

Hopefully.

Digging potatoes remains one of gardening’s most enjoyable jobs because you never quite know what’s underneath.

It’s vegetable treasure hunting.

You will inevitably spear at least one perfectly good potato with the fork.

This appears to be compulsory.

Set damaged potatoes aside to use first rather than storing them.

Potatoes intended for storage should be dry and undamaged. Keep them somewhere cool, dark and frost-free.

Light turns potatoes green, and green potatoes shouldn’t be eaten.

Leeks

October is when leeks begin earning their keep.

Unlike tender summer vegetables, leeks aren’t terribly bothered by the arrival of colder weather.

In fact, many varieties can remain in the ground through winter, allowing you to harvest them as you need them.

That’s extremely convenient because the soil is effectively doing the storage for you.

Lift leeks carefully with a fork rather than simply tugging at the leaves.

Then comes the important part.

Wash them.

Properly.

Leeks possess an extraordinary ability to conceal soil between their layers. However clean they appear, there is always a little more earth somewhere inside.

Slice them lengthways and rinse thoroughly.

Then turn them into leek and potato soup, cheesy baked leeks, pies, stews or anything involving butter.

Leeks and butter understand one another.

Carrots

Depending on when you sowed them and the varieties you’re growing, there may still be carrots ready to lift.

Pull smaller ones gently by their tops if your soil is loose.

For larger carrots or heavier soil, loosen the earth with a fork first.

Otherwise, you’ll confidently pull and find yourself holding an impressive handful of foliage while the carrot remains underground.

Carrots can stay in the ground into colder weather in many gardens, although slugs and carrot fly can make prolonged storage in the soil less appealing.

If you’re lifting a crop for storage, remove the foliage and keep sound roots somewhere cool.

But freshly dug carrots are so good that storage may be academic.

Scrub one, slice it and taste it.

It’s remarkable how sweet a carrot can be when it hasn’t spent several days travelling around the country in a plastic bag.

Beetroot

Beetroot is another root crop that may still be waiting patiently in the soil.

Lift roots once they’ve reached a useful size.

They don’t need to become enormous.

In fact, smaller beetroot are often more tender.

Twist off the leaves rather than cutting too close to the root, which can cause the beetroot to ‘bleed’ its deeply coloured juice during cooking.

And that juice gets everywhere.

Hands.

Chopping boards.

Tea towels.

The one pale item of clothing you inexplicably decided to wear while preparing beetroot.

Roast the roots, pickle them, make soup or pair them with goat’s cheese.

Don’t automatically throw away young, healthy leaves either – they can be cooked much like chard.

Chard

If you grow Swiss chard, October can still provide beautiful handfuls of leaves.

And what a useful plant it is.

Unlike lettuces, which can behave as though anything other than perfect conditions constitutes a personal attack, chard is impressively robust.

Harvest the outer leaves first, cutting them near the base and leaving the younger centre leaves to continue growing.

In mild conditions, plants may keep producing well beyond October.

Cook the leaves like spinach.

The stalks take a little longer, so chop them and start cooking those first.

Rainbow chard also has the considerable advantage of looking so beautiful that you can briefly pretend your vegetable patch was planned entirely for aesthetic purposes.

Spinach

Autumn spinach can provide fresh green leaves when much of the summer garden is fading.

Pick the outer leaves as you need them and allow the centre of the plant to continue growing.

Smaller leaves are lovely raw.

Larger ones can be wilted into curries, pasta, soups and omelettes.

And remember that a bowl apparently overflowing with spinach will cook down into roughly a tablespoon and a half.

This is one of the immutable laws of the kitchen.

Kale

Kale really comes into its own as temperatures fall.

It is one of the vegetables worth leaving where it is rather than feeling you must harvest the whole crop in October.

Pick lower and outer leaves as required, leaving the central growing point intact.

The plants can continue supplying leaves through winter, depending on variety and conditions.

Kale is wonderful added to hearty soups, stews, pasta and curries.

Or roast the leaves until crisp.

Just don’t attempt to eat a kale crisp while wearing a black jumper unless you’re prepared to explain the green confetti for the rest of the day.

Cabbage

Autumn cabbages may be ready to cut now, while winter varieties can continue standing in the garden.

A mature cabbage should form a firm head.

Use a sharp knife to cut it at the base.

And if your memories of cabbage involve something greyish being boiled for 45 minutes, it deserves another chance.

Shred it and cook quickly in butter.

Make coleslaw.

Stir-fry it.

Braise red cabbage with apples.

The problem was never cabbage.

It was what we did to cabbage.

Courgettes and marrows

If the weather has remained mild, you may still find the odd courgette hanging on.

Or, more realistically, you may discover that a courgette you failed to notice has quietly become a marrow roughly the size of a dachshund.

Pick the remaining fruits before cold weather finishes the plants.

Small courgettes are generally the most tender.

Larger specimens can be stuffed, added to soups and chutneys, or grated into cakes.

And if you’ve grown courgettes this year, you may by now be at the stage where you’ve stopped offering them to friends because your friends have started avoiding eye contact.

French and runner beans

In milder areas, there may still be a final picking of beans.

Harvest any tender pods worth eating and enjoy them while they last.

But don’t be too disappointed when production stops.

Beans have worked hard.

They deserve retirement.

If you’re saving seed from suitable non-F1 varieties, allow selected pods to mature and dry fully on the plants where conditions permit, then collect and store the dried seed somewhere cool and dry.

When clearing finished bean plants, consider cutting them off at ground level rather than pulling the entire root system out.

The roots can be left to break down in the soil.

One less job.

Always welcome.

Tomatoes

October tomatoes can become something of a battle of wills.

You stand looking at the plant.

The tomato remains green.

You explain that summer has finished.

The tomato remains green.

Before cold and damp weather takes over, gather the remaining fruit.

Any ripe tomatoes can come straight into the kitchen.

Green ones can be brought indoors to ripen, or used as they are.

And yes, this is the moment for green tomato chutney.

Even people who have never previously expressed the slightest interest in chutney can become remarkably enthusiastic when faced with two kilograms of unripe tomatoes.

Lettuce and salad leaves

Don’t assume salad season has completely disappeared.

Hardier lettuces and autumn salad leaves can continue producing in October, particularly in sheltered gardens or under cloches.

Harvest individual outer leaves where possible rather than taking the whole plant.

That way, the centre can continue growing.

Rocket, mizuna, mustard leaves and other hardy salads can also bring fresh flavour to a month increasingly dominated by soup.

Although there is nothing wrong with soup.

October and soup are practically engaged.

Parsnips

Parsnips may be large enough to harvest in October, but there’s no great hurry.

They are hardy and can remain in the ground well into winter.

Traditionally, gardeners often say that frost improves their flavour, and cold conditions can encourage the roots to become sweeter.

So unless you desperately need the space, you can leave them where they are and lift them as required.

One practical consideration: digging parsnips from frozen ground in January is considerably less romantic than it sounds.

If a hard freeze is forecast, either lift some in advance or protect the soil with a layer of mulch to make harvesting easier.

Brussels sprouts

Depending on the variety and when they were planted, early Brussels sprouts may be approaching picking size.

Start at the bottom of the stalk, taking firm, tightly closed sprouts and allowing those higher up to continue developing.

Remove yellowing leaves as you go.

And don’t boil sprouts until the entire house smells as though something has gone terribly wrong.

Steam them, roast them or shred and fry them.

Add chestnuts or bacon if you like.

The Brussels sprout has endured enough reputational damage.

What should you leave in the ground?

October isn’t about stripping the garden bare.

Some vegetables are perfectly happy to stay outside.

Depending on your varieties, soil and local conditions, leeks, kale, parsnips, winter cabbage and Brussels sprouts can all continue into winter.

That’s one of the joys of growing winter vegetables.

Your garden becomes a rather muddy outdoor larder.

Harvest what is ready, but don’t feel obliged to bring everything indoors simply because the calendar says October.

What needs harvesting before frost?

The crops to prioritise are the tender ones and those that won’t appreciate prolonged cold and wet.

Keep an eye particularly on:

pumpkins and winter squash
remaining courgettes and marrows
tender beans
outdoor tomatoes
potatoes still sitting in wet soil

October weather varies enormously across Britain.

A sheltered garden in the south may carry on cropping long after a more exposed plot further north has experienced its first proper frost.

The garden, rather than the date, should always have the final say.

Don’t waste the odds and ends

One of the pleasures of an October harvest is that it lends itself wonderfully to meals where precise quantities don’t matter very much.

Three carrots, one leek and half a squash?

Soup.

A handful of kale, potatoes and onions?

A hearty hash.

Courgette, tomatoes and beans?

Stew.

Beetroot and carrots?

Into the roasting tin.

Growing vegetables teaches you to cook with what you’ve got rather than deciding on a recipe first and buying twelve separate ingredients for it.

It’s an old-fashioned habit worth rediscovering.

Clear as you harvest

As crops finish, clear away tired foliage and healthy plant material and add it to the compost heap.

Diseased material is better dealt with separately according to the particular problem rather than automatically composted.

Then look after the newly empty soil.

A layer of homemade compost or other suitable organic mulch will protect the surface and gradually improve the soil.

There is something deeply satisfying about putting a vegetable bed to bed for winter.

Particularly when you know the freezer, cupboards and kitchen are full of what came out of it.

The last great harvest of the year

October feels like a turning point.

The frantic growth of summer is over.

There are fewer jobs demanding attention and increasingly more reasons to retreat indoors when it starts raining sideways.

But the vegetable garden hasn’t finished yet.

There are potatoes beneath the soil.

Pumpkins among the leaves.

Leeks standing through the cold.

Kale waiting patiently for winter.

And perhaps one final tomato resolutely refusing to ripen.

So take a basket outside.

Harvest what is ready.

Leave the hardy crops to carry on.

And don’t worry if your vegetables aren’t perfectly shaped.

A forked carrot, knobbly potato or oddly shaped squash may never have passed a supermarket beauty contest.

But bring it inside, wash the soil off and cook it for dinner, and you’ll remember one of the very best things about having a vegetable garden.

You grew that.

And in October, you finally get to eat it.

Not sure where to start? Take a look at our Grow Your Own Packs with detailed step by step instructions, seeds and 1 years online support.

Recycle Week: Useful Things in the Vegetable Garden

There is something quietly satisfying about finding a second purpose for an ordinary object. A yoghurt pot becomes a home for a seedling, a cardboard box disappears beneath a new vegetable bed, and the cardboard tube from a loo roll provides just enough depth for the first roots of a young bean.

Recycle Week, which runs from 14 to 20 September 2026, is a timely reminder to look again at the everyday things we throw away. This year’s campaign is about ‘rescuing’ recyclable items from the general rubbish bin – but, for gardeners, there is another possibility too.

Before something reaches the recycling bin, could it have one more useful life in the vegetable garden?

A productive garden has always been a place of resourcefulness. Gardeners save seed, make compost, mend tools and find uses for things that might otherwise be discarded. Long before ‘reuse’ became part of our everyday vocabulary, an old container on the potting bench was simply too useful to throw away.

Here are a few household cast-offs worth rescuing.

Cardboard boxes

A delivery box may not look like gardening material, but plain brown cardboard can be remarkably useful.

Remove plastic tape, labels and staples and flatten the box. Sheets of cardboard can be laid over grass and weeds when creating a new vegetable bed, with compost or other organic material placed over the top. As the months pass, the cardboard softens and gradually breaks down.

Smaller pieces of plain cardboard can also be torn up and added to the compost heap. They provide useful carbon-rich ‘brown’ material, particularly when mixed with grass clippings, vegetable peelings and other wetter ingredients.

The important word here is plain. Avoid heavily coated, plasticised or glitter-covered card.

Loo roll tubes

Few household objects lend themselves quite so neatly to the potting bench.

Cardboard loo roll tubes can be filled with peat-free compost and used for sowing individual seeds. Their depth makes them particularly handy for plants that quickly produce a good root system, such as peas and beans.

Stand the tubes closely together in a tray so that they don’t fall over, and keep an eye on watering – cardboard pots can dry out surprisingly quickly.

When planting time arrives, the softened cardboard can be planted with the seedling, making sure that none is left protruding above the soil where it can wick moisture away from the roots.

Yoghurt pots and food tubs

Wash them, pierce a few drainage holes in the bottom and the humble yoghurt pot becomes a perfectly serviceable plant pot.

They’re useful for sowing individual seeds and for potting on young seedlings. Larger food tubs can be pressed into service for mixing small quantities of compost, collecting berries or keeping plant labels together.

The advantage is that they can be washed and used again and again.

Eventually, of course, plastic becomes brittle or damaged. That’s the point to check whether your local authority accepts that particular type of plastic for recycling rather than consigning it automatically to the rubbish.

Fruit and vegetable punnets

Those clear plastic punnets that arrive with tomatoes, berries and other fruit and vegetables can be particularly useful during the sowing season.

A punnet with a clear lid makes a simple miniature propagator. Sow into a suitable container inside it, close the lid to retain warmth and moisture, and ventilate regularly once seedlings appear.

Punnets without lids can still earn their keep. Use them to organise seed packets, hold plant labels or carry freshly picked strawberries, raspberries and other small crops back to the kitchen.

Newspaper and brown packing paper

Paper has plenty of uses before it reaches the recycling collection.

Newspaper can be useful when you’re potting up plants, providing a temporary covering for the bench and making spilled compost much easier to gather afterwards.

Sheets can also be used beneath organic mulches to help suppress annual weeds, while clean paper can be shredded and added in modest quantities to the compost heap.

Brown packing paper can be treated in much the same way, provided it is plain paper without plastic coatings or excessive sticky tape.

Glass jars

Don’t be too quick to put every jam jar into the bottle bank.

Clean, dry jars make excellent containers for home-saved seed. Beans, peas and many flower seeds can be labelled with the variety and year and stored somewhere cool, dry and dark until sowing time returns.

Jars are equally useful in the shed for keeping small objects together – although glass and busy potting benches aren’t always the happiest combination, so keep them somewhere secure.

Ordinary jars are less suitable as plant pots. They have no drainage holes, and waterlogged compost is rarely good news for a vegetable seedling.

Food tins

Washed food tins make handy containers for pencils, labels, string and the collection of miscellaneous objects that inevitably gathers on a potting bench.

There is more caution needed here than with a yoghurt pot. Cut metal can leave extremely sharp edges, so check tins carefully before reusing them and keep them away from places where children may reach them.

For that reason, I prefer tins as storage containers rather than plant pots. When they are no longer useful, they can return to the recycling system.

Egg boxes

Cardboard egg boxes are another useful addition to the gardener’s collection.

They are particularly good for chitting seed potatoes. Sit each potato in its own compartment with the end carrying the most ‘eyes’ uppermost, and leave the box somewhere light, cool and frost-free while the shoots develop.

They’re also handy for sorting seeds and labels during a sowing session.

You can sow directly into the individual compartments, although their small volume means compost dries rapidly and seedlings soon need moving into something larger. For most purposes, I find their other gardening uses rather more practical.

Once an egg box becomes too battered for another season, plain cardboard versions can be torn up for the compost heap.

Plastic bottles

Clean plastic drinks bottles are surprisingly versatile in the vegetable garden.

Carefully remove the bottom from a large clear bottle and it can become a miniature cloche for a newly planted seedling. It offers some protection from wind and cooler conditions while the plant establishes.

Leave the cap off for ventilation and keep an eye on the weather. Even a small plastic cloche can become remarkably warm when the sun appears.

Bottles can also be adapted for watering containers and growbags, particularly during the warmer months.

Only reuse bottles that originally contained food or drink. Containers that have held household chemicals, cleaning products or other potentially harmful substances have no place around edible crops.

Old cotton clothing

Not everything worth rescuing needs to become a plant pot.

A worn-out cotton T-shirt can be cut into soft strips for tying tomatoes and other plants to supports. Unlike thin string, a broad strip of fabric spreads the pressure across the stem and is less likely to cut into tender growth.

Old cotton fabric can also become cleaning cloths for the greenhouse or shed.

Avoid synthetic fabrics for garden ties where possible. As they deteriorate, they can leave small pieces of plastic behind.

Paper bags

The paper bags that increasingly come home with fruit, vegetables and bakery purchases can have another outing too.

Once completely dry, they are useful for collecting and drying seeds. Place seed heads in a labelled paper bag and keep them somewhere airy and dry. As they finish drying, many seeds will naturally fall from their pods or flower heads into the bag.

Unlike sealed plastic, paper allows moisture to escape – important when you’re trying to store seed rather than grow a crop of mould.

A useful second life – not a second rubbish bin

There is a balance to be struck.

Reusing household objects shouldn’t mean filling the greenhouse with dozens of pots, tubs and containers that will never actually be used. A cracked yoghurt pot you don’t need hasn’t been rescued simply because it has moved from the kitchen bin to the garden shed.

Keep the things that genuinely have a purpose. Use them for as long as they remain useful. Then, when they’ve reached the end of that second life, recycle them where local facilities allow.

It is also worth remembering that recycling collections differ between local authorities.

The gardener’s habit of looking twice

Perhaps the most useful thing to take from Recycle Week isn’t a complicated new system at all. It is simply the habit of looking at something twice before throwing it away.

Could that cardboard help create a new vegetable bed?

Could the yoghurt pot raise next year’s tomatoes?

Could the jar hold seeds from this summer’s beans?

Could an old T-shirt support those tomatoes rather than being thrown away?

And if the answer is no, can the item be recycled instead?

Gardens are already places of renewal. Fallen leaves become leaf mould, vegetable peelings become compost, compost feeds the soil, and this year’s plants provide seeds for the next.

Giving an everyday household object another useful life fits rather neatly into that rhythm.

Sometimes rescuing something from the bin is as simple as carrying it out through the back door.

Not sure where to start? Take a look at our Grow Your Own Packs with detailed step by step instructions, seeds and 1 years online support.

The Cut Flower Garden in September: What to Pick, Sow & Do

September can feel like the beginning of the end in the cut flower garden. Dahlias are still producing armfuls of flowers, cosmos is often at its best and the last sweet peas may be hanging on, but mornings are cooler, evenings are drawing in and the garden has begun its slow turn towards autumn.

Yet this is also a month for beginnings.

A little time spent sowing flower seeds in September can bring some of the earliest and strongest flowers to the cutting garden next year. Cornflowers, larkspur and love-in-a-mist can all be started now, along with the delicate white umbels of ammi and the cheerful flowers of calendula.

These are hardy annuals: plants capable of germinating in autumn, surviving the winter as young plants and bursting back into growth when warmth and light return in spring. Autumn-sown hardy annuals will often flower earlier than those sown in spring, extending the cutting season and providing flowers while later sowings are still gathering strength.

There is something rather pleasing about it. Just as this year’s garden begins to fade, next year’s flowers are already quietly under way.

Preparing a cut flower bed for autumn sowing

Choose a reasonably open, sunny part of the garden. Most annual cut flowers flower best with plenty of light, and good drainage becomes particularly important for seedlings that have a British winter ahead of them.

Begin by clearing away weeds and the remains of previous crops. Perennial weeds are worth removing thoroughly now; it is much easier than trying to disentangle them from young flower seedlings next spring.

Prepare the surface so that it is reasonably fine, level and crumbly. Break up large clods and rake the ground gently before firming it.

Resist the temptation to lavish fertiliser on the bed. Hardy annuals generally do not require especially rich ground and overly fertile soil can encourage plenty of lush foliage at the expense of flowers.

It is useful to mark out short rows with a cane and label each one as you sow. Straight rows may look rather regimented in autumn, but they make it considerably easier to distinguish your emerging flowers from weeds.

Make a shallow drill, sow the seed thinly and cover according to the instructions on the seed packet. Water gently with a watering can fitted with a fine rose if the ground is dry.

And then, largely, leave them to it.

The soil is still holding some of summer’s warmth, while September usually brings increasing moisture. Seeds germinate, put down roots and establish themselves before colder weather slows their growth.

In exposed gardens or during particularly severe weather, young seedlings can be given some protection with horticultural fleece or a cloche. The greatest enemy is often not cold, however, but prolonged wet. Good drainage matters.

It is also sensible not to sow every seed you own. Keep some in the packet for spring. A second sowing in March or April provides both insurance against winter losses and a later succession of flowers.

Cornflower – Centaurea cyanus

Few flowers give a cutting garden quite such an unmistakable touch of early summer.

The cornflower is a slender hardy annual, traditionally bearing intensely blue flowers on fine branching stems. Garden varieties now extend through white, pink, mauve and very dark plum, but the clear blue remains difficult to resist.

Sow cornflowers directly into prepared ground in September, scattering the seed thinly along shallow drills. Once the seedlings are established, thin them so that individual plants have enough room to branch and develop.

Autumn-sown plants establish strong root systems and can produce wonderfully useful early stems for cutting.

Cornflowers also carry a fragment of Britain’s agricultural history. They were once familiar flowers of arable fields, growing among cereal crops alongside poppies and corn marigolds. Changes in farming greatly reduced their presence in the countryside, making their vivid blue flowers far less common in the wild than they once were.

In the cutting garden, however, they remain delightfully uncomplicated.

Cut them as the flowers are beginning to open and keep picking. The more regularly the plants are cut and deadheaded, the longer they tend to continue flowering.

Love-in-a-mist – Nigella damascena

If cornflowers bring colour, love-in-a-mist brings texture.

The wonderfully named Nigella damascena produces delicate flowers, most commonly blue or white, held among a haze of finely divided, almost feathery foliage. It is this soft green ruff surrounding the flowers that gives the plant its romantic common name.

Nigella is one of the easiest hardy annuals to grow. Sow it directly where it is to flower, as it is happier without too much disturbance.

It is also a flower with two lives in the cutting garden.

First come the flowers, beautifully airy among larger blooms. Leave some uncut, however, and they develop into distinctive inflated seed pods. These are excellent in fresh arrangements and can also be dried for winter use.

Nigella is an enthusiastic self-seeder, so once it has found a place it likes, you may discover seedlings appearing of their own accord in subsequent years.

For many gardeners, that is part of its charm.

Larkspur – Consolida species

For height and elegance, sow larkspur.

Closely resembling small annual delphiniums, larkspur produces tall stems lined with flowers in blue, violet, pink and white. Its vertical form makes it particularly useful in a mixed arrangement, where it provides the height that a vase of round, daisy-shaped flowers can otherwise lack.

September is an excellent opportunity to sow it.

Larkspur germinates readily in cooler conditions and can be sown directly into shallow drills in prepared soil. Avoid crowding the seedlings; plants given sufficient room tend to develop stronger, more useful stems.

The botanical relationship with delphiniums explains the family resemblance. Larkspur was once commonly included within the genus Delphinium, although annual larkspurs are now generally placed within Consolida.

The flowers can be used fresh, but they are also valuable for drying. Hang good stems upside down somewhere dry and airy and they can retain a surprising amount of their colour.

One note of caution: larkspur is poisonous if eaten, so it should not be confused with edible flowers or used to decorate food.

Bishop’s flower – Ammi majus

Every cutting garden needs flowers that do not demand to be the centre of attention.

Ammi majus is one of the best.

Tall, branching stems carry flat, lace-like heads made up of countless tiny white flowers. They have something of the appearance of cow parsley and bring the same lightness to a vase, weaving between roses, dahlias and other larger flowers without overwhelming them.

Florists often call these sorts of flowers ‘fillers’, but that rather understates their importance. A few stems of ammi can transform a bunch of individually beautiful flowers into something that feels like a proper arrangement.

Sow Ammi majus directly in September and thin the seedlings once established. Plants can become surprisingly substantial, so allow them space.

Botanically, ammi belongs to the carrot family, Apiaceae. The characteristic umbrella-shaped flower heads of this family are known as umbels – the same distinctive structure seen in cow parsley, fennel and wild carrot.

Left in the garden, the flowers are also attractive to a variety of visiting insects.

Pot marigold – Calendula officinalis

Calendula is one of those plants that earns its place many times over.

Its yellow, gold and orange flowers bring warmth to the cutting garden and continue producing over a remarkably long season if regularly picked. There are also softer apricot, cream and bronze-flowered varieties for gardeners who prefer a more muted palette.

Sow Calendula officinalis directly into the soil in September. It germinates readily and is generally forgiving, making it an excellent flower for anyone trying autumn sowing for the first time.

Its common name, pot marigold, distinguishes it from the unrelated French and African marigolds belonging to the genus Tagetes.

Calendula has been grown in gardens for centuries and has a long history as both a useful and ornamental plant. The petals are edible and have traditionally been used to add colour to food, although flowers intended for eating should, of course, be grown and handled specifically for that purpose.

In the cutting patch, regular picking encourages further flowering.

Few flowers offer quite so much for so little trouble.

Poppies – Papaver species

Poppies bring a different quality to the cutting garden: fleeting, papery and almost impossibly delicate.

Several hardy annual poppies can be autumn sown, including Shirley poppies, Papaver rhoeas, and opium or breadseed poppies, Papaver somniferum.

Their seed is extraordinarily fine. Rather than burying it deeply, sow sparingly onto finely prepared soil and cover only lightly. Poppies dislike root disturbance, so direct sowing where they are to flower is preferable.

For cutting, timing matters. Pick stems when the buds have developed good colour but before the flowers have fully opened. Their vase life is shorter than that of many cut flowers, but what they lack in longevity they make up for in character.

And the plant need not be finished when the petals fall.

The architectural seed heads of Papaver somniferum are superb in arrangements and can be dried for use long after summer has gone.

The familiar red field poppy has a particularly deep connection with the British landscape. Once abundant in disturbed agricultural ground, its scarlet flowers have also become an enduring symbol of remembrance.

Orlaya – Orlaya grandiflora

For those who love white flowers, Orlaya grandiflora deserves a place.

Its intricate white flower heads resemble exceptionally fine lace. Around the outside of each umbel sit enlarged outer petals, giving the flowers a more defined, ornamental appearance than the softer cloud produced by ammi.

Like ammi, orlaya belongs to the carrot family, Apiaceae.

It works beautifully as a supporting flower in arrangements, particularly alongside roses, sweet peas and other romantic early-summer flowers.

Orlaya can be autumn sown in well-drained ground, although in colder or wetter gardens it may be safer to sow into modules or pots and overwinter young plants somewhere sheltered.

Its natural distribution lies around the Mediterranean and parts of Europe, which helps explain its preference for sunshine and freely draining soil.

In the vase it has the appearance of something intricate and carefully made, although the plant itself is pleasingly natural.

Quaking grass – Briza maxima

Flowers are only part of a good cutting patch.

Grasses introduce movement, texture and a looseness that is difficult to achieve with flowers alone, and Briza maxima, commonly called quaking grass, is one of the most charming.

Its slender stems carry flattened, heart-shaped spikelets that tremble in the slightest breeze – hence the common name.

Sow directly in autumn and allow the plants to develop into small clumps. By summer, the stems can be cut fresh or left to mature for drying.

They are particularly effective among more substantial flowers, where their dangling seed heads introduce movement without adding visual weight.

A few stems in a vase can make the whole arrangement seem lighter.

Honesty – Lunaria annua

Honesty is familiar to many of us not for its flowers but for what comes afterwards.

The plant produces purple or white flowers, followed by flat, rounded seed pods. As these mature and their outer coverings fall away, a translucent silvery membrane remains – the ‘silver pennies’ that have been gathered for dried arrangements for generations.

Despite the botanical name Lunaria annua, honesty is often grown as a biennial in British gardens, making a leafy plant before flowering the following year.

It is particularly useful if your idea of a cutting garden extends beyond summer flowers. Its dried seed heads can remain beautiful through autumn and winter when little is available to cut outside.

The name Lunaria comes from the Latin luna, meaning moon, a reference to those distinctive round, silvery seed cases.

Sweet peas – Lathyrus odoratus

September also marks the beginning of sweet-pea season – although there is no need to rush.

Sweet peas, Lathyrus odoratus, can be sown in autumn for early flowers the following year. In colder or wetter gardens, October or November sowing under the protection of a cold frame or unheated greenhouse is often preferable to sowing directly into open ground.

Use deep pots or root trainers, as sweet peas quickly develop substantial roots.

The species name odoratus means fragrant or sweet-smelling, and scent remains one of the great pleasures of traditional sweet peas. Modern varieties offer an extraordinary range of colours, but for a cutting garden it is worth seeking varieties selected for both long stems and fragrance.

There is another reason to grow them: picking is positively encouraged.

The more sweet-pea flowers you cut, the less opportunity the plant has to make seed and the longer it is encouraged to continue flowering.

A small autumn sowing can therefore become armfuls of scented flowers by early summer.

Don’t forget the flowers already in your September garden

Sowing is only one September job.

Keep cutting dahlias and cosmos while they are still producing, and deadhead plants that you want to continue flowering. But consider leaving a few seed heads standing too.

Goldfinches and other seed-eating birds will appreciate them, while hollow stems and fading vegetation can provide shelter for insects. A cut flower garden need not be scrubbed clean simply because summer is ending.

There is room for both productivity and a little wildness.

Sow now, flower earlier

Perhaps the greatest advantage of September sowing is not simply stronger plants, but time.

While spring-sown seedlings are only beginning to establish themselves, autumn-sown cornflowers, nigella, calendula, ammi and larkspur already have roots in the ground. As the days lengthen, they are ready to grow.

Not every seedling will survive winter. That is gardening. Wet weather, hard frost, slugs and the occasional misplaced boot all take their share.

Sow again in spring and the two generations will follow one another into flower.

And that is really the secret of a productive cut flower garden: not one enormous sowing, but a succession of small beginnings.

September’s may be the quietest of them all. Beneath the cooling soil, however, next year’s cutting garden has already begun.

Not sure where to start? Take a look at our Grow Your Own Packs with detailed step by step instructions, seeds and 1 years online support.

Green Tomatoes & How to Ripen Them

There comes a point every September when the tomato grower begins negotiating with the weather.

You stand beside the plants, lift a leaf or two and inspect the fruit beneath. There are plenty of tomatoes. Beautiful tomatoes, in fact. Plump, healthy and tantalisingly close to being ready.

There is just one problem.

They are green.

A few weeks earlier, this didn’t seem particularly worrying. August appeared to stretch endlessly ahead, the greenhouse was warm and the tomatoes had all the time in the world to ripen.

Then September arrived.

The mornings became cooler. The evenings began drawing in. The sun sat a little lower in the sky and suddenly those promising green fruits started looking rather less certain.

If this sounds familiar, don’t despair. A crop of green tomatoes at the end of summer is something most vegetable gardeners encounter sooner or later.

And it certainly doesn’t mean the crop has been wasted.

Why are my tomatoes not ripening?

Tomatoes are creatures of warmth.

During high summer, with long days and favourable temperatures, plants grow rapidly and fruit develops well. As we move towards autumn, cooler conditions and shorter days naturally begin to slow everything down.

Ripening isn’t simply about sunshine either. Temperature plays an important part, as does the maturity of the fruit itself.

That enormous beefsteak tomato may simply need considerably longer than the little cherry tomato growing beside it.

Watering and feeding can affect the quality and evenness of ripening too. Tomatoes dislike wildly fluctuating conditions, particularly being allowed to become very dry and then suddenly receiving a great deal of water.

By September, however, the main problem is often wonderfully simple.

Summer is running out before the tomatoes have finished.

Time to stop making more tomatoes

One of the stranger moments in the vegetable-growing year is when you deliberately stop encouraging a plant to grow.

All summer we nurture our tomatoes. We water them, feed them, support them and admire every new flower.

Then autumn approaches and we suddenly have to become rather more practical.

If a cordon tomato is still enthusiastically producing new growth and flowers late in the season, there comes a point when those flowers have very little chance of producing ripe fruit.

This is the moment to concentrate the plant’s efforts on the crop already there.

Remove new flowers that clearly have no realistic chance of producing a useful tomato before the end of the season. If necessary, pinch out the growing tip of cordon tomatoes too.

It can feel rather brutal.

But there is little advantage in asking a plant to produce another dozen tiny tomatoes when you already have twenty perfectly good ones waiting to ripen.

Sometimes good gardening is simply knowing when enough is enough.

Don’t strip away all the leaves

There is a temptation at this time of year to expose every tomato to the sun.

A leaf is in the way, so off it comes. Then another. Before long, what was once a tomato plant resembles a collection of stalks decorated with fruit.

A little tidying is useful.

Remove yellowing, damaged or diseased lower leaves, and foliage can be thinned where necessary to improve airflow and make the crop easier to manage.

But don’t go too far.

Leaves are still doing an important job for the plant, and excessive de-leafing can contribute to poor or uneven ripening.

Think of it as opening the curtains rather than taking the roof off.

Keep watering consistently

September can be deceptive.

There may be rain in the garden, while tomatoes growing beneath glass or in containers remain surprisingly dry.

Keep checking them.

Tomatoes carrying a crop still need water, but consistency matters. Allowing compost or soil to become very dry and then soaking it can encourage fruits to split.

And a split tomato in the damp conditions of early autumn can quickly become a rotten tomato.

Rather than watering automatically, put a finger into the compost or soil and see what is actually happening.

The plant will tell you far more than the calendar.

Should I leave green tomatoes on the plant?

If the plant is healthy and the weather remains reasonably warm, give them time.

September can still produce glorious spells of sunshine, and tomatoes may continue ripening perfectly happily, particularly in a greenhouse.

There is something immensely satisfying about watching the first hint of colour appear on a tomato you’ve been inspecting daily.

Green becomes pale yellow.

Pale yellow becomes orange.

And suddenly, after weeks of apparent inactivity, there is a ripe tomato waiting for breakfast.

But eventually patience turns into wishful thinking.

As temperatures fall and the risk of frost increases, it is better to harvest suitable green tomatoes and bring them indoors than risk losing the crop outside.

Which green tomatoes will ripen indoors?

This is where it helps to look carefully at the fruit.

Not every green tomato is at the same stage of development.

A tomato that has reached, or almost reached, its expected full size and has changed from a hard, dark green to a paler green has a much better chance of ripening successfully indoors.

Very small, hard, immature tomatoes are far less likely to ripen properly once picked.

So don’t judge them simply by colour.

Judge them by maturity.

If they look like proper tomatoes that simply haven’t changed colour yet, they are good candidates for bringing indoors.

How to ripen green tomatoes indoors

You don’t need a greenhouse, elaborate equipment or even a particularly sunny windowsill.

In fact, tomatoes don’t require sunlight to ripen once they have reached the appropriate stage of maturity.

What they need is suitable warmth.

Pick sound, mature green tomatoes and inspect them carefully. Any fruit that is split, bruised, damaged or showing signs of disease should be separated from the rest.

Then place the healthy tomatoes somewhere indoors at a comfortable room temperature.

A cardboard box, paper bag or tray can all work perfectly well.

Check them regularly.

Some will begin changing colour remarkably quickly. Others will take their time.

And inevitably there will be one that decides to rot while you’re not looking.

There always is.

Which is why regular inspection matters.

And yes, you can add a banana

It sounds like one of those gardening tales that ought to begin with somebody’s grandfather and end with a mysterious concoction involving washing-up liquid.

But putting a ripe banana alongside green tomatoes really can help.

The reason is ethylene.

Ethylene is a naturally occurring plant hormone involved in fruit ripening. Bananas release ethylene as they ripen, as do ripe tomatoes and several other fruits.

Put a ripe banana with mature green tomatoes in a paper bag or box and the increased concentration of ethylene can encourage the tomatoes to ripen.

You can use a ripe tomato instead if you have one.

Just remember to check everything regularly.

The aim is beautifully ripened tomatoes, not an interesting biology experiment at the back of the cupboard.

Don’t rely on the sunny windowsill

Generations of us have lined green tomatoes along windowsills in autumn.

It looks rather lovely.

And, given suitable temperatures, those tomatoes may well ripen.

But it isn’t the sunshine doing the important work.

Tomatoes can ripen perfectly well in the dark. Warmth and the fruit’s stage of maturity matter much more than placing it in direct sunlight.

So if every windowsill in the house is already occupied by houseplants, there is no need to start an eviction programme.

Your tomatoes can go somewhere else.

What about tomatoes affected by blight?

This is one occasion when a little more caution is needed.

Tomato blight thrives in warm, wet conditions and can spread rapidly through foliage, stems and fruit.

If a plant has become badly affected, green tomatoes that appear healthy may already be infected.

Bringing a large quantity indoors and storing them together in the hope that they will ripen can therefore result in disappointing losses as apparently healthy fruits begin to rot.

If blight has seriously affected your plants, inspect the crop very carefully and consider using suitable unripe fruits promptly rather than attempting to store them for long periods.

Green tomato chutney suddenly starts looking very appealing.

When green tomatoes should stay green

There is another solution to the problem of a tomato that refuses to turn red.

Stop asking it to.

We become so accustomed to thinking of a ripe tomato as red, orange or yellow that a green one can feel unfinished.

But green tomatoes have a character of their own.

They are firmer, sharper and less sweet than ripe tomatoes, which makes them particularly useful for preserving and cooking.

And this is where the final tomato harvest can become one of the most enjoyable parts of the season.

The annual green tomato chutney

There is something reassuringly traditional about green tomato chutney.

Perhaps it is because chutney belongs to a kind of kitchen gardening in which very little is wasted.

A basket of tomatoes that appeared stubbornly uncooperative outside can be transformed with onions, apples, vinegar, sugar and spices into jars destined for the winter pantry.

The smell fills the kitchen.

The windows steam.

And what looked like the final disappointment of the tomato season suddenly becomes something you’ll be rather pleased to find beside a good piece of cheese in January.

That is one of the great pleasures of growing food.

A harvest doesn’t have to look exactly as you expected for it to be useful.

Green tomatoes aren’t a failure

I think this is worth remembering.

Vegetable gardening has become rather dominated by photographs of perfection.

Perfectly straight carrots.

Enormous pumpkins.

Baskets overflowing with flawless tomatoes.

Real vegetable gardens aren’t quite like that.

There are carrots with two legs, courgettes that hide until they’re the size of cricket bats and tomatoes that remain stubbornly green while the gardener watches the weather forecast with increasing suspicion.

That’s part of it.

Growing your own food isn’t about recreating the supermarket in the back garden.

It’s about learning to work with seasons.

And seasons don’t always behave themselves.

What can this year’s tomatoes teach you?

Before pulling up the plants and putting the supports away, take a moment to think about the season.

Which varieties ripened first?

Which produced the best flavour?

Which struggled?

Did the tomatoes outside perform differently from those under cover?

Were the little cherry tomatoes producing bowls of fruit while your enormous beefsteaks were still considering whether to change colour?

These observations are enormously useful.

If outdoor tomatoes regularly struggle to ripen where you live, choosing earlier or smaller-fruited varieties next year may help. Cherry tomatoes often reach maturity more quickly than much larger-fruited types.

Perhaps you’ll grow fewer plants but give them more space.

Perhaps you’ll try another variety.

Perhaps you’ll finally put up that greenhouse you’ve been thinking about for the past five years.

Every vegetable-growing season leaves notes for the next one.

Sometimes literally, if you’re anything like me.

The last tomatoes of summer

There is something rather lovely about the final tomato harvest.

The vegetable garden has changed by then.

The exuberance of June and July has gone. Bean leaves are yellowing, courgettes have finally slowed down and pumpkins are sitting heavily amongst their fading foliage.

The light is softer.

The mornings smell different.

Autumn is quietly taking possession of the garden.

And amongst it all are those final tomatoes.

Some will ripen outside.

Some will come into the kitchen and gradually change colour in a box.

A few will sit beside a banana.

Others will become chutney, relish or sauce.

But none of them need feel like a disappointment.

Because perhaps the best lesson of the September vegetable garden is that growing food isn’t about forcing the garden to give us exactly what we expected.

It’s about noticing what it has given us – and making something delicious from it.

Even when it’s green.

Not sure where to start? Take a look at our Grow Your Own Packs with detailed step by step instructions, seeds and 1 years online support.

How to Store Your Home-Grown Onion Harvest

There comes a moment in late summer when the onion bed begins to look as though it has simply given up.

The upright green leaves that stood so neatly through spring begin to yellow. One by one, they bend towards the soil until the whole row has taken on the tired, untidy look of a crop reaching the end of its season.

It can be tempting to straighten them.

Don’t.

The collapsing foliage is part of the natural rhythm of the plant and one of the clearest signs that your onions are approaching harvest.

Beneath those fading leaves are bulbs that have spent months swelling quietly underground. Lift them carefully, dry them properly and store them in the right conditions, and that summer harvest can continue feeding the kitchen long after the vegetable garden has moved into winter.

A good crop of onions is worth looking after.

After all, few vegetables work harder in the kitchen.

They begin soups and stews, disappear beneath roast dinners, soften into curries, become chutneys and gravies and sit quietly beneath almost every comforting meal we cook through autumn and winter.

So when the time comes to lift them, don’t hurry the final stage.

Growing the onion is only half the job.

The other half is learning how to store your home-grown onion harvest properly.

Colourful Sketch of Onions Hanging and in Crate.
©sowitgrowitandfeast

When are onions ready to harvest?

Onions are generally ready to lift when their foliage begins to yellow and flop over naturally.

Depending on when they were planted and the variety you are growing, this can happen from summer into early autumn.

Autumn-planted sets are usually harvested earlier, while onions planted in spring or grown from seed may remain in the ground later.

The important word here is naturally.

There was once a common gardening practice of deliberately bending onion leaves over to encourage bulbs to mature.

That is no longer recommended.

Let the plant decide when it has reached the end of its growing cycle.

When most of the foliage has yellowed and fallen over, the bulb is telling you that growth is coming to an end and it is preparing for dormancy.

That is the stage we want for storage.

Don’t leave ripe onions in wet ground indefinitely

Once onions are mature, don’t forget about them.

A spell of fine late-summer weather is useful for harvesting, but prolonged wet conditions can create problems if ripe bulbs remain sitting in damp soil.

Choose a dry day if you can.

If your soil is loose, some onions may lift fairly easily by hand, but using a fork to loosen the soil around them is usually safer.

Push the fork into the earth a little distance away from the bulbs.

Lift gently.

The aim is to loosen the soil rather than spear the onion.

A fork wound that seems insignificant on harvest day can later become the place where rot begins.

Handle onions gently when harvesting

An onion looks solid enough to survive almost anything.

Its storage skin suggests armour.

Yet freshly harvested bulbs bruise surprisingly easily.

Handle them carefully.

Don’t knock bulbs together to remove soil and don’t throw them into a bucket or wheelbarrow.

If loose earth remains around the roots, gently shake or brush it away.

Any onion that is badly damaged should be separated from the storing crop and used first.

There is nothing wrong with eating a bruised or nicked onion if the sound parts are perfectly good.

It simply isn’t a candidate for spending the next several months hanging in the shed.

What does curing onions mean?

Before onions can be stored successfully, they need to be cured.

Despite the rather technical name, curing simply means allowing the bulbs, skins, necks and remaining foliage to dry thoroughly after harvest.

This is an essential stage.

Freshly lifted onions still contain plenty of moisture.

Their outer skins may be soft, the necks succulent and the foliage partially green.

Put them straight into a storage sack and you create ideal conditions for trouble.

Curing allows the outer layers to become dry and papery and helps the neck of the onion close down.

Only then is the bulb ready for longer-term storage.

How to cure home-grown onions

If the weather is warm and dry, lay the freshly harvested onions out somewhere they can dry with good airflow around them.

Wire racks or slatted trays are particularly useful because air can move beneath the bulbs as well as above them.

A greenhouse, covered porch or well-ventilated shed can be invaluable if the British weather refuses to cooperate.

Allow roughly two weeks for onions to dry thoroughly, although conditions matter more than an exact number of days.

Warm, breezy weather may speed things along.

Cool, damp conditions may require longer.

Don’t store the bulbs until they genuinely feel ready.

How do you know when onions are properly cured?

A properly dried onion looks very different from one that has just left the soil.

The outside should feel papery.

The neck should be dry rather than fleshy.

The remaining leaves should have lost their green colour and become crisp and dry.

The roots should also be dry.

Pick up a bulb and turn it in your hand.

It should feel like an onion from the store rather than something freshly pulled from damp earth.

If the neck still feels thick, moist or succulent, give it longer.

Patience now is considerably less frustrating than finding a box of rotting onions later.

What if it rains while onions are drying?

This is Britain.

At some point, it probably will.

If you are drying onions outdoors and rain threatens, move them under cover.

A greenhouse can work well, provided it is ventilated and doesn’t become excessively humid.

An airy shed, carport or other sheltered structure can also work.

The important combination is dry conditions and moving air.

Don’t pile wet onions into a heap simply to get them out of the rain.

Spread them out again as soon as possible so moisture doesn’t become trapped between bulbs.

Should you wash onions before storing them?

No.

Onions intended for storage shouldn’t be washed.

There is no need to make them kitchen-clean before putting them away.

Once the soil has dried, loose dirt can usually be brushed away gently.

Washing introduces unnecessary moisture at exactly the stage when you have spent time trying to remove it.

Leave the dry outer skins in place.

They are part of the bulb’s natural protection.

Wash or peel the onion when it comes into the kitchen for cooking.

Until then, a little earth does no harm.

Which onions should you store?

Once the harvest is thoroughly dried, sort it carefully.

This is where being selective pays off.

Choose your healthiest bulbs for storage.

They should be:

firm
properly dried
free from cuts
free from bruising
without signs of mould or rot
undamaged by pests
without unusually thick, soft necks

Anything questionable goes into the use first pile.

The RHS specifically advises against storing damaged or thick-necked onions because they are more susceptible to decay.

It may feel wasteful to reject an otherwise impressive onion from storage, but you aren’t throwing it away.

You are simply eating it sooner.

Use damaged onions first

Every harvest has casualties.

One onion will have met the garden fork.

Another may have split.

A third will have a soft patch that makes you suspicious.

Keep these away from your best storing bulbs.

Bring usable damaged onions into the kitchen and work through them first.

They can become:

onion soup
chutney
curry
tomato sauce
gravy
caramelised onions
savoury tarts
stews
casseroles

You can also chop and freeze sound onion flesh for future cooked dishes.

A damaged onion does not have to become a wasted onion.

It simply needs a different plan.

Should you cut the tops off onions?

Once onions are completely dry, you can trim the foliage if you plan to store them in trays or net bags.

Leave a little dry neck rather than cutting hard against the bulb.

If you want to make onion strings or plaits, keep the dried foliage attached.

The roots can also be trimmed once they are dry.

What matters most is that everything is thoroughly cured before you start cutting and packing.

Never trim away moist foliage and then immediately place the bulbs into storage.

Give them time first.

How to store onions in trays

Slatted trays are one of the simplest ways to store a home-grown onion harvest.

Arrange the bulbs in a single layer where possible so air can circulate around them.

Avoid making a deep heap.

Single-layer storage makes inspection easy.

You can see immediately if a bulb is beginning to soften or sprout, rather than discovering it weeks later at the bottom of a sack.

Wooden slatted trays, wire racks or suitable vegetable storage trays can all work well.

They are particularly useful if you grow several onion varieties and want to keep them separate.

How to store onions in net bags

Net bags are another excellent option.

The holes allow plenty of air circulation while keeping the harvest together.

Don’t overfill them.

Several smaller bags are better than one enormous, tightly packed bag.

Hang the bags somewhere dry and well ventilated where they are protected from frost.

Net bags also make it easy to label different varieties.

And there is something reassuringly traditional about seeing a row of home-grown onions hanging after harvest.

It is a small visual reminder that the garden has filled the pantry.

How to plait onions for storage

Onion plaits are both practical and beautiful.

They work best when the foliage has dried but remains sufficiently flexible to handle without completely disintegrating.

Begin with several onions and arrange their dried stems together.

Secure the first bulbs firmly, then begin plaiting the foliage.

As you work upwards, add another onion at intervals, incorporating its stem into the plait.

Continue until you have a manageable string rather than an enormous rope that becomes difficult to lift.

Secure the top and create a loop for hanging.

The exact technique matters less than making sure the onions are held securely and aren’t packed so tightly that air cannot move around them.

A well-made onion string hanging in a shed or pantry is one of those useful garden traditions that earns its keep.

Where is the best place to store onions?

Stored onions need conditions that are:

cool, dry, airy and frost-free.

But there is an important difference between onions and potatoes.

Onions are best stored somewhere with some light rather than in complete darkness.

The RHS recommends a light, cool, dry and well-ventilated position and notes that storing onions in the dark can encourage sprouting.

A suitable shed, garage, airy pantry or other cool storage area may work.

The exact location is less important than the conditions.

Don’t place onions somewhere warm and steamy.

Don’t keep them beside a boiler.

And don’t seal them into an airless cupboard where moisture can accumulate.

Think airy storeroom rather than kitchen drawer.

Should onions be kept in the dark?

Not completely.

This is one of the easiest mistakes to make because we often talk about storing home-grown vegetables as though they all need the same conditions.

They don’t.

Potatoes need darkness to prevent greening.

Onions are different.

Once cured, they benefit from a light, cool, dry and ventilated storage place, and complete darkness can encourage sprouting.

That doesn’t mean placing them on a sunny windowsill.

Strong heat and direct sunshine aren’t desirable either.

Think light but cool, rather than either blazing sunshine or a sealed black cupboard.

Keep stored onions dry

Moisture is one of the greatest threats to stored onions.

The bulbs have spent weeks drying for a reason.

Keep them away from leaks, condensation and damp walls.

Good ventilation matters because it prevents stale, humid air from building up around the bulbs.

This is also why plastic bags are unsuitable for long-term onion storage.

They can trap humidity and restrict airflow.

Breathable storage is far better.

An onion wants to be cool and dry.

It does not want to perspire inside a carrier bag.

Protect onions from frost

Stored onions should also be protected from freezing temperatures.

An unheated shed may be perfectly suitable through much of autumn but become extremely cold during a severe winter spell.

If temperatures are expected to fall sharply, check your storage area.

Move the onions if necessary or provide additional protection around the storage space without restricting ventilation around the bulbs themselves.

Garden Organic advises protecting stored vegetables from freezing conditions, while emphasising that well-cured alliums need cool, airy storage.

The aim is coolness.

Not refrigeration by February weather.

How often should you check stored onions?

Regularly.

Don’t hang an onion string in September and forget about it until February.

Every couple of weeks, take a look at the crop.

Feel suspicious bulbs.

Look for:

soft spots
mould
wet necks
unpleasant smells
premature sprouting
signs of rot

Remove deteriorating onions immediately.

One bad onion isn’t guaranteed to destroy everything around it, but leaving rotting material among healthy bulbs certainly doesn’t improve your chances.

Checking the crop takes only a few minutes.

It is one of the easiest winter garden jobs you can do.

Why are my stored onions rotting?

There are several possible reasons.

The bulbs may not have been dried thoroughly before storage.

They may have been bruised during harvesting.

The storage area may be too damp or poorly ventilated.

Or disease may already have been present in the bulbs before they were lifted.

Neck rot, for example, can become particularly obvious during storage.

Good harvesting and curing practices help reduce losses: keep bulbs dry, allow necks to cure properly and don’t store damaged or thick-necked specimens.

If you find a rotten onion, remove it promptly and inspect those nearby.

Why are my onions sprouting in storage?

Eventually, onions want to grow again.

That is what bulbs are designed to do.

Warmth can encourage them out of dormancy, while unsuitable storage conditions can shorten their keeping life.

Complete darkness may also encourage sprouting, which is another reason to keep onions in suitable light, airy conditions rather than treating them like potatoes.

If one or two begin producing green shoots, use them soon.

Sprouting isn’t necessarily an immediate disaster, but the quality of the bulb will gradually decline as stored energy is transferred into new growth.

The onion is preparing for its next season.

You are trying to make dinner.

At that point, dinner should probably win.

How long do home-grown onions keep?

Storage life varies enormously.

The variety matters.

So does planting time, how well the bulbs matured and how carefully they were harvested and cured.

The RHS notes that autumn-planted onions typically store until early winter, whereas spring-planted or seed-raised onions can often keep well into the following spring.

Some varieties are bred specifically for good storage.

Others are better appreciated fresh.

If keeping onions through winter is important to you, choose varieties with storage in mind when ordering seed or sets.

As with potatoes, the pantry begins with the seed catalogue.

Which onion varieties store best?

In general, firm maincrop onions bred for storage will keep better than particularly mild or juicy varieties intended mainly for fresh eating.

When choosing onions for the coming year, look beyond colour and size.

Check the variety description for:

storage ability
resistance to bolting
expected harvest time
disease resistance
suitability for your planting season

If you have enough space, growing more than one variety gives you flexibility.

One can be used fresh through summer.

Another can become the backbone of the winter store.

After a few seasons, you will begin to discover which varieties perform best in your own soil and climate.

Keep a note of how well each variety stores

Gardeners are very good at remembering the enormous onion harvested in July.

We are slightly less reliable at remembering which variety was still perfect in February.

Write it down.

A simple label on each tray might include:

Variety
Harvest date
Storage location

Then make a note later in winter if one variety begins sprouting or softening earlier than the others.

This small amount of information can be incredibly useful when choosing next year’s onions.

Yield is important.

But a slightly smaller crop that keeps beautifully until spring may be far more valuable than enormous bulbs that deteriorate before Christmas.

Can you store red onions?

Yes, although storage life depends on the particular variety.

Red onions should be harvested, cured and sorted in much the same way as other bulb onions.

Dry them thoroughly and keep only healthy, firm specimens.

Some red varieties keep very well, while others are better used sooner.

If you grow both red and yellow onions, store them separately and label them.

That way you can quickly learn which gives you the longest winter supply.

And more importantly, you won’t have to dismantle an entire onion string just because you want one red onion for a salad.

Can you store onions that have flowered?

An onion that sends up a flower stalk has bolted.

This usually results in a thick, firm central stem running through the bulb.

Bolted onions are generally poorer candidates for long storage.

Use them first.

The same applies to onions with unusually thick necks.

They may look perfectly substantial at harvest time, but their structure makes reliable drying and storage more difficult.

Put the best, firmest bulbs into storage and enjoy the rest in the kitchen now.

Can small onions be stored?

Certainly, provided they are mature, sound and fully cured.

Size isn’t the deciding factor.

Condition is.

In fact, smaller onions can be very useful in the kitchen because a whole bulb may be just the right amount for a meal.

If you have a crop containing a mixture of sizes, don’t automatically use the smallest first.

Instead, prioritise any bulbs with damage, thick necks or other signs that they won’t keep.

A small perfect onion is a much better storage candidate than a huge bruised one.

Should onions and potatoes be stored together?

It is better to give them separate storage spaces.

For one thing, their requirements are different.

Potatoes need darkness.

Onions prefer a light, cool and ventilated environment.

They therefore aren’t natural storage companions.

Keeping crops separately also makes inspection easier and reduces the chance that a problem in one group will be overlooked.

Your home vegetable store doesn’t need to be enormous or sophisticated.

Sometimes separate shelves are enough.

Potatoes in their dark sacks.

Onions in airy trays or hanging nets.

Apples arranged elsewhere.

Each crop stored according to what it needs.

What can you do if you don’t have a shed?

You can still store a modest onion crop successfully.

Look for the coolest, driest and best ventilated part of your home.

A cool utility room, unheated spare space or airy pantry may work, depending on conditions.

Avoid warm kitchens and humid areas.

For a small harvest, a wire vegetable rack can be useful because it allows air to circulate around the bulbs.

The basic principles remain the same:

Dry them thoroughly.

Give them air.

Keep them cool.

Keep them away from excessive moisture and frost.

You don’t need an old brick potting shed to store onions.

Though it would admittedly look rather nice.

What if you have too many onions to store?

A successful onion harvest can become surprisingly large.

One row doesn’t look especially dramatic while it is growing.

Then suddenly there are baskets everywhere.

If you have more sound bulbs than you can store properly, preserving some of the crop is a better option than crowding everything into unsuitable conditions.

You might:

make onion chutney
pickle small onions
caramelise and freeze onions in portions
chop and freeze them for cooked dishes
make batches of soup or sauce
share some with friends and neighbours

A glut is only a problem if it is allowed to become waste.

The purpose of growing food isn’t to keep every vegetable until March.

It is to make good use of the harvest.

What to do with onions that won’t store

The sorting table after harvest is often the beginning of several meals.

The perfect bulbs go into storage.

The damaged ones come inside.

Perhaps there are three with fork marks.

One with a thick neck.

Another that split during growing.

Suddenly the evening meal has suggested itself.

Slowly cooked onions can form the base of French onion soup.

They can be caramelised and spooned into a tart.

Combined with tomatoes and courgettes, they become a late-summer sauce.

Mixed with apples and spices, they can become chutney.

Even the less-than-perfect part of the harvest has value.

It just has a shorter journey.

Save your best onions for winter cooking

There is a particular pleasure in using a home-grown onion in January.

By then, the vegetable bed where it grew may look completely different.

Perhaps garlic is pushing thin green shoots through the soil.

Perhaps the bed is covered with compost.

Perhaps frost is sitting silver across the whole plot.

Yet the onion you chop for supper began its life there months earlier.

This is why storing food changes the way a vegetable garden feeds you.

Without storage, the harvest is tied closely to the moment it is picked.

With storage, the seasons overlap.

August onions become December gravy.

September potatoes become January mash.

Autumn apples reappear in winter puddings.

The garden travels into the kitchen long after the plants themselves have disappeared.

How to store home-grown onions: a quick guide

For a successful winter onion store:

Harvest when the foliage naturally yellows and falls over.

Choose a dry day if possible.

Lift bulbs carefully without bruising them.

Dry or cure them thoroughly for around two weeks, allowing plenty of air circulation.

Wait until the skins, necks and foliage are dry and papery.

Don’t wash onions before storage.

Use damaged, soft or thick-necked onions first.

Store only healthy, firm bulbs.

Keep them in trays, net bags or plaits.

Choose somewhere cool, dry, ventilated and protected from frost.

Unlike potatoes, don’t keep stored onions in complete darkness.

Inspect the crop regularly and remove any bulb that begins to deteriorate.

Simple as that.

Most successful vegetable storage isn’t about clever equipment.

It is about harvesting at the right moment and giving the crop the conditions it naturally needs.

From the garden to the winter pantry

Onion harvest day doesn’t have the drama of strawberries or the immediate sweetness of peas eaten straight from the pod.

It is a quieter sort of harvest.

The foliage has faded.

The soil is dry.

You work your way along the row, loosening each bulb and laying it gently down.

At first, the onions still look very much like something that belongs to the garden.

Roots attached.

Dry earth clinging to them.

Long leaves trailing behind.

Then time and air change them.

The skins become crisp and golden. The leaves turn papery. A few are woven into plaits; others settle into trays.

Eventually the harvest is carried indoors or hung beneath the roof of a cool shed.

And there it waits.

Weeks later, perhaps on a wet November evening, you take one down.

The garden outside is dark.

Summer feels a very long way away.

But the knife cuts through the papery skin and releases that unmistakable onion scent.

Into the pan it goes with a little oil.

Then perhaps garlic.

Carrots.

Potatoes.

Stock.

Something warm begins to simmer.

And without making much fuss about it, the vegetable garden has fed you again.

That is what a well-stored harvest gives you.

Not merely onions on a shelf.

But a little piece of summer kept safely for winter.

Not sure where to start? Take a look at our Grow Your Own Packs with detailed step by step instructions, seeds and 1 years online support.

Blackberry & Apple Crumble: An Early Autumn Favourite

There is a point in late summer when the hedgerows begin to change.

Blackberries deepen from hard green beads to glossy purple-black fruit. Apples start to loosen on the tree. The mornings feel cooler, the evenings draw in a little sooner and the kitchen begins to crave something warmer than strawberries and cream.

That is when crumble season truly begins.

A blackberry and apple crumble is one of those puddings that belongs completely to the British autumn. It is simple, generous and forgiving, made from ingredients that often seem to arrive at exactly the same moment.

Sharp blackberries collapse into their juices. Apples soften beneath them. The crumble topping turns golden and crisp, while the edges bubble up around the dish.

And then comes the difficult decision.

Custard, cream or ice cream?

There may be no correct answer.

Why blackberry and apple work so well together

Blackberries and apples are natural companions.

Blackberries bring colour, perfume and a deep, slightly wine-like sharpness. Apples bring body, sweetness and that familiar orchard flavour that makes a crumble feel unmistakably autumnal.

On their own, blackberries can be quite juicy and sometimes rather sharp.

Apples help balance them.

The best crumble has contrast.

Soft fruit beneath. Crisp topping above. Sweetness, acidity and enough texture to stop the pudding becoming heavy.

That balance is what makes blackberry and apple crumble such an enduring favourite.

When are blackberries in season in the UK?

Wild blackberries usually begin ripening from late summer into early autumn, though the exact timing depends on weather and location.

Some hedgerows seem to turn dark almost overnight.

Others ripen gradually, with ripe blackberries appearing beside clusters that are still red and green.

This is part of the pleasure of picking them.

You rarely harvest everything at once.

Instead, you return to the same hedge every few days, gathering the berries that have reached their moment.

A ripe blackberry should come away easily with a gentle pull.

If it resists, leave it.

It will be better another day.

When are apples ready for crumble?

For crumble, you have more flexibility than you do with apples intended for long-term storage.

Slightly imperfect fruit is often ideal.

Windfalls, blemished apples and fruit with the odd bruise can all be used, provided any damaged areas are cut away and the fruit itself is sound.

Cooking apples such as Bramley are excellent because their sharpness balances the sugar and they soften beautifully.

But you can also use eating apples.

If your apples are naturally sweet, simply reduce the sugar a little.

Crumble is a very forgiving pudding.

That is one of its great virtues.

A pudding made for the harvest season

This is the sort of recipe that begins before you reach the kitchen.

Perhaps you have gathered blackberries on a walk.

Perhaps there is an apple tree in the garden dropping fruit onto the lawn.

Perhaps a neighbour has left a bag of apples at the gate.

Whatever the source, blackberry and apple crumble has the feeling of a pudding made from what the season has already given you.

It doesn’t require perfect fruit.

It doesn’t require complicated equipment.

And it doesn’t ask much of the cook.

A bowl.

A knife.

A baking dish.

A warm oven.

That is usually enough.

Blackberry and Apple Crumble Recipe

This recipe serves around 6 people.

Ingredients

For the fruit filling:

500g apples
250g blackberries
50g caster sugar
1 tablespoon plain flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, optional
1 tablespoon lemon juice

For the crumble topping:

175g plain flour
100g cold unsalted butter
75g demerara sugar
50g rolled oats, optional
a small pinch of salt

How to make blackberry and apple crumble

1. Prepare the apples

Heat the oven to 190°C, 170°C fan, Gas 5.

Peel and core the apples, then cut them into small slices or chunks.

Place them into a large baking dish.

Add the lemon juice, sugar, flour and cinnamon, if using, and toss gently so the apples are lightly coated.

The flour helps thicken the juices as the fruit cooks.

2. Add the blackberries

Gently rinse the blackberries if needed and allow them to drain well.

Scatter them over the apples.

Try not to stir them too aggressively.

Blackberries are delicate and will break down naturally in the oven.

A light mix is enough.

3. Make the crumble topping

Place the flour and salt into a large bowl.

Add the cold butter in small cubes.

Rub the butter into the flour using your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.

Stir through the demerara sugar and oats, if using.

You are not looking for perfect uniformity.

A few larger buttery crumbs will make the topping more interesting.

4. Top the fruit

Scatter the crumble mixture evenly over the blackberry and apple filling.

Don’t press it down.

A loose topping cooks more evenly and gives you a better mixture of crisp edges and softer crumbs.

5. Bake

Place the dish into the oven and bake for around 35 to 45 minutes.

The crumble is ready when the topping is golden and the fruit is bubbling around the edges.

If the topping is browning too quickly, loosely cover the dish with foil for the remaining cooking time.

6. Let it rest

This may be the hardest part.

Allow the crumble to stand for 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

The fruit will be extremely hot when it first comes out of the oven, and resting also gives the juices a little time to settle.

Should you cook the apples first?

Usually, no.

If the apples are cut fairly small, they should soften nicely while the crumble bakes.

However, very firm cooking apples can sometimes benefit from a little head start.

If you prefer a very soft fruit layer, cook the apples gently in a saucepan with a splash of water for five minutes before assembling the crumble.

Then add the blackberries and topping as usual.

Both methods work.

The difference is simply texture.

How much sugar should you use?

This depends on the fruit.

Very sharp cooking apples and tart wild blackberries may need a little more sugar.

Sweeter dessert apples may need less.

Taste a small piece of apple before you begin.

If the fruit is already sweet, there is no need to bury it beneath sugar.

The best blackberry and apple crumble should still taste of fruit.

A little sharpness is part of its charm.

Can you use frozen blackberries?

Yes.

Frozen blackberries work very well in crumble.

There is usually no need to defrost them first.

Simply add them to the dish with the apples and allow a little extra baking time if necessary.

The filling may be slightly juicier, but that is rarely a problem.

In fact, freezing blackberries is one of the easiest ways to keep part of the late-summer harvest for winter puddings.

A bag of berries hidden at the back of the freezer can feel like a small gift in January.

Can you freeze blackberry and apple crumble?

Yes.

You can freeze crumble either baked or unbaked.

For an unbaked crumble, assemble the fruit and topping in a freezer-safe dish, wrap it well and freeze.

Bake from frozen, allowing extra time and checking that the centre is piping hot.

You can also freeze cooked leftovers.

Allow the crumble to cool completely before portioning and freezing.

It is a useful way to make the most of an abundant harvest without feeling obliged to eat the whole pudding in two days.

Though, admittedly, that is not always difficult.

Can you make crumble ahead of time?

Yes.

You can prepare the fruit and topping separately and keep them chilled until needed.

Assemble the crumble shortly before baking.

This helps preserve the texture of the topping.

If the crumble sits fully assembled for too long, the fruit juices can begin soaking into the crumbs.

It will still taste good, but the topping may be less crisp.

What is the best apple for blackberry and apple crumble?

Bramley apples are the classic choice.

They have plenty of acidity and soften beautifully during cooking.

But they are not essential.

Other cooking apples work well, and so do many eating varieties.

A mixture can be particularly good.

Try combining one sharp apple with one sweeter variety.

If you are using apples from your own garden and don’t know what variety they are, simply taste them.

A crisp, slightly sharp apple that softens when cooked will usually make an excellent crumble.

Should blackberries be washed before cooking?

If the berries are home-grown or foraged, it is sensible to check them carefully and rinse them gently before use.

Avoid leaving them soaking for too long, as blackberries absorb water easily and can become soft.

Place them in a colander, rinse gently and allow them to drain thoroughly.

Handle them lightly.

They bruise just as easily as they stain.

Foraging for blackberries safely

Blackberry picking is one of the simplest pleasures of early autumn, but a little common sense matters.

Choose berries from clean, accessible places away from heavy traffic, obvious contamination and areas that may have been sprayed.

Avoid taking every ripe berry from one spot.

Blackberries are an important food source for birds, insects and other wildlife.

Pick what you need and leave plenty behind.

The hedgerow is not simply a free supermarket.

It is a living habitat.

Why add oats to crumble topping?

Oats are optional, but they add a lovely nutty texture.

They also make the topping feel slightly more rustic and substantial.

If you prefer a classic fine crumble, leave them out.

If you like a chunkier topping with more bite, add a handful.

You can also include chopped hazelnuts or almonds, though the simplest version is often the best.

Flour, butter and sugar have served crumble perfectly well for generations.

A little cinnamon — or perhaps none at all

Cinnamon pairs beautifully with apples, but use it gently.

You want the spice to support the fruit, not dominate it.

A small teaspoon is usually enough for a family-sized crumble.

You can also leave it out completely.

Fresh blackberries have such a distinctive flavour that there is something to be said for allowing them to speak for themselves.

Other gentle additions might include a little ground ginger or a pinch of mixed spice.

But none are essential.

What to serve with blackberry and apple crumble

Crumble is excellent on its own.

But very few people stop there.

Warm custard is the traditional choice, especially once the evenings begin to cool.

Double cream gives a richer result.

Vanilla ice cream offers that particularly pleasing combination of hot fruit and slowly melting cold cream.

Crème fraîche is good if you want something slightly sharper.

There is no need to choose one permanently.

Autumn is long enough to try them all.

How to stop crumble topping going soggy

A good crumble topping should have some crispness.

There are a few simple ways to help achieve this.

Make sure the butter is cold when you rub it into the flour.

Do not press the topping firmly onto the fruit.

Avoid adding too much liquid to the filling.

And bake until the top is properly golden rather than merely pale.

If your fruit is particularly juicy, the tablespoon of flour in the filling will help thicken the juices.

You can also make the crumble in a wider, shallower dish, which gives more surface area for a crisp topping.

How to make blackberry and apple crumble more economical

Crumble is already one of the most economical puddings you can make.

It is particularly good for using fruit that might otherwise be wasted.

Windfall apples, slightly blemished fruit and blackberries picked from the garden can all become something far greater than the sum of their parts.

Oats can be added to the topping to stretch the flour a little further.

And if you have a large quantity of fruit, prepare extra filling and freeze it for another day.

The best seasonal cooking often begins with making proper use of what is already there.

What to do with leftover crumble

Leftover blackberry and apple crumble keeps well in the fridge for a couple of days.

Cover it once cool and reheat individual portions thoroughly when needed.

And although crumble is generally thought of as pudding, there is no law preventing a spoonful of cold fruit and crumble from appearing beside yoghurt the following morning.

Gardening days sometimes require a substantial breakfast.

Growing your own blackberries

If blackberry picking becomes an annual obsession, you may decide to grow your own.

Cultivated blackberry varieties can produce generous crops and are often easier to manage than vigorous wild brambles.

Many modern varieties are thornless, which makes harvesting considerably more civilised.

Give plants a sunny or lightly shaded position with good soil and enough space to train their long stems.

Blackberries fruit on established canes, so correct pruning and training are important for maintaining productive plants.

A well-managed blackberry plant can provide bowls of fruit for years.

Possibly more bowls than you were expecting.

Growing apples for autumn puddings

Apples are among the most rewarding fruit trees for a British garden.

Even relatively small spaces can accommodate trees grown on suitable rootstocks, and trained forms such as cordons and espaliers can make use of walls and fences.

If you are choosing a tree specifically for cooking, consider how you want to use the fruit.

Some varieties are excellent for pies and crumbles.

Others are better eaten fresh.

Many will do both.

Pollination requirements, final tree size, local conditions and disease resistance are all worth considering before planting.

The right tree can become part of the garden for decades.

From hedgerow and orchard to the kitchen

There is something deeply satisfying about making a pudding from fruit gathered close to home.

Perhaps the apples came from a tree you planted years ago.

Perhaps they came from an old tree that was there long before you arrived.

Perhaps the blackberries were gathered from a lane where you walk every autumn.

By the time the dish reaches the table, the ingredients carry more than flavour.

They carry a little of the season with them.

The cool morning when you picked the berries.

The stain on your fingers.

The apple that dropped into the grass while you stood beneath the tree.

That is what seasonal cooking does particularly well.

It connects the kitchen to everything happening outside it.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use eating apples instead of cooking apples?

Yes.

Eating apples work well in crumble, though they may remain firmer and can be sweeter than cooking apples.

Reduce the added sugar if necessary.

Can I use frozen blackberries?

Yes. Add them directly from frozen and allow a little extra cooking time if needed.

Do I need to peel the apples?

No, but many people prefer peeled apples in crumble because the filling becomes softer.

If the skins are thin and you like a more rustic texture, you can leave them on.

Why is my crumble watery?

Blackberries release plenty of juice as they cook.

Adding a small amount of flour to the fruit helps thicken the liquid.

Allowing the crumble to rest after baking also helps the filling settle.

How long does blackberry and apple crumble keep?

Once cooled, cover and refrigerate leftovers. Eat within a couple of days and reheat thoroughly before serving.

When summer becomes autumn

Blackberry and apple crumble sits neatly between two seasons.

The berries belong to the last generous days of summer, when hedges are still heavy with growth and the afternoons can feel warm.

The apples belong to what comes next.

To cool mornings.

Falling leaves.

Harvest baskets.

The first evenings when turning on the oven feels like a pleasure rather than a chore.

Bring the two together beneath a layer of golden crumble and you have something more than a pudding.

You have the moment the year begins to turn.

Outside, the blackberry leaves may already be tinged with red and a few apples may be lying beneath the tree.

Inside, there is a dish bubbling at the edges and the smell of butter, fruit and warm sugar drifting through the kitchen.

Some recipes belong to every season.

This one belongs to autumn.

Not sure where to start? Take a look at our Grow Your Own Packs with detailed step by step instructions, seeds and 1 years online support.

Runner Bean Chutney: A Taste of the September Garden

By September, the runner bean plants have usually forgotten all sense of restraint.

Their leaves have climbed over the tops of the canes, scarlet flowers still appear among the greenery and, however thoroughly you thought you picked yesterday, another handful of beans seems to have reached full size overnight.

At the height of summer, those first tender beans feel precious.

You carry them into the kitchen, trim them carefully and serve them simply, perhaps with butter alongside new potatoes.

A few weeks later, things can look rather different.

There are beans in the fridge. Beans waiting in a basket. Beans hidden beneath leaves that have somehow grown enormous since Tuesday.

This is the generous problem of the September vegetable garden.

And it is exactly when you need a good runner bean chutney recipe.

Runner bean chutney takes one of the garden’s most abundant crops and turns it into something entirely different: sweet, sharp, gently spiced and rich with the flavours of early autumn.

Put a few jars away now and those September beans can still be appearing beside cold meats, cheese and a thick slice of bread when the garden outside has long since fallen quiet.

Colour Sketch of Runner Bean Chutney.
©sowitgrowitandfeast

Why make chutney with runner beans?

Runner beans might not be the first ingredient that comes to mind when you think of chutney.

Apples, plums and tomatoes perhaps feel more obvious.

But runner beans work surprisingly well.

Their relatively mild flavour absorbs vinegar, sugar and spices beautifully, while their texture gives the finished chutney substance.

Most importantly, chutney provides an answer to the annual question:

What can I do with a glut of runner beans?

You can freeze them, of course.

You can eat them with dinner night after night.

You can give them to neighbours.

But eventually the freezer fills, the neighbours stop answering the door and you begin to suspect another method may be required.

That is when the preserving pan comes out.

The September runner bean harvest

Runner beans are one of the great joys of a productive British vegetable garden.

Pick them young and often and the plants can continue producing over a long period.

By September, however, it is easy to miss a few.

Hidden behind a leaf, a perfectly modest bean can become an impressive specimen seemingly overnight.

For ordinary cooking, the youngest, most tender pods are usually the nicest.

Chutney is more forgiving.

Slightly larger beans can be put to good use, provided the pods haven’t become excessively tough, stringy or fibrous.

Very old pods are better dealt with differently.

Preserving is an excellent way to avoid waste, but it cannot turn an inedibly woody bean into a tender one.

Runner Bean Chutney Recipe

This homemade runner bean chutney is tangy, gently spiced and ideal for using a generous late-summer or early-autumn harvest.

It makes approximately 4–5 medium jars, depending on how far the chutney is reduced and the size of your jars.

Preparation time

About 30 minutes.

Cooking time

Approximately 1½–2 hours.

Makes

Around 4–5 medium jars.

Ingredients

1kg runner beans
500g onions
500ml malt vinegar
300g soft light brown sugar
2 eating or cooking apples, approximately 300g before preparation
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
20g fresh root ginger, peeled and finely grated
2 teaspoons mustard seeds
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon ground allspice
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt

For a little extra warmth, you can also add:

½ teaspoon chilli flakes, optional

Equipment

You will need:

a large preserving pan or heavy-based saucepan
chopping board and sharp knife
wooden spoon
measuring jug
kitchen scales
clean sterilised jars with vinegar-proof lids
ladle or jam funnel

Avoid reactive pans such as unlined aluminium when cooking acidic preserves.

A large stainless-steel preserving pan is ideal.

Method

1. Prepare the runner beans

Wash the runner beans and trim away the stalk ends.

Remove any strings if your variety has them, then slice the beans thinly.

You don’t want enormous pieces in the finished chutney. Small pieces soften more readily and produce a chutney that is much easier to spoon onto a plate later.

If some beans are larger than others, check them carefully.

Discard pods that have become particularly tough or woody.

Set the prepared beans aside.

2. Prepare the onions and apples

Peel the onions and chop them finely.

Peel and core the apples, then chop them into small pieces.

The apples will largely break down during cooking, adding natural body and a gentle fruitiness without making the finished chutney taste particularly of apple.

Prepare the garlic and ginger at the same time.

Once everything begins cooking, it is much easier to have all the ingredients waiting beside the pan.

3. Soften the runner beans and onions

Place the chopped runner beans and onions into your preserving pan.

Add approximately 250ml of the malt vinegar.

Bring gently to a simmer.

Cook over a low to medium heat for around 20–30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft and the runner beans have begun to become tender.

Don’t rush this stage.

Runner beans need time to soften properly. Once sugar is added, vegetables tend to soften less readily, so it is worth making sure they are well on their way before continuing.

If the mixture begins catching on the bottom, lower the heat and add a small splash more vinegar.

4. Add the apples, garlic and ginger

Add the chopped apples, garlic and grated ginger.

Stir everything together and continue cooking gently for another 10 minutes.

The apples will begin to soften and disappear into the mixture.

By now the pan should already smell distinctly less like a vegetable garden and much more like a chutney in the making.

5. Add the spices

Stir in the mustard seeds, turmeric, ground coriander, allspice, black pepper, salt and chilli flakes, if using.

Cook gently for a minute or two, stirring continuously.

The warmth of the pan will begin releasing the fragrance of the spices.

You don’t need an overwhelming amount.

The runner beans should remain part of the character of the chutney rather than becoming merely a vehicle for spice.

6. Add the remaining vinegar and sugar

Pour in the remaining 250ml malt vinegar.

Add the brown sugar and stir over a low heat until the sugar has completely dissolved.

Take your time here.

You shouldn’t be able to see obvious sugar crystals before bringing the mixture towards a stronger simmer.

Once dissolved, increase the heat slightly and bring everything to a gentle boil.

7. Simmer the chutney slowly

Reduce the heat and allow the chutney to simmer uncovered for around 60–90 minutes.

Stir regularly, particularly as the mixture begins to thicken.

Towards the end of cooking, you will need to stir more frequently because thick chutney can catch very easily on the bottom of the pan.

There is no exact minute at which chutney suddenly becomes ready.

Watch the texture.

The vegetables should be soft, the liquid greatly reduced and the mixture thick enough that a wooden spoon drawn across the bottom of the pan briefly leaves a visible trail.

You are looking for chutney, not soup.

Remember that it will thicken a little further as it cools.

8. Taste carefully

Once the chutney has thickened, taste a small amount — allowing it to cool on a spoon first.

Be careful. Hot chutney contains both sugar and vinegar and can cause a nasty burn.

At this stage, the flavour may seem sharper than you expect.

That is normal.

Chutney changes considerably during storage. The vinegar mellows, the spices settle and the individual flavours begin to come together.

If the texture is still watery, continue simmering.

9. Prepare the jars

While the chutney is approaching the end of its cooking time, prepare your jars.

Wash jars and lids thoroughly and sterilise them using a recognised method suitable for preserving.

Keep the jars hot until you are ready to fill them.

Only use jars in good condition, without chips or cracks, and use lids suitable for acidic preserves.

Cleanliness matters enormously when preserving food for storage.

10. Fill the jars

Carefully ladle the hot chutney into the hot sterilised jars.

A jam funnel makes this much easier and considerably less messy.

Leave the appropriate small headspace for your chosen jars and lids, then wipe the rims clean and secure the lids according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Label the jars once cool with the name and date.

Then comes the difficult part.

Don’t open them yet.

How long should runner bean chutney mature?

Freshly made chutney can taste rather fierce.

The vinegar stands at the front, waving enthusiastically, while the other flavours are still trying to introduce themselves.

Time changes that.

Leave your runner bean chutney somewhere cool and dark to mature before opening.

Around four to six weeks will allow the flavours to begin settling together, although a little longer can make it better still.

A jar made in September can therefore be coming into its own just as the weather turns properly autumnal.

That is rather convenient.

What does runner bean chutney taste like?

The finished chutney should be sweet and sour, savoury and gently spiced.

The brown sugar brings caramel notes, while malt vinegar gives it the unmistakable character of a traditional British chutney.

Apple adds sweetness and body.

Mustard seeds bring little bursts of warmth, with ginger, coriander and allspice sitting quietly behind them.

The runner beans themselves become soft and almost relish-like.

It is not fiery unless you choose to make it so.

This is a chutney intended to sit happily beside cheese rather than overwhelm it.

What to eat with runner bean chutney

A jar of homemade runner bean chutney earns its place in the cupboard because it goes with so many things.

Try it with:

mature Cheddar
a ploughman’s lunch
pork pie
cold roast ham
sausage rolls
pâté
cold roast meats
baked potatoes
sandwiches
cheese toasties
savoury tarts

It is particularly good on the sort of lunch that involves a wooden board, thick bread, a wedge of cheese and whatever else can be found in the fridge.

A spoonful can also be added to sandwiches or served alongside sausages.

And if you make enough in September, a jar of homemade chutney makes a lovely addition to a Christmas hamper.

Can you use overgrown runner beans for chutney?

Up to a point.

Chutney is an excellent destination for runner beans that have grown slightly larger than you would ideally choose for steaming or boiling.

But there is a difference between mature and woody.

If the pods are extremely fibrous, stringy and tough, cooking them for longer won’t necessarily produce pleasant chutney.

Use beans that are still sound and reasonably tender.

Very mature runner beans may contain developed beans inside the pods. Depending on their condition and variety, these may be better shelled and used separately rather than putting the tough outer pods into chutney.

The best preserving begins with good produce.

It is a way of extending the harvest, not disguising food that is no longer worth eating.

Can I use green beans instead of runner beans?

Yes, French beans can also work in a similar chutney.

The finished texture will be slightly different, but the principle is much the same.

If you grow both and have modest quantities of each, you can use a mixture.

Gardens don’t always produce ingredients in convenient recipe-sized quantities.

Sometimes the best cooking begins by looking at the basket and adapting.

Can I reduce the sugar?

It can be tempting to reduce the sugar considerably, particularly if you prefer a sharper chutney.

However, sugar in preserves isn’t present purely for sweetness. Along with acidity, cooking and correct storage, it contributes to the character and keeping qualities of the finished preserve.

For that reason, don’t make dramatic changes to vinegar, sugar or ingredient ratios in a recipe intended for longer storage without using a properly tested preserving recipe and method.

If you want a less sweet accompaniment, it is better to seek out a tested recipe specifically formulated that way.

Preserving is one part of cooking where improvisation deserves a little restraint.

Why does chutney need vinegar?

Vinegar gives chutney its characteristic sharpness, but it also has an important preserving role.

Use vinegar with an acidity suitable for preserving and don’t dilute it simply to make the flavour milder.

Malt vinegar works particularly well here because its robust flavour suits runner beans, onions and brown sugar.

You could encounter recipes using cider vinegar or other vinegars, but changing acidity levels in preserves isn’t something to do casually.

Follow a reliable preserving method.

The flavour will mellow during maturation.

Why is my runner bean chutney watery?

Usually, it simply needs more time.

Chutney is cooked uncovered so that excess water can evaporate.

Exactly how long this takes depends on the size and shape of the pan, the moisture in the vegetables and the heat beneath it.

A broad preserving pan allows liquid to evaporate more quickly than a narrow saucepan.

As the chutney thickens, stir increasingly often.

To test it, draw a wooden spoon across the bottom of the pan.

If the liquid immediately rushes back together, keep cooking.

If the spoon leaves a visible channel for a moment, you are getting close.

Why has my chutney caught on the bottom?

Chutney becomes much more prone to sticking as it thickens.

The combination of reduced liquid and dissolved sugar means the final stage needs attention.

Keep the heat low enough to maintain a steady simmer and stir frequently, scraping across the bottom of the pan.

If you smell burning, don’t scrape the burnt layer into the rest of the chutney.

Carefully transfer the unaffected chutney to another pan and continue cooking.

A heavy-based preserving pan makes this considerably less likely.

How should runner bean chutney be stored?

Unopened chutney should be stored according to the safe preserving method and jar system you have used, generally in a cool, dark, dry place.

Label every jar with its contents and the date it was made.

Once opened, keep the chutney refrigerated and follow appropriate food-storage guidance for the recipe and preserving method used.

Before eating any home preserve, inspect the jar.

If there are signs of spoilage, an abnormal smell, mould, unexpected fermentation, a damaged seal or anything else that makes you uncertain, don’t taste it.

Discard it.

A jar of chutney isn’t worth taking chances over.

Make preserving part of the harvest

There is a point in the growing year when simply eating the harvest isn’t enough.

The garden begins producing faster than the kitchen can keep pace.

This is when preserving becomes part of gardening.

The beans you freeze, tomatoes you turn into sauce, apples you store and chutneys you put into jars all extend the productive life of the vegetable patch.

The harvest no longer ends when the plant does.

And there is a practical satisfaction in that.

A packet of runner bean seed bought in spring becomes plants climbing canes in June.

Flowers become beans.

Beans become dinner.

And the surplus becomes jars that can sit on the shelf long after the first frost has taken the plants themselves.

That is quite a journey for a handful of seed.

Growing runner beans for a generous harvest

If you are already thinking about next year’s crop, runner beans are well worth the space.

They need sturdy support and appreciate fertile, moisture-retentive soil.

Regular watering is particularly important when plants are flowering and developing pods.

Once harvesting begins, pick frequently.

Young beans are more tender, and regular picking encourages the plants to keep producing rather than putting their energy into mature seed.

In a productive year, a relatively modest row can provide a remarkable quantity.

Which brings us neatly back to chutney.

There is nothing quite like growing runner beans successfully to make you interested in preserving them.

A jar of September

By the time the chutney is ready to eat, the runner bean plants may be gone.

Their canes will have been cleared and stacked away.

The leaves that once formed a green wall across the vegetable garden will be on the compost heap, and the patch where they grew may already contain garlic, winter salads or simply a layer of compost waiting for spring.

September moves on.

But open a jar of runner bean chutney and part of it returns.

There is the sharpness of vinegar and the warmth of ginger and mustard.

There are onions and apples from the harvest season.

And running through it all are the beans that seemed so impossibly abundant a few months earlier.

Put a spoonful beside a wedge of mature Cheddar, add some crusty bread and perhaps an apple from the store.

Outside, it may be raining.

The vegetable garden may be almost bare.

But on the plate, there is still a taste of September.

That is the quiet magic of preserving your own harvest.

Further Reading: Wonderful Ways to Use Fresh Garden Peas, Grow Your Own Food: Save Money & Eat Well, How to Keep Your Vegetable Garden Productive into Autumn, What to Sow in September: Vegetables, Salads & Herbs

Not sure where to start? Take a look at our Grow Your Own Packs with detailed step by step instructions, seeds and 1 years online support.

How to Store Potatoes for Winter

There is something wonderfully satisfying about digging potatoes.

The fork goes into the soil, the earth lifts and, one by one, pale or pink-skinned tubers begin to appear. There is always another hiding just beyond the first handful, tucked beneath a clod of soil or sitting slightly deeper than expected.

By late summer and early autumn, the potato patch can provide one of the most substantial harvests in the vegetable garden.

And unlike a bowl of raspberries or a basket of courgettes, this is a harvest that needn’t be eaten immediately.

Maincrop potatoes can be stored for months when they are harvested carefully and kept in the right conditions, carrying a little of the summer garden into roast dinners, soups, mash and jacket potatoes throughout winter.

But good storage begins before the potatoes ever reach the shed.

From knowing when to lift them to keeping out light, frost and damp, here’s how to store home-grown potatoes for winter.

Colourful Sketch of Potatoes in Sack and Crate.
© sowitgrowitandfeast

Which potatoes are best for storing?

Not all potatoes are intended for long-term storage.

First early and second early potatoes are prized for their tender skins and fresh flavour, and are generally best eaten relatively soon after harvesting.

Maincrop potatoes are the ones to grow if you want a winter store.

They are left in the ground for longer, allowing the tubers to mature and develop firmer skins. This tougher skin is part of what helps them withstand several months in storage.

The RHS advises that maincrop potatoes can usually be stored successfully for several months, while early potatoes are better used fresh.

So if the dream is a sack of your own potatoes waiting in the shed when January arrives, choose suitable maincrop varieties from the outset.

Winter storage really begins at planting time.

When should you harvest potatoes for winter storage?

Maincrop potatoes are generally ready from late summer into autumn, depending on the variety, planting time and growing conditions.

Rather than relying entirely on the calendar, watch the plants.

As the season progresses, the foliage begins to yellow and die back. Once the plants have finished growing, allowing the potatoes a little extra time in the ground helps their skins mature.

The RHS recommends removing the top growth once it has yellowed, waiting around ten days and then lifting the tubers. Garden Organic similarly advises allowing mature maincrop potatoes time after the haulms have died back so that their skins are well developed before storage.

That mature skin makes an enormous difference.

A freshly formed potato with delicate skin is lovely on a summer plate.

It is less useful when you want it to survive until Christmas.

Choose a dry day for lifting potatoes

If possible, harvest potatoes during settled, dry weather.

It makes the whole business easier.

Dry soil falls away from the tubers more readily, the potatoes are cleaner and there is less moisture to deal with before storage.

Push a garden fork into the ground some distance away from the centre of the plant and lift gently.

Potatoes have an irritating habit of growing just where you were certain your fork wouldn’t land, so give the plant plenty of space.

Once the soil is loosened, search through it carefully by hand.

There is nearly always one more potato.

And often one more after that.

Handle potatoes carefully

Potatoes look robust.

They are not.

A jab from a garden fork, a cut from a spade or even rough handling can damage the skin and create an entry point for rot.

If you are growing potatoes specifically for winter storage, treat the harvest gently.

Don’t throw them into a bucket from a distance.

Don’t tip a full container roughly onto a concrete floor.

Lift, gather and place them down carefully.

The potatoes that survive winter best are generally the unblemished ones.

A little care on harvest day can mean several extra weeks in the store.

Let potatoes dry before storing them

Once lifted, allow the potatoes to dry.

On a dry harvesting day, they can be left on the soil surface for a few hours before being gathered in.

Both the RHS and Garden Organic recommend allowing freshly lifted potatoes to dry for several hours before storage.

You are not trying to bake them in hot sunshine for an entire afternoon.

The aim is simply to allow surface moisture to disappear and loose soil to dry enough to brush away easily.

Once the skins are dry, they are ready to be sorted.

Don’t wash potatoes before storing them

A muddy potato may not look particularly appealing, but resist the temptation to wash it.

Potatoes intended for long-term storage should be kept dry.

Instead, allow soil to dry naturally and then brush away loose earth gently with your hands or a soft brush.

A little dry soil clinging to the skin is far less troublesome than introducing water immediately before storage.

Wash the potatoes when you are ready to cook them.

Until then, let them remain reassuringly earthy.

Sort the harvest carefully

Before any potato goes into winter storage, inspect it.

This is one of the most important parts of the whole process.

Set aside potatoes that are:

cut or pierced
badly bruised
damaged by pests
showing soft patches or rot
diseased
green

Only sound, undamaged potatoes should go into long-term storage.

Garden Organic recommends selecting the best tubers for storage and using damaged ones promptly rather than putting them away with the rest of the crop.

A fork-damaged potato may still be perfectly good to eat that evening.

It simply doesn’t belong in a sack with twenty healthy potatoes for the next three months.

Think of sorting as dividing the harvest into two groups.

Eat now.

And eat later.

Neither pile needs to be wasted.

Never store green potatoes

Potatoes turn green when they are exposed to light.

The green colour itself comes from chlorophyll, but it is an important warning because light exposure can also cause levels of natural glycoalkaloids to increase.

Green potatoes should not be eaten.

This is one of the reasons potatoes must be stored in darkness.

Garden Organic specifically advises keeping potatoes dark to prevent greening, while the RHS recommends discarding green tubers.

If a potato has become significantly green, don’t simply assume peeling will make it suitable for the table.

It is better left out of the kitchen.

Where is the best place to store potatoes?

Home-grown potatoes need somewhere:

cool, dark, dry, frost-free and reasonably well ventilated.

For many gardeners, that means a shed, garage, cellar or suitable outbuilding.

The perfect location will depend on your home.

A shed can work beautifully through a mild autumn but become too cold during a severe winter. A garage may remain more stable but could be too warm if it adjoins a heated house.

The RHS suggests a dry, cool and frost-free location such as a garage.

Wherever you choose, the conditions matter more than the name of the building.

A potato has no particular attachment to sheds.

It simply wants darkness and a fairly steady cool temperature.

Why potatoes need to be stored in the dark

Leave a potato on a sunny windowsill and it begins to change.

The skin turns green and sprouts may begin to develop.

Light is therefore one of the great enemies of good potato storage.

Keep your crop completely dark.

Paper sacks, hessian sacks, covered trays or suitable potato storage bags can all help.

Avoid transparent containers where light can reach the tubers.

Even in a dark shed, it is worth covering exposed potatoes rather than relying on the room itself remaining perfectly dark.

The aim is not dimness.

It is darkness.

What temperature should potatoes be stored at?

For domestic storage, think cool rather than freezing.

Garden Organic advises storing potatoes in the dark at around 5–10°C.

A cool, frost-free outbuilding can therefore work well.

The important thing is to avoid extremes.

Too warm and potatoes will tend to sprout and shrivel sooner.

Too cold and freezing can ruin them.

Storage conditions rarely remain absolutely constant in an ordinary home, but choosing the coolest sensible frost-free location will give you the best chance of keeping the harvest well.

Don’t allow potatoes to freeze

A sack of potatoes tucked into a shed may seem perfectly safe in October.

January can be another matter.

During prolonged freezing weather, sheds and unheated garages can become extremely cold.

Potatoes damaged by frost can develop an unpleasant texture and deteriorate rapidly.

Keep an eye on winter forecasts and insulate stored crops if necessary.

Boxes can be protected with layers of cardboard, hessian or other breathable insulating material, while keeping enough ventilation to prevent condensation.

If your usual storage area is likely to freeze badly, move the crop temporarily to a more suitable location.

A good potato store should be cool.

It should not resemble the inside of a freezer.

Paper or hessian sacks work well

There is no need for elaborate storage equipment.

The RHS recommends paper or hessian sacks, as well as slatted trays.

These traditional options work because they help exclude light while allowing some air movement.

Paper potato sacks are particularly convenient if you have a sizeable crop.

Hessian sacks are reusable and breathable.

Slatted trays make it easier to inspect individual potatoes, though they need to be kept properly covered from light.

Whatever you use, avoid packing potatoes into airtight plastic bags.

Moisture trapped in a sealed bag is not your friend.

Don’t overfill storage sacks

If you have harvested a bumper crop, it is tempting to put everything into one enormous sack.

Smaller quantities are often easier to manage.

A heavily filled sack creates pressure on the potatoes at the bottom and makes it more difficult to notice trouble developing inside.

Divide a large harvest between several sacks or boxes.

This makes them easier to move and easier to inspect.

If one group develops a problem, the whole harvest is less likely to be affected.

There is also something rather pleasing about seeing several modest sacks lined up after harvest.

It feels less like storing potatoes and more like stocking a very small farm shop.

Check stored potatoes regularly

Once the potatoes are safely put away, don’t forget about them.

Every few weeks, inspect the crop.

The RHS advises checking stored potatoes regularly for signs of rotting.

Remove anything that has become:

soft
wet
mouldy
badly sprouted
rotten
unpleasant-smelling

A single deteriorating potato can affect those around it.

Checking regularly also gives you a useful sense of how the crop is keeping.

If the potatoes are beginning to soften or sprout more quickly, start using them more generously.

Perhaps it is time for shepherd’s pie.

Why are my stored potatoes sprouting?

Potatoes are living tubers.

They haven’t forgotten how to grow simply because you put them in a sack.

Eventually, their natural dormancy begins to end and shoots appear.

Warmth encourages this process, which is why cool storage is important.

Light also causes problems and must be excluded.

Some varieties naturally store for longer than others, so the potato you grow can also influence how quickly sprouting begins.

By late winter and early spring, some sprouting and shrivelling becomes increasingly likely even under good domestic conditions.

The RHS suggests aiming to use stored maincrop potatoes before early spring, when they are more likely to sprout and shrivel.

A winter potato store is not meant to last forever.

It is there to bridge the seasons.

Can you eat potatoes that have started sprouting?

A small amount of sprouting doesn’t automatically mean a potato must be thrown away, provided the tuber is otherwise firm, sound and not green.

Garden Organic advises that shoots can be removed from non-green sprouting potatoes before preparing them normally.

However, use judgement.

A potato that has become heavily shrivelled, very soft, extensively green or rotten is not worth rescuing.

Good storage is partly about catching potatoes before they reach that stage.

Can potatoes be stored in the fridge?

For ordinary home-grown maincrop potatoes, the better approach is usually a suitably cool, dark domestic storage place rather than simply filling the fridge.

A large crop would quickly take over the refrigerator anyway.

More importantly, potatoes have their own particular storage requirements, and a traditional cool store allows you to manage a substantial harvest much more easily.

Think shed, frost-free garage or another cool dark location rather than the vegetable drawer.

Can you leave potatoes in the ground over winter?

Sometimes gardeners are tempted to treat the vegetable patch itself as storage.

In certain mild, well-drained conditions, potatoes may remain in the soil for a limited period.

But there are risks.

Wet winter ground can encourage rotting. Slugs and other pests may find the tubers. Hard frost can damage potatoes close to the surface.

The RHS notes that potatoes may sometimes be stored temporarily in the ground under protective covering in light soil and sheltered conditions, but advises lifting them in colder areas or wet, heavy soils.

For a dependable winter supply, lifting and storing the maincrop is generally the more practical choice.

What to do with damaged potatoes

A damaged potato isn’t necessarily a wasted potato.

If you accidentally put the fork through one while harvesting, take it indoors and use it first.

Cut away minor damage and cook the sound portion promptly.

A few casualties can become:

mashed potato
soup
chips
wedges
fish pie topping
potato cakes
cottage pie
leek and potato soup

Harvest day often ends with potatoes for supper for precisely this reason.

The damaged ones make the decision for you.

Keep potatoes away from light in the kitchen too

Careful winter storage can be undone surprisingly quickly once potatoes are brought indoors.

Don’t leave a week’s supply in a bright bowl on the kitchen worktop.

Take only what you need from the main store and keep those potatoes somewhere dark and cool until cooking.

It is easy to think of light exposure as a problem that occurs only while potatoes are growing.

It matters after harvest too.

Should potatoes be stored with onions?

Potatoes and onions are often harvested at a similar time.

That doesn’t mean they need to share the same storage container.

Both crops benefit from cool, dry storage, but piling them together makes it harder to inspect and manage each harvest properly.

Keep them in separate sacks or trays.

The same applies to apples and other stored crops.

An autumn store works best when everything has its own place.

Potatoes here.

Onions there.

Apples somewhere else.

It may not look quite like an old estate pantry, but the principle is much the same.

Label your stored potatoes

If you grow more than one variety, label the sacks.

It sounds unnecessary in September.

By February, it becomes surprisingly useful.

Write the variety and harvest date on each sack or attach a simple label.

You might also make a note of how well each variety stores.

Was one still firm in January while another sprouted before Christmas?

Did one variety remain excellent for roasting while another became rather floury?

These observations can help you choose next year’s seed potatoes.

The best variety isn’t always simply the one that produced the biggest crop.

It is the one that works for the way you actually eat.

How long will home-grown potatoes keep?

Properly stored maincrop potatoes can keep for several months.

Exactly how long depends on the variety, the condition of the crop at harvest and the storage environment.

Some will remain firm and useful well into winter.

Others begin sprouting sooner.

Rather than choosing an arbitrary expiry date, inspect them regularly and use the crop progressively.

If one sack is beginning to deteriorate faster than another, use that variety first.

By spring, your potato store should ideally be becoming empty.

Which is no bad thing.

The seed potatoes for the next crop will already be waiting for their turn.

The importance of growing good storing varieties

If winter storage matters to you, think about it when ordering seed potatoes.

Different varieties vary in yield, texture, disease resistance and storage ability.

An excellent salad potato isn’t necessarily an excellent keeper.

A good maincrop variety can give you a substantial harvest suitable for baking, roasting and mashing while also keeping well into the colder months.

This is particularly useful if you have enough garden or allotment space to grow several types.

Early potatoes provide that wonderful first harvest of summer.

Maincrops provide something different.

Security.

A crop that waits.

How to store potatoes for winter: a quick guide

If you simply want the essentials, remember:

Grow maincrop potatoes for storage.

Allow the crop to mature properly before lifting.

Harvest carefully in dry weather where possible.

Let the potatoes dry for a few hours.

Brush away loose soil rather than washing them.

Store only healthy, undamaged tubers.

Discard green potatoes.

Keep the crop cool, completely dark, dry and frost-free.

Use paper sacks, hessian sacks or suitable ventilated trays.

Check the potatoes every few weeks.

Remove any that begin to rot.

And use the crop gradually through winter before heavy sprouting begins in spring.

It isn’t complicated.

But each small step helps.

A winter harvest waiting in the dark

Perhaps the nicest thing about storing potatoes is that there is very little to see.

The excitement happens first.

You lift the plants on a bright autumn day and kneel among the broken soil, searching for every last tuber.

There are potatoes in baskets beside you and dry earth on your hands. Some are enormous. Others are hardly worth peeling. One has inevitably been speared clean through with the fork.

The good ones are dried, sorted and carried away.

Then the sacks disappear into the darkness of the shed.

And there they wait.

Outside, the vegetable patch changes completely.

The bean canes come down. Frost silvers the beds. Winter rain falls against bare soil and eventually the garden seems a very long way from the abundance of August.

But somewhere in the dark there is still a little store of that abundance.

On a cold evening you open the shed, reach into a sack and bring a handful of potatoes back towards the kitchen.

Perhaps they become crisp roast potatoes beside a Sunday lunch.

Perhaps they are mashed with butter.

Perhaps they simmer quietly with leeks into soup.

The plants themselves disappeared months ago, but the harvest continues.

That is the quiet pleasure of storing food well.

The vegetable garden keeps feeding you, even while it sleeps.

Not sure where to start? Take a look at our Grow Your Own Packs with detailed step by step instructions, seeds and 1 years online support.

Empty Vegetable Beds? What to Plant After Your Summer Crops

By late summer, the vegetable garden begins to acquire gaps.

The first potatoes have been lifted, leaving behind beautifully crumbly earth. Pea supports stand bare where only weeks ago they were tangled with flowers and pods. Broad beans have finished, lettuces have been eaten and, eventually, even the courgettes will surrender their patch.

At first, an empty vegetable bed can look rather final.

Another crop finished. Another little sign that summer is slipping away.

But bare soil in August, September or early autumn needn’t mark the end of the growing year. In many cases, it is an invitation to begin again.

The soil is still warm. There is moisture in the air. Seeds can germinate remarkably quickly, and plenty of vegetables and salads prefer the cooler days that follow summer.

So, before covering an empty bed and forgetting about it until spring, take another look.

There may be time for one more harvest.

And where there isn’t, you can still plant something that will protect and improve the soil for the year ahead.

Colour Sketch of Raised Vegetable Bed.
© sowitgrowitandfeast

What can I plant after summer vegetables?

What you plant after a summer crop depends on three things: when the space becomes available, what was growing there before and what you want from the bed next.

A bed cleared in August offers considerably more possibilities than one becoming empty at the end of October.

During late summer and early autumn, you may still have time to sow quick-growing crops such as:

spinach
rocket
radishes
winter lettuce
mizuna
mustard leaves
spring onions
turnips
coriander

As autumn progresses, attention begins to move towards overwintering crops such as garlic and suitable onion sets, as well as green manures and soil improvement.

The important thing is not to sow simply because there is an empty space.

Think about what the season can realistically provide.

Autumn brings cooler temperatures and, more importantly, rapidly diminishing daylight. A seed may germinate beautifully in warm September soil but grow increasingly slowly as the days shorten.

The earlier you can make use of an empty summer bed, the greater your choice.

What to plant after potatoes

There is something particularly satisfying about the patch left behind after lifting potatoes.

The soil has already been thoroughly disturbed during harvesting, and after the final potato has been discovered — usually just when you are convinced there cannot possibly be another one — you are left with a useful piece of open ground.

If potatoes are lifted in summer, there can be plenty of time for another crop.

Try sowing spinach, rocket, radishes or autumn salad leaves.

These quick crops make good use of the remaining warmth without requiring another entire growing season.

Later potato harvests leave fewer options, but the bed needn’t remain forgotten. Autumn garlic may be suitable, or you can concentrate on covering and improving the soil ahead of next spring.

Before replanting, take a moment to remove any potatoes you missed. Volunteers appearing among next year’s vegetables are not always as charming as they sound.

What to plant after peas

Peas often leave the vegetable garden relatively early, making their old patch particularly valuable.

Once the last pods have been picked, cut the plants down and clear away the supports.

If the plants are healthy, the top growth can go onto the compost heap.

Peas belong to the legume family and form relationships with soil bacteria associated with nitrogen fixation. You may sometimes see advice to leave all their roots in the ground for this reason.

The reality is a little more complicated than the old gardening rule suggests, but there is certainly no need to painstakingly remove every healthy root.

Instead, clear the bed gently and put the space back to work.

Depending on the time of year, follow peas with salad leaves, spinach, chard, radishes or other quick-growing vegetables.

An early-cleared pea bed can be one of the best opportunities for succession sowing in the whole vegetable garden.

What to plant after broad beans

Broad beans tell a similar story.

They occupy a considerable amount of space while growing, so their departure can suddenly make the vegetable patch feel enormous.

Use that space.

If the beans finish while summer still has some way to run, you have a generous choice of follow-on vegetables.

Beetroot, chard, salads, radishes and other quick crops may all be possibilities, depending on how early the bed becomes available.

Later in the season, concentrate on spinach and hardy salad leaves.

The old broad bean plants themselves are excellent composting material if they are healthy. Chop the stems into smaller pieces before adding them to the heap and they will break down more readily.

Yesterday’s bean plants can eventually become tomorrow’s compost.

What to plant after onions and garlic

By the time onions and garlic are lifted, summer is usually well under way.

Once the bulbs are safely harvested and drying, their former bed presents another opportunity.

This is a particularly useful place for autumn salads, spinach, rocket and radishes.

The fine seeds of salad crops appreciate a reasonably well-prepared surface, so remove weeds and gently rake the top of the soil before sowing.

There is no need to dig the entire bed simply because a new crop is going in.

If the soil is in good condition, disturb it only as much as necessary.

A little garden compost can be added where needed, but avoid assuming every new crop requires a heavy feed.

Sometimes good soil needs less interference than we imagine.

What to plant after courgettes and summer squash

Courgettes are less considerate about leaving early.

They can occupy an enormous amount of ground and continue producing until cooler weather finally brings the season to a close.

By the time they are removed, the days may already be noticeably shorter.

That doesn’t necessarily mean the bed has to remain empty.

In early autumn, try spinach, winter lettuce or other hardy salad leaves, particularly if you can offer them some protection later.

If the courgette plant has exhausted the soil after months of enthusiastic growth, add well-rotted compost before planting the next crop.

And if it is simply too late for another useful vegetable crop, don’t force it.

Cover the soil, sow a suitable green manure or prepare the bed for winter.

Productivity isn’t measured only by the amount of food you can squeeze from a square metre of earth.

Looking after the soil is productive too.

What to plant after runner beans and French beans

Beans can remain productive well into early autumn, particularly in a mild year.

Keep picking while they continue cropping.

When production finally slows and the plants are finished, remove the supports and clear the top growth.

By this stage of the season, quick-growing leaves are usually more realistic than ambitious vegetable crops.

Spinach, winter salads and hardy oriental leaves may still be worth sowing, particularly under cover.

Alternatively, the old bean bed can become a home for autumn-planted garlic or overwintering onion sets, where suitable.

There is something pleasing about this transition.

One crop climbs skywards through summer; the next begins quietly beneath autumn soil.

Sow spinach in empty beds

Spinach is one of the most useful crops for filling spaces as summer vegetables disappear.

Cooler conditions suit it, and varieties intended for autumn growing can provide useful harvests beyond the main summer season.

Sow into moist soil in short rows.

As plants develop, harvest individual outer leaves rather than uprooting the whole plant. This allows the centre to continue producing.

If colder weather arrives, a cloche or cold frame can provide extra protection.

Spinach also earns its place in the kitchen.

Young leaves can be eaten raw, while larger ones disappear effortlessly into curries, soups, pasta, omelettes and stews.

An empty patch of earth can become supper surprisingly quickly.

Grow rocket for a quick autumn crop

Rocket is another crop that relishes the change of season.

In the heat of summer it can rush into flower. Cooler autumn conditions often encourage better leafy growth.

It is also quick.

That matters when daylight is disappearing.

Sow a small amount every couple of weeks rather than covering an entire bed. Even a row a metre long can produce plenty of leaves for salads and sandwiches.

Rocket is particularly useful for awkward little spaces.

A narrow gap between established crops, the edge of a raised bed or a container emptied of summer flowers can all become productive again.

Not every harvest needs its own vegetable bed.

Sow radishes between slower crops

Radishes are among the great gap-fillers of the vegetable garden.

Their roots develop quickly and require relatively little space, making them useful wherever a patch of soil becomes available.

Sow thinly and keep the soil evenly moist.

Harvest promptly once the roots are ready. Leaving them in the ground indefinitely rarely improves them.

Radishes can also be used between crops that will eventually need more room.

The radishes are harvested before their slower neighbours expand into the space.

It is a simple form of intercropping and an excellent way of making a small vegetable garden work harder.

Sow winter lettuce and hardy salad leaves

The end of summer doesn’t have to mean the end of home-grown salad.

Choose lettuce varieties intended for autumn and winter growing rather than relying on leftover packets of tender summer varieties.

Mizuna, mustard leaves and other hardy salad crops are also worth exploring.

Their colours and textures bring life to beds that might otherwise be empty, while their stronger flavours are well suited to autumn food.

Imagine a bowl of freshly picked leaves beside roasted beetroot, warm potatoes or a slice of homemade tart.

Autumn salad doesn’t have to pretend it is July.

It can taste entirely of its own season.

Plant garlic for next year’s harvest

Sometimes the best thing to plant in an empty autumn bed isn’t something you will eat this year.

Garlic is planted in autumn or winter, depending on variety and conditions, and spends the colder months establishing itself for the season ahead.

Choose healthy bulbs sold specifically for planting rather than simply pushing supermarket garlic into the vegetable patch.

Separate the bulb carefully into individual cloves shortly before planting and place each one at the recommended depth and spacing for the variety.

Then wait.

There is no instant harvest and little immediate drama.

But beneath the soil, roots begin to establish.

Months later, when the garden has travelled all the way through winter and spring, those individual cloves can have become complete bulbs.

Few crops demonstrate the gardener’s relationship with time quite as beautifully.

Consider overwintering onion sets

Suitable overwintering onion sets can also make productive use of beds vacated by summer crops.

Planted in autumn, they establish before winter and continue developing when conditions improve.

Choose varieties specifically intended for autumn planting.

Good drainage is important, particularly if your soil becomes wet and heavy during winter.

If necessary, use raised beds or choose another area where water is less likely to sit around the bulbs.

An empty bed isn’t automatically the right bed for every crop.

The soil still gets a vote.

Sow green manure when you don’t need another vegetable crop

There is a natural temptation to make every piece of soil produce food.

But sometimes the best crop isn’t destined for the kitchen.

Green manures are plants grown primarily to cover and improve the soil.

Depending on the species, they can help protect bare ground from winter weather, suppress weeds and add organic matter when they are eventually cut down.

They are particularly useful when a bed is going to remain empty for several months.

Choose the green manure according to the time of year, soil and length of time the bed will be vacant.

Also think about crop rotation.

Some green manures belong to the same plant families as vegetables you may want to grow later, which can matter when planning rotations.

Green manure may not provide a basketful of vegetables.

What it gives you instead is an investment in the ground from which those vegetables will eventually grow.

Or simply cover the soil

You don’t have to plant every empty bed.

If autumn is advanced or you have enough crops already, covering the soil can be an excellent choice.

A layer of well-rotted garden compost or other suitable organic mulch protects the surface and allows worms and other soil organisms to get on with their work.

By spring, the bed may need little more than light preparation before planting.

Bare soil is rarely the goal in nature.

Look beneath a woodland canopy and the earth is protected by leaves and decaying plant material. Gardens can borrow something from this habit.

Rather than thinking of an unplanted bed as wasted space, think of it as soil being prepared for what comes next.

Should you add compost before planting the next crop?

It depends.

If you’ve just removed a hungry crop such as courgettes or squash, adding some well-rotted compost may be useful.

If the previous crop was less demanding and your soil is already fertile and in good condition, there may be no need to add anything before sowing a quick row of autumn leaves.

This is where knowing your soil becomes valuable.

Is it light and prone to drying?

Heavy and slow to drain?

Rich in organic matter?

Compact after a season of walking and watering?

Gardening advice is useful, but the handful of soil in front of you is more useful still.

Feed the soil where it needs feeding rather than automatically reaching for fertiliser every time a plant comes out.

Do you need to practise crop rotation?

Crop rotation can be helpful, particularly where you grow vegetables from the same families year after year.

It can reduce the build-up of some soil-borne pests and diseases and helps avoid repeatedly growing similarly demanding crops in the same place.

But don’t allow an elaborate rotation plan to make a small garden unnecessarily difficult.

For a quick autumn crop of rocket or radishes in a newly empty gap, perfection isn’t required.

The more important principle is to avoid repeatedly growing crops susceptible to particular persistent problems in the same soil.

Keep simple notes about what grew where.

A photograph of the vegetable patch taken at different points during the year can be surprisingly useful too.

By next spring, when every bed is conveniently empty, it is remarkably easy to forget where everything was.

Don’t leave diseased plants behind

There is one important pause before replanting any empty vegetable bed.

Look at the crop you have just removed.

Was it healthy?

If it was, much of the plant material can usually head towards the compost heap.

If it was badly diseased, deal with it appropriately rather than casually digging affected material into the soil or adding unsuitable material to a home compost heap.

Also remove obvious weeds before sowing again.

A fresh row of spinach shouldn’t have to begin life competing with established couch grass or bindweed.

The transition between crops is an ideal moment to inspect the bed and deal with problems while you can actually see the soil.

Remember that autumn light matters

Warm soil can be deceptive.

A September afternoon may feel almost summery, and seeds can germinate quickly. But the plants are heading towards shorter days.

Light increasingly becomes the limiting factor.

This means a crop sown on 1 September and one sown on 30 September may behave quite differently, even if the weather feels similar.

As autumn advances, choose the brightest parts of the vegetable garden for crops you hope to harvest.

Avoid putting young seedlings where a shed, fence or evergreen hedge will cast deep winter shade.

The sun travels lower across the sky now.

Watch where it falls.

Protect late crops when necessary

As temperatures fall, a little shelter can extend the usefulness of your newly planted beds.

Cloches can protect rows of spinach and salads. Horticultural fleece can provide temporary protection during colder spells, while a cold frame or unheated greenhouse offers even greater shelter.

This doesn’t mean trying to create summer in November.

Hardy crops don’t need tropical conditions.

Often they simply benefit from protection against persistent rain, cold wind and frost.

The aim is to work with autumn, not disguise it.

Empty beds can become wildlife spaces too

Not every corner of the vegetable garden has to be relentlessly productive.

A bed may be cleared, but the wider garden still has inhabitants preparing for winter.

Leave some seed heads elsewhere for birds. Allow a quiet corner to remain less tidy. A small pile of woody stems or leaves can provide shelter for invertebrates.

The productive garden and the wildlife garden don’t need to exist separately.

Pollinators, birds, beetles and countless less noticeable creatures are part of the same garden that gives us beans, apples and tomatoes.

Making room for them is part of growing food well.

What should I plant in my empty vegetable bed?

If you’re looking at a newly cleared vegetable bed and wondering what should come next, use the season as your guide.

If the bed becomes empty in late summer:
Try spinach, chard, beetroot, radishes, rocket and other salad leaves, depending on the remaining growing time.

If it becomes empty in early autumn:
Concentrate on spinach, rocket, winter lettuce, mizuna, mustard leaves and other hardy, quick-growing crops.

For planting into autumn:
Consider garlic and suitable overwintering onion sets.

If you don’t need another food crop:
Sow an appropriate green manure or cover the soil with organic matter.

There isn’t one correct answer.

The best next crop is the one suited to your soil, your garden and the weeks of growing weather still ahead.

An empty bed is not an ending

There is something satisfying about clearing away a finished summer crop.

The tangled pea stems come down. The last potatoes are carried towards the kitchen. Bean canes are untied and stacked away.

For a moment, there is simply earth.

It can feel like the garden has given everything it has to give.

But kneel down and the soil may still be warm beneath your hand.

There is time yet.

Perhaps you make a shallow drill and sow a line of spinach. Perhaps a few garlic cloves are planted for next summer. Perhaps you spread compost over the surface and decide that this particular piece of earth has worked hard enough for one year.

All are forms of gardening.

Because an empty vegetable bed is never really empty.

It is a space between harvests.

One crop has finished its story, and beneath the changing autumn sky, the next one is waiting to begin.

Not sure where to start? Take a look at our Grow Your Own Packs with detailed step by step instructions, seeds and 1 years online support.