Spinach and Other Last Minute Veg to Grow
Eating fruit and vegetables from the garden is a very rewarding experience. Not only do you know your produce is the freshest it can be, but you get to enjoy the rewards of your handwork. However, the winter is not kind to crops. In today’s blog we’ll highlight with vegetables, including spinach, are great to plant last minute before the frost settles in. Plus, highlight the nutritional value of said produce.
What are Autumn and Overwintering Vegetables?
The idea of Fall vegetables is to plant fast growing crops that are ready to harvest before growth stops around mid November. Gardeners plant veg like turnips, salads, spinach, and radish because they provide a worthwhile crop. Additionally, they make use of otherwise bare ground following a previous harvest.
Overwintering vegetables are planted in the early Autumn (so get gardening, quick). They spend the Winter dormant in the ground and then spring back to life when the temperatures warm up.
Spinach and Other Last Minute Crops
Early October is the perfect time to plant both Autumn and Overwintering vegetables. Check out what you can sow and the benefits of eating that harvest with nutritious crops such as spinach, radishes, and garlic.
Autumn Vegetables
- Rocket. Autumn crops grow into lush plants with big, flavourful leaves. Good for eye health, you can use rocket in a number of different recipes.
- Pak Choi. Growing at an amazing speed, Pak Choi goes from seed to table in only six weeks. A staple of kimchi, ferment this crop to reap the benefits of gaining good gut bacteria.
- Lettuce. Preferring to be shielded from the sun, lettuce is a perfect Autumn vegetable. Choose from a number of different varieties each packing a healthy punch vitamins and antioxidants.
- Mustard. Also coming in a range of types (including the mild-tasting spinach-mustard), cool weathers tames the flavour of this crop. It is rich in protein and offers relief from muscular pains.
- Radishes. As long as the soil is moist and the bed is thinned, radishes pop up in a few weeks. Easy to eat raw, this veg is rich in antioxidants and minerals like calcium and potassium.
- Spinach. One of the superfoods, spinach is tremendously cold-hardy. Thus making it capable of rapid growth even when the Autumns are long and wild. Rich in calcium, there’s a reason it was the staple food for cartoon sailor Pop Eye.
Add them all together with some roasted squash to make the perfect Autumn salad.
Overwintering Vegetables
- Garlic. Not only is garlic delicious, but it is also really easy to grow. Simple, plant a clove in the ground and, without much intervention, you should end with a full bulb the next Autumn. Ancient Greeks often used garlic as a treatment for a variety of medical conditions. It’s highly nutritious and helps to combat sickness.
- Broad Beans. Another superfood like spinach, Autumn-planted crops harvest a month earlier than a Spring sown crop. Additionally, they also protect the world that would otherwise be exposed to wet Winter weather.
- Kale. Delicious, easy to grow, and delicious, this vegetable easily survives even the harshest of Winters. Kale joins broad beans and spinach as a super food.
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