wellington womble
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Filling the harvest gapsLots of crops are starting to get picked and eaten now - what do you fill the gaps with?
I'm planting successional rows of carrots, leeks and salad leaves as the first potatoes come out, runner beans and spinach as the broad beans come out, and late brassicas as the early ones are eaten. I usually put squashes in where the garlic was, too.
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Jonnyboy
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Runner beans? I thought it was too late for them?
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Jamanda
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Inspired by WW, I have just put in rainbow chard, leaf beet and wotsit Nero kale. And another line of radishes.
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Jonnyboy
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I tried transplanting my cauliflower and sprout thinnings. I don't think it will work. 
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wellington womble
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| Jonnyboy wrote: | | Runner beans? I thought it was too late for them? |
It might be - spose I'll find out! It might depend what kind autumn we have. It wouldn't be, if I'd planted the broad beans on time. I was so late with everything this year. But if you usually plant runners in May to crop in July, I can't see why it wouldn't work to plant them in July to September. Anyway, it's better than weeding. Or I might just plant more kale instead.
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Soapnutter
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As I see it - at best you get another crop and at worst you have green manure!
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James
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Oriental greens & "Hipsi F1" cabbage can fill any gap quickly in a brassica rotation.
I'm putting beetroot in were shallots are coming out, leeks into early potato bed.
Its getting towards the time when you can start planting winter spinach also. This beats the sh*t out of chard for flavour. Its in a different league.
You should still be able to plant dwarf french beans....if you can be bothered (personally, I think these are pointless little plants that are more trouble than they're worth)
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Treacodactyl
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We tend to grow a few things in pots ready to fill the gaps. Most of our brassicas are in pots ready to go where the garlic was. Some beetroot is growing away in modules although I don't know where the next gap is going to be. 
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tahir
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Fennel can be planted now, mooli, thickly sown turnips (use the thinnings as greens)
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tahir
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Fenugreek doesn't take long either and coriander sowed now will take much longer to bolt
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James
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| tahir wrote: | | coriander sowed now will take much longer to bolt |
thats worth knowing.
We've grow "Vietnamese Coriender"- not really coriander at all, but has a similar flavour (though coarser). The great advantage is that you can wedge it into a corner of the greenhouse and it'll always be there without bolting. Its a perrenial & easy to propergate.
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Soapnutter
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| James wrote: | | tahir wrote: | | coriander sowed now will take much longer to bolt |
thats worth knowing. |
Only if you like coriander.....  Can't stand it meself.
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OtleyLad
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Brocolli raab is good too - very fast and you get tender sprouting broc type shoots with turnip leaves.
Its a good time for chinese Cabbage too. Not to mention lettuce (Winter Density, Marvel of 4 Seasons).
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cab
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Got the last of the sweet potatoes out today, where more early spuds came out. Still to sow the main fennel crop, and the swedes. Still successionally sowing lettuce, mizuna and rocket, more peas to sow, radishes (althogh I'm currently drowing in mooli), spring onions, coriander, lots of stuff whenever a gap appears.
Catch cropping like this really massively increases how much you get for your space
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wellington womble
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Aha! Peas. I forgot about them. I might shove some beans in the flower garden, where the morning glory isn't, and put peas in instead. You never know, some might even make it to the kitchen.
D'you reckon it would be a disaster if I put dwarf beans in between rows of peas, or would they suffer from lack of light? I hate how much space you have to leave in between them, and it always needs weeding.
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tahir
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| James wrote: |
We've grow "Vietnamese Coriender"- not really coriander at all, but has a similar flavour (though coarser). The great advantage is that you can wedge it into a corner of the greenhouse and it'll always be there without bolting. Its a perrenial & easy to propergate. |
Mine died in the greenhouse, do like it in stir fries and stuff but completely different taste
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tahir
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| James wrote: | | tahir wrote: | | coriander sowed now will take much longer to bolt |
thats worth knowing. |
September sown will stay green until the frosts and will come back in the spring, when you'll get a really early and juicy crop
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cab
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| wellington womble wrote: | Aha! Peas. I forgot about them. I might shove some beans in the flower garden, where the morning glory isn't, and put peas in instead. You never know, some might even make it to the kitchen.
D'you reckon it would be a disaster if I put dwarf beans in between rows of peas, or would they suffer from lack of light? I hate how much space you have to leave in between them, and it always needs weeding. |
Go for short peas, a variety like 'hatif d'annonay', and you'll be fine.
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