What to sow in August

WHERE:
There's lots to harvest now, and as some crops get eaten or die off they leave new spaces where to make new sowings. (Beetroot, lettuces sown early in spring, garlic, potatoes, onions, early peas, broad beans - these are normally dead or eaten come August).

WHAT:
There's two main options: a) you can either sow quick crops that will grow and get harvested before the end of the summer (October); or b) sow plants that will grow through the winter and you can eat during the winter or early spring.

HOW:
Same as you did in spring, you can either wait until you lift one crop and sow directly in the newly cleared ground; or sow in small pots (also called modules, or plugs), and plant out the little seedlings later on. Growing seedlings in pots means that you can start early and at the same time that you have the old crop still producing, thus minimising the gap until your next crop is ready. When you have little space this is a good option, otherwise you'll be without anything to harvest for a couple of months!

I dug up my potatoes last month (it was an early variety), so in that bed I planted (all grown in pots beforehand): swede, turnip and kale (for winter); lettuce, pak choi and spinach (for a quick crop before it gets too cold). This weekend I'm going to lift the onions and sow some more stuff, but because I haven't got any more seedlings in pots left they'll have to be direct sowings. I think I'm going to go for quick crops (the seed packet confirms they should be ready in 8-10 weeks, that means early October - still before any frosts, hopefully!): lettuce, cress, radishes, maybe some quick carrots (the varieties called 'early' tend to be faster-growing), spinach, pak choi. I don't like the taste of oriental salad leaves like mizuna, but they're good to sow this time of the year too.

There are special varieties of lettuce that grow better in cold weather, so I'll go for those. Spinach also don't mind growing into autumn. And, if you cover them with plastic (I make my own cloches with bamboo canes and clothes pegs) they last a bit longer - until it gets too cold and too dark.

Donde se van cosechando lo que plantamos en primavera, van quedando huecos, y ahora es el momento de plantar cosas nuevas. Por ejemplo, mis patatas las levante el mes pasado, y en su sitio he plantado: berzas, nabos, grelos, lechugas y espinacas. Este fin de semana levantare las cebollas, y sembrare: mas lechugas (de otro tipo, para variar), espinacas (que nos encantan), zanahorias (una variedad que madura rapido) y rabanitos.

En agosto se pueden plantar dos tipos de cosas: a) cosechas rapidas que maduran en dos meses (el paquete de semillas suele poner cuanto tiempo tardan en madurar, "8-10 semanas" quiere decir principios de octubre, cuando todavia no hace demasiado frio - antes de las heladas); o b) plantas que aguantan todo el invierno fuera, como berzas, nabos, brecol, coliflores, repollos.

Yo a menudo siembro en macetas pequenas, porque asi la planta va creciendo mientras la cosecha primera todavia esta en la tierra, y cuando levantas las plantas viejas ya tienes una planta medio desarrollada. De esta forma tienes que esperar menos tiempo hasta que la segunda cosecha este lista (en vez de 8-10 semanas, quizas solo 4-6), y cuando tienes poco espacio lo ultimo que quieres es tener que esperar dos meses hasta poder volver a comer algo...