In the vegetable garden, sow in late summer to harvest through to spring
7 vegetables to sow, from late August to the end of October, in the vegetable garden
1) Chicories, all chicories!
Chicories, raw or cooked (gratin-style or braised…), are essential winter salads. I won't go on — we've already discussed them here…
2) Turnips
The yellow turnip 'Boule d’Or', with its pretty amber colour and very mild flavour, is one of my favourite winter vegetables. It goes down well with children, in soup, mashed or stuffed. Varieties 'de Croissy' and 'Noir Long' are also well suited to autumn crops and can be sown until the end of September.
3) Lamb's lettuce
Very rich in vitamin C and iron, lamb's lettuce is one of winter's "boosting" vegetables. It makes lovely salads. Have you ever tried pairing it with kiwi, avocado and a few pine nuts? Delicious! 'Vit' is a variety known for its productivity, rapid growth and excellent flavour. Cold-hardy and early 'Verte de Louviers' is also of very good quality. A little later in autumn, sow 'Verte de Cambrai': later-maturing, it will provide harvests until March.
4) Spinach
Spinach, although not always loved by children, is both delicious and "practical". It can be eaten as a salad at the young-leaf stage from autumn or cooked at maturity, up to the end of April. Among winter varieties, you'll find 'Géant d’hiver' of course, but also 'Monstrueux de Viroflay' and 'Parys', an F1 hybrid particularly resistant to cold and disease.
Turnip Boule d'Or, lamb's lettuce and spinach Géant d'Hiver
5) Long radishes
Long radishes are still little grown in the vegetable garden. Yet they are easy…and bring a range of colours! Why not try 'Rose d’Hiver de Chine'? Its name is a little dreamy, isn't it? Its flesh, white and crunchy, sliced very thin, is ideal in salad or simply on a slice of buttered bread. 'Chandelle de Glace' has a pretty ivory skin and is just as tasty… as are radishes 'Noir long d’hiver de Paris' and 'Violet de Gournay'. All keep very well.
6) Winter lettuces
As temperatures fall, it's possible again to sow lettuces. Don't miss out — wait a little, but it's a joy to harvest them from March. 'Merveille d’Hiver', 'Brune d'Hiver', 'Artic King', 'Bourguignonne' (also called 'Grosse Blonde d’Hiver') are all hardy and withstand winter cold admirably.
7) Early round cabbages for spring
Round cabbages 'Cœur de Bœuf des Vertus', 'Cœur de Bœuf moyen de la Halle', and 'Cabus express' (smaller) are three early cabbages known for producing, quickly, lovely conical heads with tender leaves in spring. Don’t miss them!
Long radish, Lettuce Brune d'Hiver and Cabbage Cœur de Bœuf Moyen de la Halle
There — you're briefed on late-summer sowings in the vegetable garden 🙂 You'll see, they're all easy and, if in doubt, consult our advice sheets.
Some of these crops may need a little protection if winter is severe; I will cover this in due course. So follow the blog or, better, sign up to the newsletter to be notified of new articles!
What to sow in late summer in the vegetable garden? At the end of August, buoyed by the joy of the harvest or overwhelmed by preparations for the return to school, gardeners often neglect the last seasonal sowings. I’m no exception. And when the holidays end, it’s already almost too late for some vegetables! In […]
Here, under Brittany’s mild climate, March is marked by ubiquity: it has to be everywhere at once—in the vegetable garden for early sowings of late-spring vegetables, but also, warm indoors, to prepare the summer harvest.
So, let’s be honest, we’re rushing around… but it’s a joyful bustle as it heralds the return of spring. The programme is simple and revolves around two 'culinary themes': the Jardinère of small vegetables and Ratatouille.
1) Under cover (unheated): the spring vegetable jardinière
Our shelter, a tunnel greenhouse, is a real luxury. Originally devoted to tomatoes and other frost-prone vegetables, it now serves all year round, especially for early sowings. It can, in your garden, be replaced with equal effectiveness by: a well-sited frame, a mini-market-garden tunnel (to be erected on hoops or moulded plastic) or, even more simply, by a forcing fleece.
To obtain early harvests, I sow there from the end of February and directly in the soil:
- the smooth-shelled peas (one row of ‘Très hâtif d’Annonay’ and one row of ‘Petit Provençal’),
- the spring turnips ('Rave d’Auvergne hâtif' and ‘de Milan Rouge Extra Hâtif’),
- the early carrots ('Marché de Paris' is early and ideal in our heavy soil),
- the first radishes ('Fluo F1' for the half-long types and ‘Gaudry 2’ for the round ones).
Peas, Turnip 'Rave d'Auvergne hâtif', Carrot 'Marché de Paris' and Radish 'Gaudry'
After seeing whole rows of young seedlings disappear, I resolved to start my lettuces ('Gotte Jaune d’Or', 'Batavia sanguine' and 'Reine de mai') in pots. They will grow under the greenhouse and will be planted three weeks later, once less vulnerable to slug damage.
2) Warm indoors: ratatouille… but also the flowers!
Early March, chillies and peppers get the season underway, as they develop fairly slowly. Then comes the turn of tomatoes and aubergines, and, at the very end of the month, of aromatic herbs that enjoy warmth such as basil and oregano. To these sowings, two or three courgette plants ('Précoce maraîchère') are added, which I sow a little early to enjoy a harvest at the start of summer.
Aubergine 'Violetta di Firenza', Yellow pepper, Cayenne pepper and Tomato Black Cherry
And because I cannot imagine a kitchen garden without flowers, I take the opportunity to grow, still indoors, annual flowers: the marigolds that will accompany the tomatoes, but also the zinnias, which I pair with French beans, cosmos and annual Rudbeckias whose rustic charm delights me every year… not forgetting nasturtiums (very useful for distracting aphids), because even though they now reseed themselves, I never tire of discovering new varieties.
Zinnias, Cosmos, Marigolds and Nasturtiums: essential annual flowers for the vegetable garden
This list isn’t exhaustive; we invite you to add to it in the comments... and please don’t hesitate to ask us any questions, we’ll be very happy to reply.
Here, under Brittany’s mild climate, March is marked by ubiquity: it has to be everywhere at once—in the vegetable garden for early sowings of late-spring vegetables, but also, warm indoors, to prepare the summer harvest. So, let’s be honest, we’re rushing around… but it’s a joyful bustle as it heralds the return of spring. The […]
