Garden to Table Preparations for autumn and beyond

With autumn underway, it’s a great time to get a head start on your autumn and winter vegetable garden. Many vegetables are great for planting as the weather cools over the next few months.

If you haven’t already, planning your winter crops for how you would like them roughly arranged in the garden is a great idea. Sow some seeds in trays and get a head start on your productive winter wonderland. Meantime, keep enjoying the delicious harvests from your summer garden, and don’t forget to keep on top of any weeds that may have popped up and need attention.

If you’re a fan of leafy greens, we have a range of popular options, including Cabbage Red Acre, Cress American Upland, Kale Cavolo Nero, Lettuce Little Gem, Spinach Perpetual, and Fordhook Giant Beet (also known as Silverbeet or Swiss Chard). All of these varieties are ideal for use as baby leaf and can be taken as required to provide you with a sustained harvest for many weeks.

Pea WF Massey, the classic garden pea in NZ, is another popular variety for the cooler weather, along with Broccolis and Cauliflowers which are ever sought after. Other great options include root vegetables like Beetroot Detroit Dark Red (typically ready to harvest in about 60 days), or Carrot Tendersweet , which are regarded for their bountiful and delicious harvests.

Transplanting has its benefits

Many gardeners favour transplanting over sowing direct, as it allows better dependability and control over the initial growing conditions. While root vegetables are best sown direct, most leafy greens can be sown into trays for transplanting into your garden a few weeks later. Leafy greens are generally loved by garden pests like snails, too, so transplanting can help prevent this from being an issue.

By sowing into trays and then transplanting once the seedlings have several true leaves, you can enhance your success rates while having more accuracy over where each seedling grows.

Regularly harvesting from your summer garden encourages more fruiting and extends your harvesting period.

Continue picking your tomatoes and pinching out any lategrowing laterals so the plant’s energy goes into the fruit rather than the leaves.

Eggplants should be picked once their glossy skin deepens in colour but before the fruit softens, as it can become bitter.

Pumpkin vines will typically start to die back, with their leaves turning yellow and drying up to indicate that your pumpkins are fully mature. Ripe pumpkins should produce a hollow sound when knocked solidly with your knuckle.

Watermelons are much the same, but pay attention to the palecoloured patch underneath the melon; even if it doesn’t sound hollow when knocked, it is ready to eat when its sitting spot has turned yellow.

Finally, as your summer garden comes to its seasonal end, don’t forget to clear out dead plants to make room for your fresh autumn seedlings.

Getting the jump on the cold weather and shorter sunlight days will pay you back with beautiful harvests you’ll appreciate in the coming time.

We offer heritage vegetable, herb and flower seeds to grow your own gourmet garden. Sowing tips included.

by Dr Michael Greger