The Gourmet Gardener: Sowing seeds in September

September usually brings ochre skies, the turning of leaves and amber sunsets. For me, this year has resulted in a short season, the meadow has turned, the tomatoes are almost finished and my cleaning up jobs are now fast approaching. However, there are still some things that can be sown in September to provide some freshness to our meals for the coming weeks.

Spinach

Spinach is tasty, nutritious and easy to grow. It can be used as young leaves in a salad or harvested for super smoothies. You can even enjoy harvests all year round if you grow several different types. Winter cultivars need a sunny position, and can benefit from using a cloche for protection if grown outside. One suitable cultivar is ‘Perpetual Spinach’ . It is actually a chard but similar to a true spinach in flavour and much easier to grow. It is very hardy and suitable for growing all year round.

Winter salads

The term winter salads refers to a group of salad leaves, including mibuna, mizuna, mustard leaf and lamb’s lettuce. These can be sown under cover and at this time, the soil is still warm, so seedlings or plug plants will establish quickly when planted out. You could even sow seeds directly. Plugs can be purchased from garden centres if preferred.

Quick crop of radish

The humble radish is easy to grow from seed and can be ready to eat in a few short weeks. They are compact plants and can be grown in the smallest of gardens. They also make good gap fillers in the veg plot. If you sow a batch every few weeks you can enjoy a crunchy fresh ingredient throughout the autumn for salads. Radishes are best harvested young, in as little as four weeks from germination, when the roots are about an inch in diameter. If left to grow too large, they can become woody and inedible. Pull as required, and eat fresh, when crunchy and delicious.

September is also the time to start sowing hardy annuals for early summer flowers next year. Some, such as Ammi majus, do better from an autumn sowing.