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What to sow and grow in October

The growing year is not over! With soils still warm from the summer, you can be filling your veg plot with homegrown greens and other goodies.
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Sow pak choi to give a supply of salad or stir-fry leaves over the autumn and winter.

While drought and extreme heat made growing difficult over the summer – the warmed soil and intermittent rain means you can ‘catch up’ with some autumn crops. 

Lettuce, salad crops and brassicas didn’t fare well in the hot temperatures but the damper days and cooler nights are just what they need to get going before the first frost.

As the weather cools at the end of the month, you can continue to harvest by covering with netting or eco-fleece. Polytunnels and cold frames are a great place to sow and extend the season.

Here’s some to try:

Land cress - also known as American land cress. Makes an excellent substitute for watercress and is very hardy, usually surviving even the toughest winter.

Chinese leaves - sow now to give a supply of salad or stir-fry leaves over the autumn and winter. Some are best with some protection, and all will crop more generously under cover. If you’re not sure what you like, try a mixture of various greens:

  • Mizuna greens
  • Mibuna greens
  • Giant red mustard
  • Indian mustard
  • Komatsuna
  • Pak choi

Lamb's lettuce or corn salad - very hardy winter salad with a soft texture and mild flavour. Lasts well throughout the winter.

Winter lettuce - use a winter variety such as ‘Rouge d'Hiver’, ‘Winter Density’ or ‘Winter Crop’, for harvesting in November and December. Or over wintered to crop in early spring.

Winter purslane - goes by the additional names of claytonia and miner's lettuce. Another very hardy winter salad, good at self-seeding. Produces small, mild tasting, succulent leaves. Sow in unheated greenhouse/polytunnel. We’re offering this heritage variety in this year’s seed list!


What’s also good to sow this month

  1. Garlic - buy garlic for planting in October or early November. ‘Vallelado’ is suitable for autumn and early winter planting; ‘Flavour’ for late winter and early spring planting.
  2. Onions - autumn onion sets, such as ‘Radar’ and ‘Electric Red’ can be planted now.
  3. Broad bean - Sow ‘Super Aquadulce’, ‘Aquadulce Claudia’ and ‘Imperial Green Longpod’ towards the end of the month. ‘The Sutto’n can be grown under cloches.
  4. Peas - round seeded peas can be grown from October/November sowings. An organic variety is the ‘Douce Provence’. Other varieties include ‘Feltham First’, ‘Meteor’ or ‘Pilot’ (probably the hardiest of all varieties).