Preparing for Autumn Planting: Think Ahead for a Productive Late Season

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Right, autumn planting. Now I know it feels wrong to be thinking about autumn when summer’s still in full swing and you’ve got courgettes coming out of your ears. But here’s the thing — the best autumn and winter gardens are planned and planted in summer. If you wait until September to start thinking about what you’re going to grow through the cold months, you’ve already missed the boat on half of it. The seeds needed to go in weeks ago. I’ve made that mistake more times than I care to admit. October rolls around, the beds are empty, and I’m standing there going “I should’ve sown something in July.” Every. Single. Year.

Well, not this year. This year we’re getting ahead. Because the thing about autumn and winter growing is that it extends your season by months. MONTHS. Instead of your allotment shutting down in September and being dormant until March, you can be harvesting fresh food right through to Christmas and beyond. Imagine that — pulling fresh kale in December, lifting leeks in January, cutting winter salads in February while everyone else is buying sad, wilted lettuce from the supermarket. That’s the dream right there.

And honestly, a lot of autumn and winter crops are dead easy to grow. They’re hardy, they don’t need much attention, and most of the pests have knocked off for the year by the time these crops are getting going. No more aphids, no more caterpillars, no more carrot fly. Just you, your veg, and the occasional frost. It’s actually quite peaceful. A nice change from the chaos of summer.

What to Sow Now for Autumn

Let’s talk specifics. Here’s what you should be getting in the ground or starting in pots right now for autumn and early winter harvest.

Spring cabbages — sow in July for transplanting in September. These overwinter as small plants and then bulk up in early spring, giving you cabbages when nothing else is available. They’re tough as old boots. Frost doesn’t bother them at all.

Kale — if you only grow one winter crop, make it kale. Sow from June to August, plant out in autumn, and harvest right through winter. It actually tastes BETTER after a frost because the cold converts the starches to sugars. My cavolo nero is the star of the winter allotment. It just keeps producing. I harvest the lower leaves and it keeps growing new ones from the top. Incredible value for the space it takes up.

Purple sprouting broccoli — this is the long game. Sow in spring or early summer, plant out by late summer, and it won’t be ready until February or March. But when it does produce, oh my days. Fresh purple sprouting in late winter when everything else is dormant is absolute luxury. Worth every bit of the wait.

Leeks — if you haven’t already got leeks in (and ideally you would have planted them out in June), there’s still time to get some in. They’ll be thinner than ideal but still perfectly good. Leeks are incredibly hardy — they’ll stand in the ground all winter and you just pull them as you need them. Fresh leek and potato soup in January. Yes please.

Quick Crops for Late Summer Sowing

Some crops are fast enough that you can sow them in late summer and still harvest before the really cold weather arrives. These are your gap-fillers — perfect for beds that have been cleared after early potatoes or broad beans.

Lettuce — autumn varieties like ‘Winter Density’ and ‘Arctic King’ can be sown in August and September for late autumn salads. They won’t grow as fast as summer lettuce but they’ll give you fresh leaves well into November, especially with a bit of fleece protection.

Radishes — the quickest crop going. Sow a row now and you’ll be eating them in about four weeks. I always do a late sowing of radishes just to fill space and because, well, they’re practically instant gratification.

Turnips — another fast one. Sow by early August for small, sweet turnips in autumn. I love autumn turnips — roasted with some honey and thyme, they’re belting.

Pak choi and other oriental greens — these actually prefer cooler weather. They tend to bolt in summer heat but grow beautifully in autumn. Sow from August onwards for a really useful crop. Stir-fried with garlic and soy sauce, you can’t beat them.

Spinach — sow in August and September. Autumn spinach grows steadily through the cooling weather and, with a bit of protection, will overwinter and give you early spring harvests too. Double value.

Preparing Beds Between Seasons

As summer crops finish, you need to prep the beds for their autumn residents. The good news is this is less work than spring bed prep because the soil is already in good nick from the summer growing season.

Clear the spent summer crop, pull out any weeds that have snuck in, add a light dressing of compost (you don’t need loads — the soil was fed in spring), rake it level, and you’re good to plant. If the soil is very dry from summer, give it a good soak the day before you sow. Seeds need moisture to germinate and if the soil is bone dry, nothing will happen.

This is also a good time to think about green manures for any beds you’re not going to use. Sow a quick-growing green manure like phacelia or mustard in August or September — it’ll grow through autumn, suppress weeds, protect the soil from rain, and you dig it in come spring to feed next year’s crops. It’s like giving your beds a duvet for the winter and breakfast in bed in the spring. Everybody wins.

Protection and Planning Ahead

Autumn crops benefit from a bit of protection as the weather turns. You don’t need a greenhouse or polytunnel (though they’re brilliant if you’ve got one). Even simple fleece draped over hoops can extend the season by weeks. It raises the temperature around the plants by a few degrees — enough to keep them growing when unprotected plants have stalled.

Cold frames are another option — I’ve got a post coming up about building one, so I won’t go into detail here, but basically it’s like a little greenhouse for individual beds. Dead useful for overwintering salads and giving seedlings a head start in spring.

Cloches — glass or plastic covers placed over individual plants or short rows — do a similar job. You can buy fancy ones or make them from cut-off plastic bottles (the budget option, and perfectly effective). Every lettuce on my plot gets a bottle cloche in late autumn. Makes them look a bit like they’re wearing hats. JB says my allotment looks like a bottle museum. But my lettuce survives, so who’s laughing now?

The Autumn Planting Mindset

The biggest challenge with autumn planting is psychological, not practical. After the intensity of summer — all that sowing, planting, watering, harvesting — there’s a natural temptation to wind down and put your feet up. Your body’s tired, the evenings are getting shorter, and the sofa is calling. I get it. But push through, because the work you put in now pays dividends for months.

Think of it this way — an hour of planting in August gives you months of fresh food through autumn and winter. That’s an incredible return on your time. Much better than an hour watching telly, as good as telly is. Although I do love a good boxset. But the point stands.

I find that having a plan helps. Write down what you want to grow, when it needs sowing, and which beds you’re going to use. Having it written down means you don’t forget in the summer chaos. I keep a scruffy list on the wall of the shed. Scruffy, but effective. It stops me getting to October and realising I forgot to sow the winter lettuce again.

Look after yourselves. Take good care. 🌱