Oriental Vegetables for Autumn

At this time of year, many outdoor growers are winding down their plots. It’s time to clear away tender plants before the first frost, gather in the last of the harvest and make sure the hardy brassicas that can survive the winter weather are protected against marauding pigeons.

For indoor gardeners it’s time to get sowing again to ensure exciting and tasty harvests all through the winter. There are plenty of hardy salad vegetables (such as lamb’s lettuce and land cress) that will thrive during the winter season and are much more tender and productive when grown indoors or with some protection. But the real stars of the autumn show are the Oriental vegetables.

Like the outdoor winter stars — kale, cabbage and Brussels sprouts—many Oriental vegetables are in the brassica family. But the resemblance isn’t obvious and once you start to investigate what’s available you’ll find everything from tender salad leaves right through to sprouting broccoli style plants and spicy stir-fry leaves. They’ll all grow rapidly, and right through until spring, if you get the timing right.

If your growing area is unheated and unlit then you need your plants to do most of their growing during the autumn, before temperatures (and more importantly, light levels) drop too low for them to make active growth. They will then happily sit and stay fresh, providing fresh harvests right through until spring when they will suddenly burst into life again.An early spring harvest is their last gift, before they start to flower and can be removed to make way for spring sowings.

With supplementary lighting they can be kept in active growth all winter.The advantage of sowing Oriental crops during late summer and early autumn is that they’re far less likely to bolt