Grow Your Own Magazine

Hi all, this is our first year of growing our own veggies and I am still getting excited every time I harvest something. We started a little late in the year as we were still building the veggie plot in April/May. My question really is how long can I leave certain veggies outside before harvesting them. At present I still have Courgettes, Beetroot, Carrots, Parsnips, Swedes, Leeks, Broccoli and Sprouts. I have read that the broccoli and sprouts will be fine over the winter, is this true and should I be covering them with anything. How long do parsnips generally take to mature as they are seen quite slow.

Hi Lil'pest,

Welcome to the vine, I was going to answer Frozen peas but resisted

Out of you list I would say that the Sprouts, Leeks,Broccolli & Parsnips will be OK, in fac the sprouts are usually better for frost. The Swede may be OK depending on variety, but you can always cover any of them with some fleece.

If you've got some spare room there is still time to plant your broad beans & some early peas & these will definately benefit from a bit of protection to get them to crop that little nit earlier.

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ntg

Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark.
A large group of professionals built the Titanic

http://grief-encounters.blogspot.com/

How about iceberg lettuce

Or snowball turnips????

Winter cabbages - January King or Tundra are supposed to be good but you'd need to have quite large plants by now to survive the frosts.

All the Kale variants are tuff buggers!

You got there before me Snadger. I think it's about covered.

Welcome to the vine littlepest. Hope you enjoy it. It's fun, educational and occasionally weird, but we're a great bunch.

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Bright Blessings
Earthbabe
If at first you don't succeed, open a bottle of wine.

Hi LP! Welcome to the Vine! Looking forward to hearing how you get on. DDL

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Appreciate the little things in life because one day you will realise they are the big things

Hi LP, you can also plant out winter onion sets now (if you can still get them) try your local garden centre. You can also plant garlic and these will overwinter ok and be ready next summer. Good luck and enjoy.

Hi Littlepest
You've come to the right place. I am just starting out growing my own veggies and the forum is great. Lots of good advice and lots of daft comments to read. I now have a nearly empty plot and am just waiting for a packet of pea seeds to arrive before I start next years crops.
Good luck with it all.

Hello there * wave wave*
Depends where you are in the country too. South , North etc. You can put that in your profile which will show on your posts. Then other posters can best advise according to your climate then.
If you're fair South you've more options. Some of we balmy sun drenched Southerners are still plucking strawberries and Aubergines at the end of October.
Whereas the hardened lot far North are chipping the ice off their cabbages as we speak.
If you're South you could still get in some Radishes with enough time to harvest the delicious leaves and even a few baby radishes.

Eeeh Ouup Pickledtink!! Not all us northerners is chippin ice off t'cabbages yet ya nows!

We've still got some flowering and fruiting strawbs here in Manchester (or should that be Manchesta, lol!), not had a frost yet, but the weather has turned a bit cooler as of late!

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Blessings
Suzanne (aka Mrs Dobby)

'Garden naked - get some colour in your cheeks'!

The Dobby's Pumpkin Patch - a blogspot work in progress!
Last updated 26th November2008 - more new piccies!

Thanks for all your advice (jokes ha, ha). Maybe i'll have to keep some things in mind for next year when I hope to bit a little more organised.
The swedes are 'Best of all' I just hope they are.