Keep crops going through autumn with some clever planning now. The veg garden may be at full throttle, with new potatoes, asparagus broad beans and peas on your plate and gooseberries and rhubarb for dessert – but if you don't look ahead your harvest will come crashing to a halt in a couple of months' time.
A late sowing of veg now means you can replace your earliest crops the moment you've harvested them, giving your veg garden a second wind which will last until the first frosts arrive.
This works for most veg which crop early in the season, including French beans, lettuces, peas, carrots, beetroot, turnip and kohl rabi. Once you've made your wish list for the autumn harvest, make your way to your favourite garden centre where you'll find a fantastic range of young veg plants and seeds.
Choose 'early' or quick-cropping varieties like 'Nantes' carrots, easily ready before the end of summer, and grow dwarf varieties of French bean like 'Purple Teepee' which don't need to put on as much growth before they start producing beans. Sow now and they'll be ready to plant out from August onwards, just as your early-sown crops are flagging – giving you a harvest that lasts all season long.
