Summer planting

Here's a list of some of things you can plant at this time of the year - good to plant some if you'd like to have food from your garden year-round.

Root veg
Fennel
Leeks – from existing plants, not from seed
Winter onion
Carrots
Parsnips
Beets
Radish (for Cooking)
Daikon
German varieties (black/purple)
Turnip
White – for pre-frost harvest
Yellow – for winter harvest
Leaves
Asian Leaves – frost hardy
Mizuna, Mibuna. mispoona
Pak Choi
Chard, kale, cabbage
Raddichio
Purple sprouting broc
Rocket
Corn salad /lambs lettuce ( great in early spring)
Winter salad mix
Endive
Beans and Peas
• French beans – climbing and dwarf – till end July
• Peas – till end July, and Sept/oct for next spring

Useful links:
Where to get these seeds:
http://www.realseeds.co.uk/summersowing2.html
http://brownenvelopeseeds.com/index.php/

Also check out the realseeds guide to Summer sowing

Broad beans finished

This year I planted 2 kinds of broad beads - The Sutton and Aquadulce Caludia. Planted them in January (1st) - inside - and then at the end of January the Aquadulce went into a tent greenhouse. The Sutton were planted out without cover a bit later. Both did well- the ones in the greenhouse produced a bit earlier.

The Sutton have short fat pods, with the beans close together, so a surprisingly good yield per pod. The Aquadulce have bigger pods, but about the same amount of beans. So they are both good choices in my opinion. Not sure if growing them inside or the greenhouse is necessary - will try just planting them out directly next year.

I'm taking the last harvest from them today, and I'll plant leeks in one of the beds. The other I'll re-cover with the tent greenhouse, and use it for winter greens.