Kitchen Garden Forum

I recently dug up a load of first early potatoes (very satisfying it was too!), and now have an empty section in the raised bed.

Is there anything I could grow there in the meantime, or do I have to leave this bed empty until next Spring?

Hi,
Funnily enough I have just dug up my supposedly late rows of Charlottes as the haulms had died. Not blight I suspect since other potatoes near by not affected. Just a bad potato year for me - will manure bed well next year didn't this year due to concerns about contaminated manure! Anyway I have planted leeks and also will sow perpetual spinach and swiss chard this week, as a winter crop.
So no don't leave the bed bare - it only encourages weeds and it is always worth sowing even a few salad crops for late autumn.
Hilary

Hi Marge,
Certainly Leeks have been the traditional succession to Early Potatoes
But as Hilary points out there are several alternatives to leaving the bed bare. If you have no Leeks available then one other alternative is to put the area down to Green Manure and there is still plenty of choice as most of them can be sown up until the end of August and some even as late as November.
JB.

Hi Marge. I've just sown beetroot and lettuce which should crop this year. I've also put in rocket, which is hardy. I'm thinking about planting peas too. If they dont mature, I'll dig them in as a green manure. As they fix nitrogen, they should benefit the soil.

Hi Marge

Plenty of choice:

French beans (might crop if sown now)
Beetroot
Leef beet
Chicory, endive, lettuce, pak choi, Oriental Mustards (all sowable well into next month)
Spring Onions
Radishes

Have a look at Ben and Kate's excellent tips.

Whatever you do don't leave the bed bare and unproductive.

Alan

I like to sow dwarf French beans, which germinate quickly and make a very good quality and heavy crop by September into early October. Salads are a good bet, too, and coriander, which I grow rather as a crop than as a herb, for the huge quantities I like to use in Oriental cooking. Pak choi is quick to mature, and is less inclined to run to seed sown at this time of the year. With the heavy rain we've been getting in most parts of the country lately, now is an excellent time for sowing, when in some summers you have to battle with drought to get your seedlings off to a good start.

Great stuff everyone

I am pleased not to have to leave the bed empty, not just because this is unproductive but because it wouldn't look nice

I'm going to have to put my remaining brassicas from their seed bed in when I've lifted the potatoes as I've run out of space. I'll rake a sprinkle of fertilizer in before I plant them and put a circle of lime round each one as I plant them out.

I'm sowing winter wheat after my potatoes again;pigeons ate the last crop, but if I net it earlier, I should be able to get it this year

How about Swiss chard - that's always good.

Purple sprouting brocolli plants would be good for a spring crop, which is what Ill be putting in along with some cauliflowers for over wintering.....

I have put in some leeks which I sowed at home in a pot. The ones I sowed on the allotment got submerged by weeds as I had no time to deal with them. I shall therefore turn this area into my garlic plot for next year, sowing in October once the spuds are cleared.

By the way, I have been getting some lovely Ambo, Charlotte and Red Duke of York from keepers dating back to 2005. I've even dug up a couple of Maris piper plants which are descendents of my 2004 sowing. Not a sign of any disease on them.