Clear away old summer crops in early autumn and you can make space for salads and vegetables to give you pickings through winter and into spring.
While it’s too late to sow most crops at this point, you can still buy young plants as plugs from specialist growers. If you don’t have a greenhouse to provide winter shelter, you can still plant the plugs in covered beds outdoors.
Learn how to grow vegetable plugs for tasty pickings over winter, or at other times of the year.
You Will Need
- Plug plants
- Trowel
- Cloche
Total time: 30 minutes
Step 1
Young plug plants will arrive by post ready for planting immediately so unpack them at once and moisten the rootballs if the compost is dry.
Step 2
Most plugs should come with planting instructions, so read these first. Plant the plugs in well-prepared soil, burying the rootballs and firming around them.
Step 3
Space out salads or other plug plants evenly across the bed. Alternatively, if space is at a premium, you can plant them in large pots instead.
Step 4
Water them in well, particularly if conditions are dry, and cover salad plants with cloches or fleece to protect them during very cold weather.
Spring plugs
You can also follow this advice for plug plants bought and grown on in spring. To avoid any damage from pests, you could grow on your plugs in trays or small pots until they’re larger. Water regularly, especially in hot weather.
