Sally Nex: How to laugh in the face of frost

Thinking of winding down in the veg patch?

Well – don’t hang up the trowel just yet. Quite the opposite: I find the autumn months are among the busiest of all. You’re tucking up empty veg beds for winter beneath a nice thick mulch of organic matter, while making sure your winter supplies – the stalwart army of kales, Brussels sprouts, leeks, parsnips and winter salads that see us through till spring – are shielded from the worst of the weather. I’m going around with short stakes right now, hammering one in alongside each of my taller brassicas then tying the stems in securely against the howling winter sou’westerlies that ravage my little corner of the country from now till the first frosts set in.

And while all that’s going on, you’ve also got to carve out some time to pull out the seed trays and getting next season’s crops under way.

Sowing to overwinter also takes the pressure off when the real March seed-sowing madness begins: and in some cases, such as garlic, it’s essential since bulbs need a spell of chilling (at least three weeks below 7°C) in order to split into cloves. If they don’t get it, you’ll end up with a single big onion-like bulb to harvest: still edible, but not quite what you were aiming for.

Head to the Learning with Experts blog to find Sally Nex's top five veg to sow right now.