Autumn in the greenhouse

Big bowls of colorful tomatoes with fragrant basil chopped over them, the first bush beans of the year, roasted eggplant and deliciously grilled peppers, ratatouille, tzatziki, stuffed peppers, nice spicy sauce of peppers in all colors, snack cucumbers to satisfy little appetites, passata and pickled cucumbers. In the summer, the greenhouse rewards us lavishly with all the goodies that grow there, but did you know that the much longer period that surrounds summer can provide a much more diverse selection of vegetables? Beets, turnips, fennel, kohlrabi, leafy cabbage, radishes, lettuce in all colors, flavors and textures, fresh garlic, onions and herbs. Even in the winter months, I cook daily from the greenhouse. If you’ve already closed the door behind you, return to your steps quickly!

If you still have tomato plants in the greenhouse and they still look healthy, they are welcome to stay. Remove all leaves from under the last ripening fruits. All energy can now go to the fruits and the soil underneath will get light again. When the plants become sick or all the fruits have been harvested cut the stem just below the ground and throw the plants on the compost heap. Remove the mulch layer and apply some compost between the plants, then water and done.

At the end of July I start pre-sowing vegetables for planting out in the greenhouse: cauliflower, broccoli, palm cabbage, chard, fennel, kohlrabi, turnips, lettuce … All these plants can now finally be planted out. If you have not pre-sown anything, you can probably go to the plant center, but you can also sow a lot: rocket, mustard leaf, broad beans, early peas, carrots, radishes, lettuce, spinach, coriander, turnip greens, dill, corn salad, chervil, chard, winter purslane, cress, … with enough soil and give them a spot in the greenhouse.

The leaves and other vegetables will germinate quickly, but in the winter their growth will pretty much stop. So don’t harvest too enthusiastically at first. But in the spring, as the days lengthen, they will soon resume their growth. Keep watering regularly, you will flush out all the accumulated salts and make up for the shortage that occurred during the summer.