In The Vegetable Garden This October

🧄 1. Plant garlic, onions and autumn crops

October is an excellent time to get certain crops established before winter.

• 🧄 Garlic – plant individual cloves in well-drained soil, pointed end upwards, about 5cm deep.

• 🧅 Autumn onion sets – plant in a sunny spot for an early summer harvest next year.

• 🌱 Broad beans – sow hardy varieties such as Aquadulce Claudia for an earlier crop next year.

• 🥬 Spring cabbages – plant out established seedlings if you have them.

Tip: Avoid planting garlic or onions in soil that becomes waterlogged over winter.

🥕 2. Harvest the last of your crops

Make the most of your remaining harvest before hard frosts arrive.

• 🥕 Lift carrots and beetroot as needed, particularly if heavy frost is forecast.

• 🎃 Harvest pumpkins and winter squash before frost damages them.

• 🥔 Lift any remaining maincrop potatoes on a dry day and allow them to dry before storing.

• 🍅 Pick remaining green tomatoes and ripen them indoors.

• 🫘 Harvest the last runner beans and French beans.

Store sound pumpkins and squash in a cool, dry, frost-free place.

🍂 3. Clear beds and improve your soil

October is a great month to prepare your beds for next season.

• Remove finished crops and any diseased plants.

• Spread a layer of garden compost or well-rotted manure over empty beds.

• Cover bare soil with cardboard and compost, or use a suitable mulch.

• Leave healthy roots in the ground where appropriate, but remove weeds before they seed.

You don’t need to dig every bed. No-dig gardening works particularly well when you add compost to the surface each year.

🥬 4. Protect your winter vegetables

Keep your winter crops healthy as temperatures drop.

• Cover brassicas with fine insect mesh if cabbage white butterflies or pigeons are still causing problems.

• Use horticultural fleece to protect vulnerable crops when frost is forecast.

• Firm up brussel sprouts and tall brassicas if autumn winds have loosened them.

• Keep harvesting kale, leeks, chard and winter cabbage as needed.

A layer of straw around leeks can help keep the soil from freezing solid and make harvesting easier.

🌿 5. Sow a few crops for winter and spring

There is still time to sow a few quick-growing or hardy crops.

• Winter spinach – Sow hardy varieties in a sheltered spot.
• Lamb’s lettuce – Sow for leaves through autumn and winter.
• Winter lettuce – Sow hardy varieties under cloches or in a greenhouse.
• Radishes – Try a quick crop under protection early in the month.

In colder areas, sowing under cover or in an unheated greenhouse will give you better results.

🐌 6. Keep slugs, weeds and pests under control

• Check under pots, boards and damp leaves for slugs and snails.

• Remove weeds while the soil is moist and easy to work.

• Check stored produce regularly and remove anything showing signs of rot.

• Collect fallen leaves for leaf mould, keeping diseased foliage out of the pile.