I sow plenty of beets so that I can harvest the tasty leaves later in the season.

Fall is at our doorstep but my growing season is far from over! I live in zone 3 near the city Växjö in southern Sweden, and I'm counting on being able to grow vegetables outside until mid-November. As long as we have enough daylight for at least some of my plants. After that, everything slows down.

There might be some challenges before that too of course, depending on what kind of temperatures we have. But we could just as well get a beautiful fall! I would be so angry if I had decided to skip my August sowing and missed out on fresh little vegetables later this year. One of my favorites is beet leaves. The top picture shows beet leaves growing in my polytunnel in November.

So, plenty of the vegetables already growing in my kitchen garden will keep on going for another few months. And what I sow in August will give me a new harvest later in fall. Perfect!

What I sow in August:

Sow inside, plant in the beds outside later:

Cabbage turnip
Snow peas
Turnip
Daikon
Bok choy (Pak choi)
Arugula
Radish
Kale

Beds outside:
Welsh onion
Dill
Radish
Arugula 
Lamb's lettuce
Spinach
Lettuce
Summer carrot
Kale
Pea shoots

Sow inside, plant in the polytunnel later:
Lettuce
Beets
Lamb's lettuce
Purslane
Kale
Snow peas

I have plenty of new sowings and little plants that are waiting eagerly to get to their beds outside. I'm going to put a whole tray of nine different little kale varieties in new pots before I take them outside and to my polytunnel, and I have another tray of beets that I want to get out there as soon as possible. There's plenty of work left to be done. But also, a lot of food to eat! Sowing many times throughout the entire year gives me a long season and plenty of fresh vegetables.

The lettuce I decided to sow in August, growing in my beds outside in November.

Where should I put the new sowings?

I know that some of you might be wondering where on earth you're supposed to sow, the beds are usually full this time of the year. We usually get some extra space after I harvest the garlic, root vegetables, lettuce, and dill. Sow or plant in these empty spots! There will be more and more space as time goes on. I think it's a good idea to prepare by starting seeds indoors and planting the vegetables outside later.

What if I live far north?

There are plenty of vegetables you can sow in August and still get a good harvest later in fall. Even in the north. There is, for example, a radish variety called De dix-huit jours which is ready for harvest around 3 weeks after sowing. Some lettuce varieties grow very quickly, and cabbage too for that matter. Some of them might not grow very large though, but you can still get a lot of food when you have many of these tender little plants. So, get out there and start sowing!

You can sow lamb's lettuce in many different spots in your garden. You can harvest it during late fall, winter and even in spring.

Where can I get seeds?

It might be a bit difficult to get new seeds at this time of the year. I always get so surprised when I see that the shelves are empty and the seed packets have been sent back to the producer. How is that possible? Thankfully, there are some smaller garden shops that still sell seeds. And the online stores do it all year round of course. Good luck sowing new seeds in August!
/Sara Bäckmo