Growing all year round: My guide to summer sowings

My deep bed is usually 33 feet (around 10 meters) long, but I decided to split it by making a little path in the middle. The bed is located in a sheltered area behind my stone wall and fence.

Not everything in the kitchen garden develops exactly as planned. Some crops may struggle with pests, dry weather or other difficult conditions, while others give a much better harvest than expected.

This is one of the reasons I keep sowing throughout summer. New sowings can fill the spaces left after earlier harvests and give us fresh vegetables later in the season. I especially like growing fall vegetables that are best eaten fresh rather than stored for winter. The garden is a little like a jigsaw puzzle, and I arrange the pieces differently depending on how the season develops.

What I sow

I start by emptying the beds. I finish harvesting and remove the old plant material, which I use as mulch in the surrounding beds. Then I prepare the empty spaces and sow new seeds.

Read more about mulch: Mulching my polytunnels

I sow plenty of spinach in my beds outside. Spinach is handy since I can freeze it if I want, so it doesn't matter if I grow a little bit too much. We eat more than 2 pounds (around 1 kg) of spinach every week. We can't seem to get enough!

The other beds are filled with a mix of different vegetables. I think it's a good idea to spread out the sowings, over several weeks in different areas. This will help me spread out the risk a bit.

I sow summer carrots, dill, bok choy (pak choi), tatsoi, spinach, arugula and radish in August.

Late summer sowings often need varieties that grow quickly. SeedsNow has a Quick-to-Mature Garden Variety Pack with several useful crops, including arugula, carrots, lamb’s lettuce, lettuce, radishes and spinach. The right sowing time depends on your climate, so check which varieties are suitable for your area before planting.

See the Quick-to-Mature Variety Pack here: SeedsNow Quick-to-Mature Variety Pack

More about sowing new seeds: Tomatoes from sowing to harvest

Where I grow

I do my summer sowings in raised beds outside (preferably with a row cover on top to protect against drought and cold), pallet collar beds and other cultivation boxes.

A few projects are growing in my plug trays and troughs too, I plan on letting them grow larger and then plant them outside whenever I get an empty spot in my beds. If I sow on a hot summer day, I will leave the sowing under a tree in the shade, protected with a row cover to avoid pests. If I sow on a hot summer day, I keep the trays in the shade under a tree and protect them with row cover. In cooler weather, I may place them in the polytunnel instead. I want the seedlings to get off to a good start and grow quickly enough to produce a harvest later in the season.

Crop rotation is important, especially for my cabbages. The summer sowings will keep growing in the cabbage section outside, it's easier for me to keep track of them this way.I keep track of where cabbage has grown before and place new plants in areas where brassicas haven’t been grown recently.

My pots are another important growing space in the garden. When some of my bell peppers, eggplants and tomatoes are done for the season in late summer, I cut them down and put bokashi and plant parts on top of the bed. After that, I sow new fast-growing leafy greens or use some of the plants from my plug tray.

A little rain added some welcome moisture to the soil before sowing.

Three tips for summer sowings:

• Sow generously in close rows, since plants started later in the season may not grow as large.
• Spread your sowings across several weeks and different parts of the garden, so one failed batch does not ruin the entire harvest.
• Use row cover to protect new sowings from pests and help create more stable growing conditions.

One of the most important things I have learned is that sowing generously often pays off. Four packets of spinach seeds over three weeks may sound like a lot, but our family eats plenty of vegetables.

In my climate, growth slows considerably in late fall. Once I harvest a bed, that space will not immediately produce more food unless I have another sowing ready. If I want a long and generous harvest season, I need several sowings and enough growing space to keep them going.

/Sara Bäckmo