What vegetables can I sow in autumn to overwinter?

Autumn sowing is one of the highest-value things a UK gardener does, because it produces crops in the hungry gap of March, April and May when a spring-sown plot is still bare. It is also the thing most often got wrong by a few weeks, because the aim is a specific plant size at midwinter rather than a specific sowing date.

Step by step

1. Understand what you are aiming for.A plant well enough established to have roots, but small enough not to be damaged by frost or to bolt in spring. Too big going into winter and many crops bolt or are killed; too small and they never establish.
2. Plant garlic in autumn — this is the main one.Garlic genuinely needs the cold period to form cloves, so autumn is the right time, not a compromise. Plant into free-draining soil or a ridge on heavy ground.
3. Plant overwintering onion and shallot sets.Autumn-planted sets crop several weeks before spring-planted ones. Use varieties sold specifically for autumn planting; ordinary spring sets will bolt.
4. Sow broad beans.A hardy variety sown in late autumn overwinters as a small plant and crops weeks earlier than spring sowings, often escaping the worst of blackfly. On heavy wet ground, start them in modules and plant out.
5. Sow hardy peas.Round-seeded varieties sown in late autumn, protected with a cloche or fleece, crop early. Mice are the main hazard, so many gardeners start them in gutters or modules under cover.
6. Sow winter salads under cover.Lamb's lettuce, winter purslane, land cress, mizuna, mustards, rocket and hardy lettuces sown in late summer or early autumn crop through winter in a cold greenhouse, a cold frame or under a cloche.
7. Sow spring cabbage.Sown in late summer and planted out in autumn, spring cabbage stands the winter as a small plant and hearts up in spring — a genuinely useful crop in the hungry gap.
8. Get the timing right for your area.There is no national date. In the south, sowing can be a fortnight or more later than in the north. Aim for a small established plant by the shortest day and work backwards from there.
9. Improve drainage before you sow.Winter wet kills more overwintering crops than winter cold. Raised beds, ridges and added organic matter matter more than fleece.
10. Have protection ready.Cloches, fleece and a cold frame extend what is possible substantially and are what make winter salads work at all. Protection also keeps the worst of the rain off.

Tips

• Autumn-sown crops need less watering, less weeding and have fewer pests than spring sowings, which makes them unusually low-effort for the return.
• Mice are the biggest threat to autumn-sown peas and beans. Starting them in modules or lengths of guttering under cover, then planting out, sidesteps it entirely.
• Winter growth is limited by light, not temperature. That is why a cold greenhouse works for salads but nothing grows fast between November and February.
• Sow a bit more than you think you need. Winter losses are normal and gaps are hard to fill.
• Autumn-sown crops must be netted against pigeons from the start — they are the only green thing on the plot in January.

Common mistakes

• Sowing too early in autumn — Large soft plants going into winter are far more likely to be killed by frost, and several crops bolt in spring if they were too big at the turn of the year.
• Using spring onion sets for an autumn planting — They bolt. Only varieties sold for autumn planting are suitable.
• Sowing into cold wet heavy soil — Winter wet rots seed and roots. Improve drainage or start plants in modules under cover and plant out.
• Not protecting from pigeons — An autumn-sown bed is the only food on the plot in midwinter. Netting is essential rather than optional.

Alternatives

• Garlic and autumn onion sets: The most reliable autumn planting there is, and the only one where autumn is genuinely better rather than merely earlier.
• Broad beans and hardy peas: Earlier crops, often with less blackfly on the beans. Needs a hardy variety and reasonable drainage; mice are the main enemy.
• Winter salads under cover: The most productive winter growing available to a home gardener. Needs a cloche, frame or unheated greenhouse and gives leaves from November to spring.
• Spring cabbage and overwintering brassicas: Occupies ground all winter and crops in the hungry gap. Needs netting against pigeons.
• Green manure instead: Where a bed is not wanted for a winter crop, a green manure protects and feeds the soil and is cleared before spring planting.

Questions people ask