AutumnHarvest, tidy away, prepare for next year
Autumn is the most generous and the gentlest season in the Belgian vegetable garden. September prolongs the summer, October offers squashes, apples, pears and the last tomatoes, November settles the leeks, cabbages and chicory (witloof) in for winter. It is also the time to cover the soil: compost, fallen leaves, green manures. A vegetable garden well covered in November is one that gets going again quickly in March. Plant fruit trees, put away the stakes, sort the seeds.
The priorities for the season
- Bring the squashes in before the frosts and leave them to dry somewhere dry.
- Cover every empty bed: leaves, compost, green manures.
- Plant fruit trees and bushes, garlic and winter onions.
- Set chicory roots to force and protect whatever is still standing.
In the vegetable garden and orchard
What happens in autumn
We’re sowing
Let's plant
We harvest
- Tomato
- Courgette
- Cucumber
- Sweet pepper
- Aubergine
- French bean (dwarf bean)
- Potato
- Carrot
- Beetroot
- Radish
- Turnip
- Parsnip
- Leek
- Lettuce
- Spinach
- Lamb's lettuce (corn salad)
- Rocket
- Cauliflower
- Cabbage
- Brussels sprouts
- Kale
- Broccoli
- Chicory (witloof)
- Celeriac
- Florence fennel
- Winter squash and pumpkins
- Swiss chard
- Basil
- Parsley
- Chives
- Thyme
- Mint
- Coriander
- Dill
- Strawberry
- Raspberry
- Blueberry
- Blackberry
- Apple
- Pear
- Plum
- Grape
- Kiwi
- Fig
- Melon
- Hazelnut
- Quince
On the plate
Eating seasonal food
Autumn calls for dishes that simmer: pumpkin soup, stoemp (Belgian mash) with leeks, braised cabbage, baked apples, poached pears, stewed fruit. Hazelnuts are cracked at the corner of the table and the last green tomatoes end up as chutney.
Living well
Gathering leaves, turning the compost, pruning the raspberries: autumn tasks are slow and repetitive, and that is their virtue. The garden teaches you to finish things properly, and to accept that a season is closing.