What to grow for the cooler months ahead

Rugosa rose,"Scabrosa" flowering for the first time in the Food Forest- only one flower but what a beauty! It should produce a beautiful hip in winter.

The Autumn Equinox  in the southern hemisphere heralds the time of year when we take out summer crops and prepare the soil for cool season vegetables like peas, broad beans, cabbages, broccoli and cauliflowers. I am restricting my planting this year to Bok Choi, Tatsoi, Mizuna, curly endive, chard, lettuce, garlic, carrots, beetroot and parsnips. Why? Three reasons:
1) Root crops and leafy greens are less vulnerable to casual theft than peas and broccoli.
2) They are space-savers. Broad beans, potatoes, sprouting broccoli, cauliflowers and some cabbages all need a bigger garden than my small plot can accommodate.
3) I  was given some Bok Choi and curly endive seedlings so I will use them.

Watch out for the cabbage white caterpillar and green looper caterpillars too. Both  absolutely love to eat Bok Choi and Mizuna in particular. I invested in some "Dipel" last year and a spray of this bacteria proved to be the only method apart from hand-picking off the caterpillars that proved to be effective.

Tatsoi is a great Asian green. You just pick the outer leaves as you need. Any Asian greens added to a broth of chicken or vegetable stock with a few sliced mushrooms, spring onions and carrots and some Japanese noodles makes a wholesome, quick and tasty lunch.