Extend the season with cloches and you can carry on growing veg right through till the first frosts. Stock up on your favourite type now, ready to use as soon as temperatures start to fall: whether you prefer convenient, easy-to-use polythene tunnels or rigid and sturdy long row cloches.
Put these mobile mini-greenhouses over your plants now they'll trap the last of the sunshine, keeping the soil warmer for longer so your plants just keep growing.
Late-sown seedlings get the best possible start under cloches; chard, winter salads or even early varieties of carrot and turnip get going in double speed, increasing your chances of snatching one last crop from the ground. Annual herbs like parsley and chervil also carry on growing for weeks longer with the few degrees of extra warmth a cloche provides.
Check every week or so to make sure there are no signs of fungal disease – potentially a problem in the humid, warm conditions under a cloche. If there's a hot spell – not unusual for September - open up both ends of the cloches to let the air circulate; but don't forget to close them again as temperatures drop at night.
