What now??

How about some red clover or alfafa as a green manure crop

Onions, garlic, Broad beans could all go in soon (ish) and overwinter?

If you laid a sheet of black plastic down and grew these through cut holes, it would help to supress any weeds a bit as well?

Compostwoman wrote:Onions, garlic, Broad beans could all go in soon (ish) and overwinter?

If you laid a sheet of black plastic down and grew these through cut holes, it would help to supress any weeds a bit as well?

If you use black membrane rather than palstic the water goes in but not the light so weeds still suppressed but water gets to the soil.

I don't usually put my broad beans in until Oct. But I'm starting some onions now. shall be putting in over wintering peas too.

I put a couple of rows of late peas in 10 days back, they're already coming up and will give me a crop before the frosts. I use "early" peas as they're fast maturiing. I use earlies at this time of year for anything I want a late crop of. sounds a bit backwards, I know, but "earlies" are fast-maturing varieties.

BUT, weed supressing fabric does not kill off bindweed IME, it can even grow through it...!

which is why I suggested plastic sheet for this.

Although I do cover over fallow beds in the winter with geotextile, I put a good layer of compost on the soil and cover it over, weight it down and let the worms do the work...

Very true! But it grows through the black plastic here too !!! Paul's dug down 4 (four) feet and still found it. It comes from Australia !!!

It also comes up through the holes you plant the veg in !!! If anybody ever does find something that really, truly, kills bindweed so it doesn't re-emerge after a bit of a rest, they'll make a fortune. Even Monsanto can't manage it LOL.

Agree about the mulching, but have so little spare room we don't often get fallow beds for a whole winter.

I'm cursed with bindweed AND horsetail on the lottie and they both grow through anything but it's all starting to die off now, thankfully.

Green manure idea sounds good but think I'll do that on the biggest area once all the beans, squashes and fennel are done.

Onions could be the way to go on this particular patch.

I'm going experimental this year and am trying an unusual type of austrian cooking radish (Wiener Runder Kohlschwarzer). Sow it now and until september for winter crop of tennis ball sized roots. Eat cooked and it takes out the usual sharp taste of radish, leaving a mild tasting root - eat like you would a potato - roasted, mashed, chipped etc.

Seeds from real seed company

Marshalls seeds do a couple of things you can plant in the late summer/autumn: Kailaan white flowered chinese broccoli, which can be planted up to October, and Serac cauliflowers, which can be sown in October to over winter. Haven't tried either before, so I can't voch for them, but will be trying them this year. I've also just planted a row of Rocket, which germinated in just a couple of days, which is another possibility. (The broccoli and caulis would occupy the bed until early summer which you might not want.) The Marshalls website has quite a few ideas for things to plant now - not sure if they do organic seeds though.
Kitchen Garden magazine is currently running a monthly article about raised beds, which has some good suggestions about fitting in quick crops to use the ground to its full potential - you might get some other ideas there.