Dont leave your vegetable plot empty this winter, all too often the vegetable plot is simply dug over and the soil left bare during autumn and winter.

Many varieties of traditional vegetables can be sown now and once they germinate, the young plants are quite happy to spend the colder months outside.Providing you with an earlier harvest than similar spring grown varieties.

Garlic is one of the easiest vegetables to grow and can be planted between mid to late autumn to provide a crop for next summer’s barbecue season. Split each bulb into individual cloves and plant them in a sheltered, sunny spot with well drained soil.Bury them with the pointed tips of each clove just below ground level and about 10cm (4 inches) apart.

A few weeks latter slender green shoots will appear and will remain through the winter months.In spring the garlic bulbs will begin to swell and with regular watering in dry weather, be ready for lifting in early summer.

Broad Beans Autumn sown broad beans are well worth the effort as they produce a slightly earlier crop than those started off in the spring, and are usually less prone to infestations by black bean aphids.

Choose a sunny spot with reasonably fertile well drained soil for your beans, create a trench 20cm (8 inches) wide and 5cm (2 inches) deep.Plant the seeds 15-20cm (6-8 inches) apart and then cover them with soil.If very wet or freezing weather is forcast protect your broad beans by placing cloches over the young plants.

In sheltered gardens try “Aquadulce” and “Super Aquadulce” which can be sown during October and November for picking in May and June.If your garden is vulnerable to cold weather and strong winds or you have limited space try “The Suttons” variety.

Peas A few varieties are hardy enough to be sown now and spend autumn and winter outside. Peas such as “Douce Provence” which produces a delicious sweet tasting crop, and “Meteor” which forms compact plants and is tough enough for cold and exposed gardens. Also there is “Feltham First” a traditional variety which requires little support, unlike the heavy cropping “Pilot” whose bushes are very hardy but need staking from an early age.

Sow the seeds in October 5cm (2 inches) deep and 8cm (3 inches) apart in a sunny sheltered spot, with a fertile well drained soil and cover the seedlings with cloches during bad weather.

Onions some types of onion bulbs are ideal for planting in early or mid autumn, and will crop several weeks earlier than if you wait until spring to plant your onion crop.Choose winter varieties like “Radar” or “Swift” and use a trowel to plant the sets 8-10cm (3-4 inches) apart, with the tips showing just above the soil surface.

A sunny spot with well drained soil is essential for them to grow well, check them regularly in cold weather as frost can sometimes lift them out of the earth.If this happens replant them immediately.

Lettuce you can even grow some types of lettuce through the winter, try “Winter Density” which has a sweet tasting dark green heart.Or the tasty crinkled leaves of “Artic King”, the crisp deep green “Lobjoits Green Cos” and “Valdor” for its large and tight heads.

Select a sheltered sunny spot with well drained soil and sow the lettuce seeds in shallow drills.Unless you live in a very mild area it is best to protect by covering with cloches, once the seedlings are large enough to handle thin them out to 15cm (6 inches) apart.

Look at a wide range of Vegetable seeds from MyGardenCenterOnline