Extending the season

One of my regular friends down on the allotment is my Swiss chard Bright Lights. Hardy as you like this will stay all over Winter then re-grow again in the Spring and last right up till May next year. Very pretty, one of my favourites.
So many different things are still ripening on the allotment, when Autumn really seems to be looming fast! Here is one of my butternut squash, has a few more days to ripen fully.

I bought this packet of Acorn Squash in the USA last year. It is a bush variety called Table Queen, and although I planted it much later this year than I would have liked, it produced one fair sized squash. I do like the bush varieties as I am limited for space in my garden, and if I have a productive plant it takes up only a fraction of the space that a trailing variety will.


These are Numex Twilight chillis. I saved seed from my BBC Gardeners World trial last year. They are fiercly hot but make wonderful decorative indoor plants right up till Christmas.


Finally, I decided to grow one sweet potato in a pot in the greenhouse this year. They did wonderfully well in the open last year, so I wondered if I could extend the season a little as they seem to die back at the first sign of cold.