When greenhouse plants finally stop bearing fruit, gardeners often simply uproot them and prepare the greenhouse for winter rest. And in vain – before the onset of real cold weather, you can still successfully grow a lot of useful things in an empty place! What can you plant after summer?

We have already used greenhouses in winter. And you can grow vegetables in it even in the coldest months. But, of course, only if there is a well-established heating and lighting system.

However, even if you have an ordinary unheated greenhouse, do not rush to preserve it for the winter immediately after harvesting greenhouse crops of spring and early summer sowing. With sufficient skill and knowledge, a covered structure on a garden plot will allow you to grow another crop in the same beds in the season without installing additional equipment.

Crop rotation in the greenhouse

Many people start harvesting in a greenhouse already in July – it all depends on the selected varieties of the same tomatoes, eggplants, peppers or cucumbers. So by August, and even more so by September, the majority of gardeners vacate significant areas, on which the hand tries to plant something like that. Plant? Sure! It is still quite warm outside. The daylight hours are quite long, and some crops with a short ripening period will have time to mature in place of the harvested ones.

However, do not rush to plant the first early ripening plants on the empty greenhouse beds. Remember the requirements of different crops for soil and growing conditions. And the rules of crop rotation, the science of the competent alternation of plants on the site. It is the observance of these very rules that will help significantly increase the return on the use of the site without significant investments. Improve the health of the soil and allow its resources to be spent more rationally.

For example, there is a rule that first the most “gluttonous” crop is grown on the garden bed, and later – plants with a lower need for nutrients. Don’t forget to regularly fertilize the site or heal it with siderates.

It is impossible to plant the same bed for several years in a row with the same crop, especially with a high need for trace elements. In this case, the probability of depleting the soil is high – after all, year after year the plants will take from it the same nutrients suitable for them. In addition, the predecessor will almost certainly leave the pathogens of certain diseases “inherited” by the follower, which season after season will accumulate and flourish in one place and in one culture.

It is not worth thoughtlessly to alternate cultures only according to the principle of the most distant relationship – they may have completely different requirements for the growing conditions (acidity and composition of soil trace elements, illumination, groundwater level, etc.), and the follower simply will not take root on the wrong garden bed.

And it is the crop rotation rules that will allow you to correctly choose the next crop, taking into account what grew in the greenhouse before.

Most often, in our conditions, cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplants and peppers are massively grown in a greenhouse. What can be planted to replace them in August and September (and sometimes even in warm October) so as not to violate the rules of crop rotation?

We bring to your attention tables of predecessors and followers in greenhouse beds, taking into account all of the above.

Tomatoes
Good followers	Onions, garlic, green manure, carrots, cabbage, beans, peas, cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkin
Neutral followers	Beets, greens
Bad followers	Potatoes, peppers, eggplants

Cucumbers, zucchini
Good followers	Onions, siderates, tomatoes, beans, potatoes, carrots, radishes, corn
Neutral followers	Beets, greens
Bad followers	Cucumbers, squash, pumpkin, melons, cabbage

Eggplant, pepper
Good followers	Onions, garlic, green manure, beans, carrots, cucumbers, zucchini, cabbage, melons
Neutral followers	Beets, greens
Bad followers	Potatoes, tomatoes, pumpkin

But, of course, not all of these crops will have time to ripen before the cold weather, being planted in the greenhouse in the second stage. And what will be in time?

What to plant in a greenhouse in August and September

As you can see from the previous table, after harvesting in the greenhouse, almost after each of the main crops, you can plant early ripening and not very demanding onions with garlic, herbs, siderates, as well as some root crops (for example, radishes). Let us consider in more detail the conditions for their cultivation in an autumn greenhouse.

Plant onion or garlic in a greenhouse

Onions and garlic on a feather are always a trouble-free option if you have empty beds. These crops are unpretentious, cold-hardy, early ripening. And if you still slightly fertilize the soil in the greenhouse before planting them, the plants will certainly delight you with fast friendly vitamin shoots – under good conditions, you will take off the first harvest in 25-30 days.

For forcing onions on a feather, species with a very short period of dormancy or none at all (they are immediately after harvesting ready for the formation of a new harvest) are used – multi-tiered, batun, chives, slime.

Salads, spinach, arugula, Swiss chard, rhubarb

Various types of lettuce and spinach, as well as arugula, Swiss chard, rhubarb grow exceptionally fast. They are not afraid of cold weather, do not require a lot of light from nature, and a lot of care from the gardener. The plantings will only have to be thinned regularly, loosened and watered.

All of these leafy greens are harvested by cutting off the peripheral large leaves and allowing the young to grow. The main thing is to choose early ripening varieties that will fully ripen by the end of the second or third week after sowing. That is, with a successful coincidence of circumstances, some of these crops you will take off even more than one crop before a real cold snap.

Radish

Autumn radish is the next unpretentious find for zealous gardeners. It can be easily grown in a greenhouse after the first harvest. Root crops of some of its early ripening varieties are fully formed in 2-3 weeks after the appearance of the first shoots.

Of the requirements for the place of radish – only the availability of sufficient lighting and regular watering. Even in an abundance of dressings, he does not have an urgent need. Remember only that when growing radishes at any time of the year, manure cannot be applied to the soil. In general, any nitrogen fertilizers can contribute to the formation of voids in the middle of the root crop.

Also, a radish planted in the vacated beds (especially after cucumbers) will feel good and will have time to grow. Moreover, you can plant almost any of its varieties in a greenhouse in early autumn – black Russian radish, daikon (Chinese).

Dill, basil, parsley, coriander, fennel

Various herbs are also an excellent substitute for the main crops in the greenhouse at the very end of summer and in the first month of autumn. Some early-ripening varieties of plants such as dill, basil, parsley, coriander or fennel will be ready for consumption within 20-40 days after sowing. Especially if they are planted in fertilized loose soil with stratified germinated seeds, watered in time and protected from drafts.

Green manure plants in the greenhouse

Planting in a greenhouse after the main crop of siderates is another great option to take advantage of the empty space of the beds.

The fact is that these helper plants with a powerful root system and rapidly developing green mass are biological fertilizers, restoring soil fertility in a natural way. They are sown either in a free area in the garden, or in the fall after harvesting the main crops. Before the onset of frost, a lush green mass that has grown by 15-25 cm, without digging, is cut and buried in the ground (this does not apply to winter siderates, which are left to grow until spring). This allows the soil to be enriched with valuable nitrogen, loosens it, inhibits the growth of weeds, and prevents the spread of bacterial and fungal diseases. Plus, you don’t have to spend a lot of time looking after new greenhouse “tenants”.

Among the most common siderates are:

• cereals (oats, barley, millet, timothy, ryegrass, fescue, wheatgrass);
• cruciferous (mustard, rapeseed, colza, oil radish);
• legumes (lupine, peas, alfalfa, beans, clover);
• borage (phacelia);
• aster (marigold), etc.

Which ones are suitable for autumn planting in a greenhouse? Almost all – at the beginning of autumn, legumes, buckwheat, rapeseed, mustard, radish, and rape are sown as siderates; just before winter, you can sow radish, mustard, rapeseed, phacelia, lupine, clover, winter cereals.

Just before sowing an empty garden bed with green manure, decide which plants you will grow on it next season. The main crop and the green manure predecessor should not be members of the same family.

As you can see, even the beds in an unheated greenhouse do not need to be empty with the onset of autumn. In the arsenal of a real gardener there are enough crops that are able to abundantly provide him with fresh vitamins even at the end of the summer season. Or – to successfully prepare the ground for follower plants for the next season, which is worth thinking about in advance. What do you plant in the autumn greenhouse?