I usually wait until the vines start to go yellow or we are due a frost, so usually autumn here, you can use the shoots and leaves like spinach as well.
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Excellent! Thank you. Since I’ve never grown it before, I really know nothing about it.
However, something else I’ve never grown before but are coming along well are potimarrons. A local French gardening enthusiast gave me some of her seeds (she saves them from year to year) and they are looking really jealthy. Having checked on-line, they have a reputation for being delicious too so this autumn/winter should see us trying some new recipes 
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That’s very interesting @Griffin36 . Two questions - in your experience, does taking some of the leaves off mean the roots don’t develop as well? Also, have you tried what the video talks about with putting shoots back in the ground to grow more?
And even better, you don’t have to peel them!
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I haven’t found taking leaves off does not make any difference al all, I always leave two leaves which sprout again.
I have layered shoots successfully, but never tried cuttings.
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That makes sense! Thank you…
Given that you cook a lot of vegetarian food, I shall be in touch to ask for recipes at some point
After our early blight we chopped down our potato plants and left them for 2 weeks, yesterday we started digging and from 2 rows (of 5) we have over 11kg already so not as awful as may have been!!!
We don’t have any seedlings ready to put in the space. Is it too late to plant butternut seeds??? Any other ideas for crops to go in??
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There are lots of things you can sow from July, including daikon and other winter radishes, florence fennel and any of the Japanese salad things like mizuna. Those are the main ones we sow, anyway. Our butternut actually were sown just a couple of weeks ago so I’d definitely give those a go and other winter squash too.
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We have just planted some endive (belgian chicory) little plants. On sale in our jardival! My veg book says 120 day to harvest, so hopefully can bring them in in October and dump them in sand to blanch.
Leaf endive /escarole/raddichio also good for winter salads. Also pain du sucre.
Amd you might just get away with sowing purple sprouting broccoli for next Jan.
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I’m intending to make a couple of largish wooden planters next week. One will be for herbs, the other for growing (edible?) undecided things. Trouble is, I’m not very good with plants/gardening and would appreciate some advice.
What to grow (not courgettes)?, is it too late to worry about this year?, what do I fill them with (reckon I’ll need nearly 500 litres)?
Thanks, Mark
For last three years I’ve bought a healthy a sweet potato plant and each year it grows a few centimetres and then that’s it…what am i doing wrong?
You’ve got me mixed up with someone else.
Sorry, I know nothing about growing sweet potatoes.
Reading back it’s @Griffin36 that grows them
I doubt if you need advice on herbs but it’s certainly not too late to plant veg for the autumn/winter. I’m assuming you’re not interested in growing from seed, certainly to start with, but there should be things like florence fennel and japanese salad leaves like mizuna. Also kale and winter cabbages. Depending on how deep the planters are, you could plant leeks and daikons.
Do you have any nurseries around you? We always get our leek plants from the local market and there’s loads around at present. A lot of the veg stalls at the markets have a side table with young plants in…
In terms of filling them, the initial fill will be tricky if they are that big. I usually top mine up each year with some bags of (cheap) compost from the local garden centres but it you haven’t got any spare soil from the garden, that could prove costly. Others may have better ideas!
Thanks @AngelaR , I might try leeks, also just been reading up on growing garlic so will probably give that a go. Not really a fan of cabbage (to much of a reminder of school dinners), its ok raw in homemade coleslaw though.
I’ve made 2 planters so far, just need lining and filling but will need about 600 litres to fill. My neighbour has a big pile of earth so I’ll ask if I can have some which I’ll mix with both homemade compost and cheap (thats a laugh) stuff from the garden centre.
Its all going to have to wait a couple of weeks- yet another trip to UK coming up 
You can sometimes buy compost from the town garden people usually nearish the déchetterie.