Carrot, one of the most delicious and nutritious vegetables that we plant in the spring and autumn season. Famous for the sweet, crunchy and aromatic taste of its fleshy root, the carrot is a favorite food for young and old. It grows in the ground with its leaves protruding above the soil, as is the case with beetroot, radish, onion and garlic. The carrot is eaten fresh in winter salads along with cabbage and lettuce, but also cooked in various recipes, such as in the traditional bean salad. We can also make carrot cake, thanks to its sweet taste. Carrots need relatively cool conditions to grow and perform well, as well as plenty of sunlight. Ideal temperature conditions for carrot cultivation are between 16-18°C. Carrot cultivation is relatively resistant to winter frost, while at high temperatures that exceed 25°C the growth of the carrot root stops, it becomes woody and its color fades.

Thyme is an aromatic low shrub, a typical plant found in the countryside of our country. Thyme has a creeping but also upright growth and reaches a height of up to 40 cm. There are many varieties of thyme that we can grow. A special and hardy variety of thyme is lemon thyme, the leaves of which have a strong lemon aroma.

The chard, the beet’s cousin! Swiss chard is not grown for its underground part, the root like beetroot, but for its tasty leaves, which we eat cooked or boiled in various recipes. A fall planting vegetable, Swiss chard is an easy crop with no particular requirements, and very healthy as it helps regulate sugar. It is grown as an annual vegetable, as it blooms in the second year. There are many varieties of chard, with light green to dark green leaf color and red or white stems and veins, depending on the variety.
Varieties of Swiss chard with red veins make them visually similar to beets. Note that due to its impressive foliage, the chard also adds decorative value to our autumn vegetable garden. The chard prefers cool weather. Although it does not tolerate high temperatures, the chard seeks sunny or semi-dark places, while it is also relatively resistant to light frost. It wants deep fertile soils, enriched in organic matter that also have good drainage.

Cucumber is a thick, ground-growing annual vine that grows on scaffolding or any other supporting framework, wrapping thin, spiraling stems around the nerve. The plant has large, spiny, hairy triangular leaves that form a canopy over the fruits, and yellow flowers that are mostly either male or female. Female flowers are identified by the swollen ovary at the base, which will become the edible fruit.

There are dozens of cucumber varieties and hybrids that are commercially available and that we can plant. Depending on the size of the fruit, the cucumber varieties are divided into the large-fruited varieties and the small-fruited varieties that, in addition to being fresh, are also used for pickling. A traditional long-fruited variety of cucumber is the Kalybiotiko cucumber, suitable for summer outdoor cultivation that gives very tasty smooth dark green fruits, about 40 cm long. Among the small-fruited varieties, we distinguish the Knossos variety, from the Heraklion region of Crete, with a smooth, dark green, crunchy fruit about 20 centimeters long. Long cucumber, a traditional variety of cucumber.