Sunday, October 18, 2020
This is a time of year that most summer vegetables are winding down and cold crops are growing strong. With frost, many summer vegetables will die and cold season crops will get sweeter. The biggest difference between spring and fall is that the days are getting shorter instead of longer. For planting in the fall, add 2 weeks to the "Days to harvest" on seed packets to compensate. Be sure to plant varieties that thrive in the colder weather.
We continue to fertilize our vegetables monthly. Fertilizer stimulates new growth so don't fertilize the plants that are "tender"/susceptible to frost. This is also a great time to re-mulch the garden beds to give an added blanket of protection to prolong the season. The mulch will break down over the winter, providing additional organic matter.
Be sure that you are saving seeds from your best producers for next year's garden. Seeds from plants that do well in your garden are the best to save as they are proven to like your garden conditions. Always save seed from the best tasting, best sized veggies. One caveat, don't save seeds from any diseased plants. The seeds will carry the disease back to the garden when planted. Seed saving-fun, easy and a cost saver
Our zucchini are done for the year. The cucumbers and spaghetti squash are close to done. It is a good idea to replant some zucchini seeds in August to keep zucchinis on hand in the garden into fall. It is not a bad idea to replant tomatoes, cucumbers, and zucchini in early August each year to keep these plants at top producing vigor until frost.
My Napoli tomato and all eggplant are still producing slowly. For tomatoes, be sure to take all the tomatoes off the vine before it frosts. You can either wrap the green tomatoes in newspaper and store in a cool place to ripen, make them into relish, or eat them as fried. For fried green tomatoes, we use Andy’s Cajun batter. Gives them a nice, spicy flavor. A late fall tradition-fried green tomatoes!
Any plant that has a disease, do not compost! Throw away in the trash. Composting may not kill all spores and you could be spreading the disease next season wherever you use the compost. Composting is possible in small spaces or even indoors
Peppers love this time of year. They are native to the mountains so they love this weather. They will continue to produce even after frost. To prolong the season, I put the pots up against the house. You can also bring them indoors and they will produce for weeks inside. When spring comes and you put them back outside, they will get a jump start on producing next year. Peppers a Plenty in September
I have gotten many sweet peppers off the two pots I had this year. I freeze the extra sweet peppers to use in salsa throughout the winter. Salsa is a great snack during football games. Quick and fresh homemade salsa
I harvested the basil in mid-September to dry. I put the cut stems into a paper bag loosely to let them dry. I took the leaves off the dry stems today. I'll keep them in a ziplock in a dark room until I am ready to use them. My favorite way to preserve basil is to make pesto. This year, I had plenty of pesto left over so I let the plants flower. Pollinators love it.
Basil are very tender annuals and will turn black with the first frost. You can dig them up and bring them in for the winter. Place them in a full sun spot. You can put them back outside again in the spring after all danger of frost has passed. Basil basics-harvesting, preserving, growing basil
I have volunteer lettuce, parsley, carrots, chervil, Dragon's Tail radish, dill and cilantro that are a few inches tall now. All are doing well. My potted cultivated dandelions, arugula, corn salad, celery, chard and parsley is still producing and will continue through the winter. Dandelions are perennials and very healthy to eat. The Italian and French types have been bred to have large leaves. Great to make salads. Plant lettuce seed now for fall and winter harvest...
Cabbage, kale, broccoli, carrots, lettuce, chard, onions, arugula and other cold crops get sweeter with cool weather and a nice frost. The kale is putting on many new leaves. They love the cool weather. If the taste of these are too strong for your palate right now, give them another chance after frost. Our Egyptian walking onions are lush and green. The bulbs are filling out nicely. Egyptian walking onions
This is also the perfect time of year to reseed your lawn or transplant perennials. The fall and winter give the roots time to establish so they will be ready to grow upwards come spring. We replaced our driveway a couple of months ago and re-seeded. The grass has grown in well.
Many herbs are perennials-garlic, sprouting onions, lavender, oregano, chives, sage, tarragon, thyme, savory, salad burnet, and rosemary. Bay laurel is a perennial but may not make it through our erratic temperatures. I keep them in pots and bring into the garage each year. They are getting quite large. I don't have the best luck with rosemary making it through late winter/early spring so this year I planted one in the garden and one in a pot. I'll bring in the potted rosemary to overwinter in the garage. Perennial veggies in the Midwest garden
Fall is a great time to cut back your herbs. Save the stems, place loosely in a paper bag, put in a dry location, and in about a month you will have all the dried herbs you and many family members will need for the next year! Make your own "Herbes de Provence"
Fall is a bountiful time for gardening. I have planted many winter hardy varieties of lettuce, kale, mustards, onions and carrots to keep the garden producing into December and hopefully beyond. With the portable greenhouse, we will have greens all winter. How to extend the garden season
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