What's happening in the late October edible garden

Lavender in late fall

Sunday, October 20, 2024

Late October is a great time to tidy the garden to prepare for winter, harvest the last of the summer fruits like tomatoes, peppers and eggplant, plant winter edibles, get perennials planted and reflect on the spring, summer and fall edible garden outcomes.  

We have had a couple of frosts so far this month, but everything survived in the garden including frost tender basil.  Kale, lettuce, onions, mustards, chard, carrots and herbs are nice and green.  All cold season crops get sweeter when the mercury dips.  Cold season crops for your edible garden

Now is a fun time of year to experiment in the kitchen with all the fresh herbs that are still available.  Parsley, thyme, rosemary, sage, tarragon, bay, lavender, chives are all hardy herbs into January.  I have had many Christmas dinners with herbs fresh from the garden.

You can also bring tender perennials like rosemary and bay into the garage or house for the winter.  Other veggies I bring in are my hot pepper plants, goji berry, moringa tree and citrus trees.  I have kept them in our unheated, insulated garage with a 4' grow light over them.  We have an unfinished basement now so that is where most will go under grow lights while others will sit in front of a sunny window in the house.

If you haven't already, now is a good time to go through your summer garlic harvest, choosing the biggest cloves from the biggest bulbs to plant and preserving the rest.  I peel garlic while I watch TV.  I like to pop the extra cloves in vinegar to preserve them.  The easiest to peel are the hardnecks.  I grow only hardneck and Elephant garlic.  Have garlic any time you need it, just pickle some!   Time to plant garlic!

I have planted my garlic, shallots, Egyptian walking onion bulblets, and potato onions.  We are having a long dry spell so I am watering them.  I want to keep the ground moist, but not soaking wet.  Since the high temperatures have left us, I'll likely only need to water every couple of weeks when there is no rain.  I want to get them growing before it gets really cold so they can get good root systems established to take off in the spring.

While cutting basil for making pesto, I also saved the dry flower heads.  I saved the dried flower heads from my bushiest sweet basil plant and the dried flower heads from my Cardinal basil plants.  I am running low on seeds for both so I'll open the each dried flower head and save the seed for next year.

My zinnias, cockscomb and amaranths are winding down, too, so I cut their dried flowers and will separate the seeds from the petals.  I keep the zinnia seeds separated by color so I can grow them for specific spots.  The orange California Giant and cactus zinnias just shine in pots at the front of the house.

I have fruit bushes and a tree that are in pots that I will plant in the next month.  Any perennial is great for planting in the fall.  I am planting aronia, blackberry, raspberry, blueberry bushes and a fig tree.  It is a great time to plant ornamental flowers, bushes and trees.  We planted a Japanese maple and a hardy Morton Citrange tree so far and have a maple and serviceberry yet to plant.

You can also take a look at all the tomatoes you have put up in freezer bags.  If you have more than you know you need, this is the perfect time of year to do some water bath canning.  I go through and any left over from last year, I make into sauce when the days are chilly.  Time to make homemade tomato sauce! 

As even more freezing weather comes our way, you can extend the season for lettuce and greens through the winter by using a portable green house or making your own hoop house.  I have a portable green house I put over my pots with edibles.  I will still have lettuce and salad fixings until spring.  Extend the season with protection for plants

The biggest killer of veggies in greenhouses?  Getting too hot!  Make sure you crack open your green house when the temps get above freezing and the sun is shining.