Gardening Tips and Highlights

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Plans for fall and winter harvest       

Winter seems far away now, but if you want to enjoy a bounty of homegrown vegetables this autumn and winter, it’s time to begin planning.

For a successful cold-season garden, you’ll need to grow the right crops at the right time, and pair them with the right season extenders.  The right crops are the cool-and cold-tolerant vegetables like kale, leeks, carrots, celeriac, spinach, mache, scallions, beets, radishes, and peas.  Many of these should be planted in mid-to-late summer.

 

Planting times will vary based on location.  Here in Wautoma, the first frost date is somewhere from Sept. 16 to Oct. 6.  Sow seeds about 10 weeks before your first frost.

Carrot seeds can be direct-sown for the winter harvest.  Quicker-growing salad crops like spinach, arugula, lettuce, beets, and radishes can be planted in early to mid-September; they may be sheltered beneath a range of season extenders listed.

Row covers:  These look flimsy, but they can easily extend the autumn harvest by about a month.  Lay them directly on the crops or float them on hoops.

Mini hoop tunnels:  These are useful and easy and inexpensive to build.  Make them from half-inch PVC or metal conduit.  The hoops are then placed over your garden beds and covered with row covers or six-mil greenhouse poly.

Cold frames:  Essentially bottomless wooden boxes equipped with clear tops, these are year-round food factories.  They can be used to shelter root crops, like carrots, and beets, plus a wide range of cold-tolerant salad greens.

 

Finally, mulch:  It’s perhaps the easiest and cheapest way to extend the harvest of root and stem crops.  In late autumn, top carrot, beet, celeriac and leek beds with a 12 to 18 inch-thick layer of shredded leaves or straw.  Cover this with a piece of fabric to hold it in place and harvest all winter long.

Information obtained from “Horticulture”.

 

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