Time to start work on that fall garden
August 2, 2011
Kathy Van Mullekom
DAILY PRESS (NEWPORT NEWS VA.)
Mid- to late-summer is the ideal time to start a fall garden, or a “second season” crop of your favourite cool-season vegetables and flowers, according to Renee Shepherd of Renee’s Garden and the non-profit Home Garden Seed Association.
What to grow
Even where winters are cold and the ground freezes hard, many vegetables can still be grown to maturity before first frost. For edibles, try beets, cilantro, lettuce, radish, spinach, kale, peas, salad greens, Swiss chard, broccoli, carrots, cabbage, onions, leeks, parsley and arugula. When choosing varieties, select ones that are fast-maturing to ensure a harvest before cold weather hits.
Seeds of annual flowers that thrive in cool weather can also be sown now for fall and spring bloom, including alyssum, candytuft, calendula, stock and sweet peas.
When to start
The key to growing vegetables for fall harvest is timing. Vegetables grown in this season need about 14 extra days to mature compared with spring-seeded crops due to fall’s shorter days, cooling soil, and less intense sunshine. When deciding the date to start your veggies, first determine your average first frost date. Then look at the seed packet for days to maturity. Add 14 days to that number, then use that figure to calculate back to seed-starting date.
Growing on
Sowing seeds or setting out transplants in midsummer can be more stressful to young plants than seeding during cooler, often wetter spring weather. Keep the soil moist as seeds are germinating.
Protect young seedlings with shade cloth or plant them near taller plants, such as corn or tomatoes to provide shade from the hot afternoon sun. Another option is to start seeds in containers in a spot with bright light and then transplant young seedlings into the garden. This works well for crops like lettuce and spinach, whose seeds don’t germinate as well when soil temperatures are high.
Fall harvest
With a little effort in late summer, you’ll eat well in fall because crops such as kale, lettuce, spinach, and broccoli thrive in the lower temperatures.