Hi Everyone,
There's a nice article in the Post about fall plantings that you might be interested in:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifes...47b7f2-db42-11e1-bd1f-8f2b57de6d94_story.html.
I had some recommendations to think about too, and was hoping you all might have something. Chris is going to post some information in the shed about planting dates too.
There’s still plenty of time for another succession of new seeding and transplants to produce, and there’s some things you can do with the plants in your garden now to keep the season going and make for a balance of newer and older plants into the fall.
New planting. Into the fall as weather gets much cooler, the pollinators slow down and the length of sun during the day drops, which both affect the hot summer favorites. Another thing to keep in mind with some of the vegetables that take 100 or more days to reach maturity is the oncoming frost in a few months. We’ve had a hot summer and had a mild winter last year, and live in a “heat island” here in the city with all of the pavement around us. October should be frost free, and many things can be planted on into September (lettuce, spinach, collards, kale).
It’s probably too late to start another crop of corn, new okra or pepper plants, storage onions, or potatoes, and probably too late to try putting another squash seed, watermelon, or tomato plant in, but if you want to try and see what happens then you may see some production.
When planning for fall, some of the more reliable choices are collard, cabbage, root vegetables like radishes, turnips, and carrots, and of course greens. Here’s a bigger list of things you could plant in August and expect some good food from in the next few months:
Spinach
Swiss chard & Beets
Radishes
Carrots
Collards (transplants)
Cabbage
Green Onion
Lettuce
Kale
Broccoli (transplants)
Bush beans
Oregano
Cilantro
Don’t forget that garlic should be planted in the fall in order to harvest it next year! Keep in mind that you might need room for this around the end of October.
Some things to do with current plants from looking around the garden:
Tomatoes have bushed out and have gone through several “trusses” of tomatoes, leaving behind spent leaves and branches that are turning brown, grey, and yellow. These should be removed from the garden, trashed-not composted, to avoid spread of disease. Removing these will also open up more of the soil surface to sunlight and allow the soil to dry out during the humid summer. Dense plants can cause mold and other fungus to grow, and these diseases will travel from the ground up.
Harvest. If you harvest your tomatoes, okra, squash, and herbs when they are ready, you’ll encourage more growth and more production out of your current plantings. Wastine on the vine decreases the productive lifespan of the plants.
Watch for “bolting” veggies – when plants like lettuce, swiss chard, spinach, and broccoli reach maturity, they will send out flowing stalks that taste bitter. Once your plants have reached this point, they should be removed and replaced with something else.
Control weeds. Every now and then you look up from the raised bed and realize there’s a four foot tall weed that has escaped. Getting these plants removed before they spread their seed is important to the entire garden community. Also, take a look around your box and pull back the weeds that are growing up in the aisles. If each person takes care of their space, this will go a long way. Each time you check on your garden, consider putting a few minutes into this effort. The garden is pursuing wood chips to put in these areas in the near future.
