CityView Magazine

18 October 2022 FEATURE It's time to get started on that fall garden BY ROGER MERCER | PHOTOGRAPHY BY TONY WOOTEN I am about to rip out most of my tomatoes, okra, squash, peppers and other declining summer vegetable plants. Why? I can grow 10 times the food in the same space if I plant fall crops now. We can plant so many tasty crops that will do well that I can't mention them all here. Even better, most fall crops are leafy vegetables. You eat almost the whole plant because the leaves and roots on most fall crops can both be eaten, including turnips and carrots. One of the earliest crops you can grow, by the way, are Japanese turnips. Some look like white eggs when harvested at 40 days. Radishes are ready to pick in 45 days. at means you get a fast harvest with some root and leaf crops and a prolonged harvest with others. Consider carrots, which you can start harvesting in two months. e time to get started on fall gardening is now. e many advantages to planting fall vegetables include: • e harvest season lasts longer on heat-sensitive plants. • Weeds are easier to control. • Working conditions, with the onset of cool weather, are much better than in summer. • Many crops can be wintered over for continuing harvest in spring. • Leaf crops will be more tender, sweeter and tastier when harvested in the cool of autumn through spring than when picked in summer. e same goes for root crops, such as turnips, beets, carrots and parsnips. Sweet peas will be sweeter, too. For starters, broccoli should be set out now. It can be sown, or plants can be purchased and set out. Lettuces can be sown now, and harvest can begin by Oct. 20 on leaf lettuces. Light frosts won't kill the lettuce, so harvesting can continue into November or later, depending on when and if we get really hard freezes. ere are many fine varieties of lettuce. Try several; romaine, ruby, Simpson, buttercrunch, and iceberg all will succeed in the fall. Also sow collards and kale now, or choose kohlrabi, mustard greens, Chinese cabbage, radishes, turnips and others. Kohlrabi, radishes and some turnips mature quickly. Spinach is best sown in cooler weather. Do not pick it all. Let some continue to grow through winter, and you can harvest an especially good crop in spring. e Bloomsdale variety is hardy and almost always survives our mild winters. Sow carrots now, and sow more than you'll pick this fall. Aer carrots begin to form, cover the extras with pine straw about 3 inches thick. In winter through spring, pull back the straw and harvest a few fresh, tasty carrots. It's a good idea to add lime and humus to your soil before tilling in the weeds. en add fertilizer and till again. Wait a week for some rain and for the soil to mellow, and you'll be ready to plant. Most leaf crops do best with high fertility. Small fertilizer applications every three weeks are a good idea. A nitrogen-rich fertilizer, such as organic fertilizers high in blood meal, are ideal for leafy greens. Root crops prefer less nitrogen. A high percentage of cottonseed meal and phosphates will help produce strong root growth in carrots, turnips, beets and kohlrabi. Most fall crops are leafy vegetables. You eat almost the whole plant because the leaves and roots on most fall crops can both be eaten, including turnips and carrots. Master Gardener Roger Mercer picks the culinary herb basil.

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