Q: I have been told fall vegetable gardening can work out well here. What are some examples?
A: With many household vegetable gardeners facing rows of shriveled corn stalks, wilting tomatoes and very thirsty or half-dead crops, the thought of late-summer planting may be far from their minds. With any luck, they can look forward to much better vegetable gardening prospects in fall.
In our local climate, the cooler temperatures favor many fast-growing, cool-season crops, with the added benefits that annual weeds are losing vigor or dying and healthy rains are expected.
Fall planting always runs the risk of early or severe frosts, but with a little preparation your plants can often survive and then benefit from our relatively long, warm autumn season. You can buy inexpensive row cover fabric that can protect the crops from frosts and extend the growing season.
Some of the most successful fall veggies would be the lettuces and mixed greens. Leaf lettuces can be started indoors now and planted outdoors in the garden in a few weeks.
Fancy mixtures, such as mesclun, can be expensive to buy, but they are easy to grow. Specialty greens, such as arugula, will survive an early freeze with a simple fabric row cover.
You can also grow the fancy small round carrots quickly and harvest as the fall progresses, or start cabbage and allow it to grow through the cool season.
Spinach, Swiss chard and kale will germinate and grow in cool autumn temperatures, and you can allow the plant to grow while you harvest leaves for your favorite recipes.
Parsley and cilantro can be grown through the fall and often extend from winter into spring. A trick to get them to germinate is to soak the seeds overnight or lay the seeds in the ground and pour boiling water over them. Seedlings should appear after this little stimulus.
If you want to try root veggies, experiment with beets, kohlrabi or quick and easy radishes. You will need softer soil for the root veggies, so be prepared to dig or till the ground.
Email Pat Lea at lea.pat@gmail.com.