Fall Vegetable Gardening is Not to Be Missed
Tom Ingram: Ask a
Master Gardener
Sunday, August 19,
2018
Q: I plant a vegetable
garden every year in the spring, but I have never tried a fall vegetable
garden. What can I plant in a fall garden and when do I plant? SM
A: Oftentimes, fall
vegetable gardens get overlooked because we don’t know what to plant, or maybe
we are just tired from our spring and summer gardens and ready to call it
quits. Either way, growing fresh vegetables can be a year-round activity. And
what you may not realize is that some of the best and tastiest vegetables are
grown in the fall when warm sunny days and cool humid nights create wonderful
growing conditions.
You can divide fall
crops into two groups: “tender” and “semi-hardy.” “Tender” means these
vegetables will need to reach full maturity and production before the first
frost brings their season to an end. “Semi-hardy” means they may continue to
grow and be harvested after several frosts. In northeast Oklahoma, Nov. 15 is
our average first freeze date. So, unless something unusual happens (in
Oklahoma?), you can have fresh vegetables straight from the vine until November
and then refrigerate the rest for continued enjoyment.
With the cooler
weather we are having (watch it change since I wrote that), now is the perfect
time to plant a variety of tender and semi-hardy crops. Tender varieties you
could plant now would include bush beans, lima beans, cucumber and squash.
Semi-hardy crops would include cabbage and cauliflower (transplants), collards,
potatoes (seed potatoes), kale, kohlrabi, lettuce (a little late, but I
did anyway), parsnips, radishes, swiss chard and turnips.
Starting in September,
you can plant garlic and onions, which are great crops to start in the fall as
they grow all winter. If you do this, in late spring next year, you can harvest
fresh garlic and onions to last you the entire year (if you grew enough).
Mulch should be an
important part of your garden strategy any time of year as mulch helps retain
moisture, as well as reduces weeding. In addition, mulch controls soil
temperature swings during the day, which helps keep those tender roots happy.
Oftentimes, people
contact us wanting to know what type of fertilizer would be best for their
situation and how much they should use. There is really no good way to answer
this question without testing your soil.
Getting a soil test is
not hard. All you need to do is get 15-20 samples of soil from your garden and
put them in a bucket. Be sure to dig down about 6 inches with your trowel for
these samples. Remove any nonsoil debris and mix up the soil. Then, bring about
a sandwich bag’s worth to the extension office. We’ll send it off to Oklahoma
State University, and within about 2 weeks, you will know the basic nutrient
content of your soil and how to best amend it for optimal results. The test
will cost you $10, but in my view, it is likely the best $10 you will ever
spend. Happy gardening!
Garden tips
- Discontinue deadheading roses
by mid-August to help initiate winter hardiness.
- Irrigated warm-season lawns,
such as Bermuda and zoysia, can be fertilized once again; apply 1-pound
Nitrogen per 1,000 square feet this month. Do not fertilize these grasses
after the end of August. Do not fertilize tall fescue lawns in summer;
fertilize in late September after it cools and again in November.
- This time of the year is
generally not the best time to prune, but if you have damage to trees and
shrubs due to storms, prune out the damage now.
