Getting Ready For Fall
Fall officially begins on September 23 this year, and with the weather as cool as it has been here in Northern California this year, I'm well into preparation for our Fall/Winter garden. If you've never gardened in the "off season," here are some reasons to give it a try:- Enjoy amazingly fresh vegetables 12 months of the year
- Increase the total annual harvest from your garden without adding more space
- Rely less on canned or preserved food
- Less pest damage in cooler months
- Less watering required
- Easier to garden in cooler temperatures
- Flavors of some vegetables are improved by cold temperatures
Do I Still Have Time to Plant?
Generally speaking, you should plant your Fall/Winter crops 8-10 weeks before your first frost date. (You can find the first frost date for your area at the Victory Seed Company web site.)
You should be mindful of the days-to-maturity for the varieties you grow. Work backwards from you first frost date to ensure that you are giving any vegetables you intend to grow sufficient time to mature. Since the days are shorter in the fall, it's generally recommended that you add about 2 weeks to the days-to-maturity estimates printed on seed packets. Another strategy to manage to manage the constraints of days to maturity, is to buy seedlings for your garden from your local garden center, rather than trying to plant them from seeds. This give you a bit of a jump on the season.
Extending The Harvest Period
Prolonged periods when the temperature is below 32 degrees Fahrenheit will kill cold tolerant vegetables. You can increase your harvest period by using season extenders (greenhouse, cold frames, straw mulch, row
covers etc.) to keep your crops warm and protected from driving rains. Where I live, our temperatures rarely go below freezing. With a greenhouse, we've been able to harvest fresh chard, kale, miners lettuce and other vegetables all winter long.
If you're climate is less for forgiving, you'll generally need to harvest as the temperatures dip below freezing. But there are some exceptions; once mature, some crops can be left (stored) in the garden even when goes below freezing. These crops include most of the root vegetables such as carrots, parsnips, beets, salsify, oriental radishes as well as cabbage and leeks.
Finally, some vegetables can be overwintered -- planted in the Fall and then harvested in the spring. Classic overwintering veggies include Fava Beans, Garlic, and onions. For example, here in Northern California, we plant Fava Beans in November and harvest them in Spring.
All the vegetables shown below can be grown when the weather is cool. The vegetables shown with an asterix are the most hardy. These veggies can withstand temperatures as low as 28 degrees Fahrenheit for a few weeks and still make it.
- Arugula
- Broccoli - For overwintering
- Brussels Sprouts(*)
- Beets(*) - for fall harvest or can be overwintered
- Cabbage - can be stored in the garden.
- Carrots(*) - can be stored in the garden.
- Chard- For Fall harvest or overwintering.
- Chicory
- Chinese Cabbage
- Fava Beans - For overwintering
- Garlic- For overwintering
- Grains (Oats, Wheat, Barley for overwintering in mild climates)
- Kale(*)
- Leeks(*) Use transplants if planting in the Fall. Can be stored in the garden.
- Miners Lettuce
- Mache
- Onions- For overwintering.
- Parsnip(*) - Can be stored in the garden.
- Peas
- Radish(*) - Can be stored in the garden.
- Salsify - Can be stored in the garden.
- Spinach(*) - For fall harvest or overwintering
- Turnip - Can be stored in the garden.
- Upland Cress
Each growing season has it's surprises. This year, we had perhaps the coldest summer in anyone's memory here in Palo Alto. August is normally our hottest month. However, this year, we didn't have a day over 80 degrees Fahrenheit until Monday of this week (8/23) and the temperature is expected to return to the high 60's by Saturday. This has meant a very disappointing year for many San Francisco Bay Area gardeners. I have neighbors who have yet to harvested their first tomato.
I have to say we were relatively lucky. I started my seeds early, and planted tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers in my greenhouse. As a result, I've been harvesting tomatoes since late June and have more than enough of the other hot weather crops to feed us now and during the Winter. Mercifully, we've had more than enough tomatoes for fresh consumption and have canned plenty for the winter months. We also had a small, but satisfying, yield of corn and good yields of peas, cucumbers, beans, eggplant, summer and winter squash etc. Since June, we've harvested over 270 pounds of produce from our little suburban patch and roof garden. But there were some major disappointments....
This was my first year growing sweet potatoes. Woe is me. They were a total bust. I planted the first sweet potato slips early in the season, only to watch cold weather and rain kill them. I re-ordered slips with a stiff upper lip, but cool weather the entire season meant these heat loving tubers never got what they needed. I have only a few miserably small sweet potatoes to show for my effort. I'll try again next year.
I also tried Charentais melons and Ali Baba watermelons this year. A Charentais melon should weigh 2-3 pounds. The few we've harvested are about 1 pound or less. Tasty but tiny. We're still waiting to harvest our first watermelon. We'll see what that brings.
The Boston Marrow and Delicata squash did well. The Baby Blue Hubbards were stunted. And so it goes.
Below is a photo of several varieties of Winter squash I harvested from the garden this year. A fitting photo for a very cold 2010 summer growing season.
I wish I had the time and energy for cool weather crops. I am going to ease up on the size of my summer garden next year and save some of the space, along with my energy and enthusiasm, for some of those wonderful crops on your list : )
Posted by: Michaele | 08/26/2010 at 01:16 PM
Sounds like a good plan. Start with easy stuff that's low maintenance -- radish, carrots, beets.
Posted by: Mark Delman | 08/26/2010 at 07:15 PM