Horticulture News      8-25-06         

 The Fall Vegetable Garden

            Fall is an excellent time to grow many vegetable crops.  During this season, the gardener can take advantage of cooler temperatures and more plentiful moisture.  Many spring-planted crops such as lettuce and spinach tend to bolt, or produce seed, and become bitter in response to the long, hot summer days.  Fall gardening helps extend your gardening season so that you can continue to harvest produce after earlier crops have faded. 

            Vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts are better adapted to fall gardening, since they produce best quality and flavor when they can mature during cooler weather.  For us, spring tends to heat up rather quickly.  For many crops, insect and disease pests are not as much of a problem with a fall planting.

            Many vegetable crops are well adapted to planting in late summer for a fall harvest.  Use fast-maturing cultivars whenever possible to ensure a harvest before killing frost occurs. 

            Keep the fall garden in mind while planning and ordering your spring garden seeds and plants.  Seeds of the cultivars you want may be out of stock by late summer.  In some cases, you may need to raise your own transplants since not all garden centers carry vegetable plants for fall gardens.

            Before planting, remove all previous crop residues and any weed growth.  Completely prepare the soil and if spring crops were heavily fertilized, then no additional fertilization may be needed.  However, 1-2 pounds of a general analysis fertilizer such as 12-12-12 may be applied per 100 square feet of bed area.  Be sure to thoroughly mix the fertilizer with the soil.  Some gardeners prefer to sidedress the plants with 1 pound of 10-10-10 per 25-30 feet of row placed 6-12 inches from the plants.  Apply the sidedressing 2-3 weeks after germination if plants appear to be growing slowly.

            Late summer plantings often suffer from hot soil and lack of water.  Soils may form a hard crust over the seeds which can interfere with seed germination, particularly in heavy soils.  Use a light mulch over the seed row to prevent a crust from forming.  Seeds of lettuce, peas, and spinach will not germinate well when the soil temperature is 85 degrees and above.  Shading the soil and using a light mulch over the seed row will help keep the temperature more favorable for germination.  Planting the seeds slightly deeper than spring plantings may also be beneficial, since temperatures will be slightly cooler.

            Do not allow seedlings and young transplants to dry out excessively.  Young seedlings may need to be watered more often during the first week or two of growth. 

            Some vegetables that are already growing in the garden will continue to produce well into the fall, but are damaged by even a light frost.  Some crops considered semi-hardy and will withstand a light frost without protection.  Others are hardy enough to withstand several hard frosts.

            You can extend the fall growing season for tender crops by protecting them through early light frosts.  Kentucky often enjoys several more weeks of good growing weather after the first frost.  Cover growing beds with blankets or throw-cloths supported by stakes or wire to prevent injury to the plants.  Row covers are also available at places that sell garden supplies.  Individual plants can be protected with such items as paper caps, milk jugs, plastic water-holding walls, and other commercially available products.  The season can be extended even further by planting crops in a coldframe or hot bed.  If you would like plans, please give me a call.

            Some vegetables that work great for us in fall include: beets, carrots, radishes, spinach, turnips, turnip greens, mustard, lettuce and endive.  You can also plant peas, and edible pea pods. 

 Thank You

            I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you who visited the Twilight Festival this summer.  This event and the Woodford County Farmers Market depend on you and this summer you came through in such a big way!  Thank you for your continued support.