Four Season Harvest - Fall & Winter Planting

[American Beauty Gardener]

Late summer and fall is a great time for gardening. Cooler weather,
reduced pest pressure and staggered plantings make for a relaxing
experience in the garden. And of course, nothing beats garden-fresh,
nutrition-packed food in late fall and winter. By choosing the right
crops and planting times, and employing a few simple season-extending
techniques, your garden can flourish long after the last tomatoes are
canned and pesto frozen. Many fall-sown crops can also overwinter to
provide early spring food and, along with fall-transplanted
perennials, host pollinator and other beneficial insects as they
flower in early summer. Fall cover cropping is great way to protect
and build your soil, as well as beat spring weeds and add to the
ecological diversity of your garden. So while you are enjoying the
beauty and bounty of summer, "plant ahead" for a continuous and
fruitful harvest.

Summer Sowing For Fall Harvest
Depending on where you live many of these crops can be planted well
into summer for fall or winter harvest: Broccoli, Carrots, Gourmet
Greens, Beets, Cauliflower, Spinach and Kale.

Cover Cropping
August is a great month to start to look at cover crops. You can
still sow the quick growing summer cover crops like buckwheat or oats
in the unused beds or between your rows. The seed will begin to grow
and provide a cooling ground cover. After the first killing frost, you
can leave it standing or cut the crop and let it lay on the ground and
begin to break down. Cover crops are an excellent way to build vital
soils rich in nutrients and organic matter. It's great winter cover
for beneficial insects and prevents winter weeds from taking over.
Come spring it's easily forked or tilled in. If you don’t have a
tiller to incorporate the material, you can employ a "mow and mulch"
strategy or sow crops that will winter-kill, leaving a mat of mulch to
sow into in the spring. Cover crops can also be cut with the kama or
scythe and removed to feed the compost pile. The remaining stubble can
be forked lightly and transplanted into, or allowed to break down for
two to three weeks before being worked into the soil as planting beds
are worked up.

August is also a good time to plan ahead for the cooler weather cover
crops like clovers and vetch. Get clover started on the ground that
you'll want to plant first next spring. Legumes will need to get large
enough before winter to begin to fix nitrogen and get a good growth of
green matter that will break down over the winter months. Clovers can
be started now and then either forked in or lightly tilled in October.
This will allow the organic matter to break down over the winter and
then be worked into the soil in the spring for a great early spring
planting bed. If you're in a milder area where the soil doesn't
freeze, August-sown cover crops can get fairly large, and if allowed
to grow and not worked in this fall, they can do a great job breaking
up hardpans or tight soil. Thoughtful fall planting means a more
successful garden next spring!

Below is list of great cover crops to sow now:
Austrian Winter Pea, Crimson Clover, Hulless Oats,
Winter Triticale, Winter Rye, Hairy Vetch.

Season Extension and Overwintering
The gardening season can be extended into the fall with a few simple
techniques. Existing tender annuals like tomatoes and peppers can be
kept productive through light frosts with Frost Blankets, or portable
coldframes and greenhouses, especially in combination, while salad
greens and braising greens can thrive well into winter in almost any
climate with protection from the elements.

Many crops can be established in the fall and left to overwinter in
the garden. Although the plants will largely go dormant and won't
experience much growth in the short, cold days of winter, with proper
timing they will be primed for rapid growth in the first warmer,
longer days of spring. Overwintering is the best way to get an early
spring crop of many varieties of greens, and enjoy, abundant, garden-
fresh food much earlier in the season.

Some guidelines for successful over-wintering include:

Ensure that plants are well-established but not overly mature or
leggy.
Use loose mulch to delay soil freezing and to shield your plants from
extreme temperatures. In the spring, pull mulch back to allow soil to
warm.

Plant in well-drained soils as excess moisture will inhibit spring
growth.

Protect over-wintering plants from wildlife such as deer and rabbits.

Season extenders, such as greenhouses, coldframes, frost blankets, and
garden tunnels can shorten dormancy time and allow for earlier spring
harvests.

Experiment with different varieties and timing to see what works best
for your bioregion and microclimate.

Some good crops for overwintering: Beets, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts,
Carrots, Cauliflower, Chard, Garlic, Kale, Onions, Rutabagas, Spinach,
Turnips

Four Season Harvest By: Eliot Coleman
Still the best book available for year-round growing in cold
climates. Presents simple, inexpensive designs for cold frames,
unheated mobile greenhouses, and root cellars. This best seller also
includes chapters on the living soil, compost, planning and preparing
your garden, planting and cultivating, indoor harvesting, and pest
control. Coleman provides terrific growing tips for 50 vegetable crops
and a section at the back listing resources.
Gourmet Greens: Flavorful, Nutritious Food for Fall and Winter
Leafy greens are beautiful, flavorful, and healthy, bursting with
nutrition and fiber. They are easy to grow, cold-hardy, and extremely
productive. With the aid of cold frames, cloches, or greenhouses, many
can be grown year-round, even in northern climates. Whether raw in
salads, steamed, braised, or used in soups, these greens add a gourmet
touch to every meal.

Braising Greens: "Fast Food" for the Fall Garden
Our Braising Greens Collection is a fun and economical way to explore
four-season gardening. It features ten of our favorite fast-growing
varieties that are cold hardy, versatile, nutritious, and delicious.
Baby greens will be available in as little as 3 weeks after sowing and
are great additions to salads, while mature plants are perfect for
steaming, stir-frying and soups. Contains one pack each of Broccoli
Raab, Komatsuna, Red Ursa Kale, Bau Sin Mustard, Osaka Purple Mustard,
Purple Top White Globe Turnip, Maruba Santoh, Beetberry, Catalogna
Frastagliata Chicory, and Arugula.


To enjoy delicious fall harvests of fresh greens, sow these cold-hardy
varieties:
Arugula, Beetberry, Broccoil Raab, Chicory, Cress, Endive, Huazontle,
Komatsuna, Mesclun Salad Mix, Mesclun Spicy Salad Mix, Mustard Greens,
Orach, Purslane

Succession Planting
Many crops like Spinach, Mustard Greens, Chinese Cabbage, Arugula,
Broccoli, Radishes, and Lettuce will provide a continuous harvest only
when sown successively, one to three weeks apart.

Fall is the Time for Growing Great Garlic

17 of the finest garlic varieties:
Hardneck:
Chesnok red, Georgian Crystal, German white, Music Pink, Persian star,
Purple Glazer Garlic, Purple Italian Easy Peel, Romanian Red, Spanish
Roja, Russian Giant

Softneck:
Inchelium Red, Applegate Giant, Chilean Silver, Kettle River, Shantung
Purple, Siskiyou purple, Transylvanian

Growing Great Garlic By: Ron L. Engeland
Ron Engeland, a garlic farmer for 15 years, tells you which strains to
plant, when and how to plant, when to fertilize, prune flower stalks,
and harvest; plus how to store, process and market the crop. He also
includes a brief history, cultural requirements, sites and soils,
pests and diseases. The definitive guide to growing great garlic for
organic gardeners and small scale farmers.

Seed Saving
Collecting the seed of any plant, whether a vegetable, flower, herb,
tree or shrub, completes a cycle begun when the initial seed was
placed in the earth. By growing and collecting seeds, we connect with
ancient practices that have played a critical role over generations in
the preservation of food, medicine, fiber, fuel and ornamental plants.
Furthermore, saving seeds and replanting them in your garden from year
to year allows succeeding generations of plants to adapt to your
particular location.