Late summer planting for Fall harvest

[Olivia Lewis Chang]

Dear gardeners,
No doubt, you have already started to receive the catalogs that feature all the bulbs and plants for Spring 2015. Yes, we are heading into late summer and fall.😡

If you want to harvest crops by the close of the garden then you must plant now. I have included a list of possibilities for planting.
1. Beets - 50-60 days
2. Lettuce- 40-60 days
3. Radishes - 30-60 days
4. Spinach - 35 to 45 days
5. Turnips - 50 to 60 days
6. Kale/ Swiss chard/ mustard greens - 30 to 60 days.

Most of these plants can withstand a light frost and should be harvested by the close of the garden.
Before you sow these second crops, turn over the soil and mix in fertilizer/ chicken poop or blood meal etc . This replaces the nutrients in the soil that have been used up. Remove all the debris, weeds, etc from your plot to aid germination of your seeds. Wait a week or two before you seed the plot if you are concerned that things could break down further. Of course, if you are using plants, plant away‼️

Here's a great tomato recipe for your abundant harvest .

A. It can’t be 110 degrees out when you do it, because it uses your oven, so it’s good for the late-summertime when the days are getting cooler.

1.halve or quarter the tomatoes, into manageable sizes, like what you would eat in a tomato salad\ leave the skins on.                      2. Lay them out, flesh side up on a parchment-lined baking sheet with a rim to catch all that tomato juice.                                        3.Add whatever herbs you have growing in the garden, or even some peeled garlic cloves. All of those wonderful things that go with tomatoes. Garlic cloves, rosemary springs, thyme, oregano—whatever you have. 4.Then a little salt and pepper, and you drizzle a little olive oil, and make it look like a work of art.                                               5. Put it in a 275-degree F oven, to slow roast for as much time as you have. Three hours is pretty good, five hours is better. You could even do it overnight, but no less than three.                         6.Use it like a sauce, or spread it on bread—it has all sorts of uses. To preserve the tomatoes, let them cool a bit, then tip the tray  into freezer bags, close them up, and flatten the bags to conserve space in the freezer. You can later take a bag out, and thaw it. Use as you wish.  

Happy roasting !