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Fall Vegetable Planting for Fresh Cool Weather Crops

By: Richard Murray

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It is hard to think about sowing more produce at a time when fresh foodstuffs is so abundant in our garden, but late July and early September are good times to plant cool weather crops. Fall plants such as broccoli and cauliflower usually taste better when grown in the chillier weather, while others such as kale and Swiss chard only reach their peak flavor after the first frost.

Autumn planting requires less work because the soil was worked up in the spring, so a light cultivation is usually all that is needed after removing all the preceding crop waste. Place the debris into your compost pile after being sure to remove any unhealthy vegetation, Top dress the garden with some compost or organic mulch and work it into your soil. Then you can proceed to plant according to recommended methods.

Examples of good fall plants are: broccoli, Brussels sprouts, Chinese cabbage, endive, kale, lettuce, parsnips, peas, potatoes, radishes, mustard and spinach. Do not plant the same crops back in the exact same location but rotate your crops location to reduce potential disease problems.

It is a good idea to confer with your local garden center or your local county extension service for guidance on correct planting times for your growing zone.

As the fall season gets close, protection for these crops has to be thought about. One method is to cover the crops with sheets, plastic sheeting, or mulch which will trap the radiated heat from the ground and raise the temperature enough to protect them from a light frost.

Some crops such as cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, potatoes, Swiss chard, Chinese cabbage and kale are not affected by frost or even modest freezes and can be left in the garden until the hard freezes set in. Root crops such as beets, carrots, parsnips and turnips can be re-mulched, left in the garden and dug up as needed.

When cold freezing weather is predicted, pick the green mature tomatoes or pull the entire plants.Stock them in a dry cool (65 degree) place where they will ripen in about two weeks. Fragile plants such as squash, peppers and eggplant should be harvested and stored in a comparable location as the tomatoes.

After gathering your crops and before the weather turns, many odd jobs can be taken care of in anticipation of spring and next year's garden. Cleaning up garden litter, adding soil amendments to your garden and making a planting plan of your garden to decide how you want to rotate your crops while this year's garden is still fresh in your mind, are just three jobs to get out of the way.

Now you can relax in your easy chair, read the seed catalogs and dream of those prize winning vegetables you are going to raise.

Article Source: http://depositarticles.com/

Dick Murray is a retired urbanite who has kept his passion for gardening alive with the creation of an informational web site . More and more families are beginning to grow their own fruits and vegetables due to their increased concern regarding the quality, price and safety of our food supplies.

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