There are good reasons to plant turnips even if they aren't on your list of vavorite vegies.

Turnips will almost never be the answer to the question of  “What is your favorite vegetable?” so maybe the title of this article should be “Cover Crop Plantin’ Time in the Mid South”  but it just doesn’t have the same alliteration thing going on.  BTW, it’s the last week of August, and a few harbingers of fall are already apparent – goldenrod in bloom for example.

Anyway, your summer garden is looking disgraceful (you know it is) and it’s high time to put all of those disease and weed ridden plants out of their misery before you get a visit from the homeowners association.  Hopefully you are planning to grow a fall garden, but even so  some amount of ground  is probably going to be vacant once you tidy up – which is where cover crops come in.  Any good cover crop will suppress weeds, prevent erosion, improve the fertility / organic content of your soil, and in some cases even put food on your table.  One of the main things that cover crops do is to absorb soil nutrients into their tissues as they grow so that they don’t leach away during the rainy winter.  But (to me) the main reason to plant cover crops is that they save work, because all of those advantages are gained with no more effort than it takes to sprinkle a few seeds on the newly bared ground.

The most popular fall / winter cover crops in my area are: Turnips, Crimson Clover, and Annual Rye.  They are area favs for good reasons, and they all have their unique advantages.  Rye probably does the best job of suppressing weeds, and adds lots of organic matter to the soil when you work it in early next spring.  Crimson clover adds nitrogen in addition to organic matter.  Turnips main claim to fame is the fact that they also yield food – all winter long in some cases.  Ask around (at a farmers co-op for example) to find out what works best in your area.

Whichever cover crop you choose to sow buy your seed by the pound (at a farmers co-op or or Real Garden Center) unless your garden is awfully small a little paper packet isn’t going to be enough seed.  Anyway, a pound of turnip seed should only cost 3 dollars or so, will last just about forever in the freezer, and contains enough seed to plant the entire state of Rhode Island – it’s one of those things that you should just keep on hand.  If you keep them in an empty shaker bottle such as spices comes in it will be very convenient to just sprinkle about – a good tip for all kinds of salad green seeds.

The other thing you should do with any of these crops is to completely ignore the planting dirrections.  One of those little packets will tell you that you need to plant turnips 1/2″ deep in loose fertile  soil which has been enriched with lots of organic mater – which is true if you are hoping to win a ribbon at the fair, but for the purpose of a cover crop just sow your seed thickly (thin later with a hoe if you want to harvest roots)  on top of the ground after you have pulled the old plants and weeds.  You do need to use a rake or cultivating fork to break up any crust that you might have, and you will probably want to rake it out just to be neat – but that’s all.  The main thing is to throw those seeds down and everything else will take care of itself.  If you water one time after sowing the seeds you will probably see sprouts in 3-4 days.

But, you say “I’m planning on mulching/tilling/fertilizing/planting something else long before those cover crops will be done.”  Don’t worry about it – when the weather cools off and  you get ready to do any of those things just do it  – until then your cover crop will be improving your garden for you, and if you don’t get around to those things until next year it will look like you planned it that way.

This is one of the best times of the year to work in your garden – get out there!

Start right now and you can grow excellent fall vegetables in your garden while those around you grow little more than weeds.

August is here and it’s time to get busy planting your fall vegetable garden.  While your neighbor’s gardens start to look sad with weeds and failing summer crops yours can continue to be productive for weeks, months or even non stop from now on.

It’s hot now, but soon the weather will start to moderate, the bugs will start to thin out, and soil moisture will increase and garden tasks will become much more pleasant, but if you don’t act soon it will be too late for many crops.

In my area of zone 6 it’s still most likely 10 – 12 weeks until we start getting frost.  More than enough time for another planting of summer squash, green beans, cucumbers or (theoretically) even another round of tomatoes if you can procure plants that are ready to go.

Most years rain is the big issue for late plantings of summer veggies, but so far this year the only rain problem in my garden has been too much of it.  So I have my fingers crossed that I won’t have to water very often, but if you do have to water it’s far better to install soaker hoses or drip irrigation lines before planting if you can at all.  However don’t let that concern keep you from planting – sooner the better.

When the leaves are falling your fall garden will be growing and feeding your family delicious cool season vegetables.

Aside from one more round of summer vegetables the real reward of growing a fall garden will be all of the cool season plants that do well as the nights begin to cool.  All of the brassicas are great in the fall garden – cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, collards, Brussels sprouts, etc.  Here in the south it isn’t too late to start these from seed, but it also isn’t too soon to set out plants if you can get them – check your local farmers market, and online classifieds as well as nurseries, and garden centers.

Keep in mind that the cabbage family does best in cool weather, but they are not cold hardy.  Many of them will survive or even improve from a light frost, but you have to harvest them before a hard frost or freeze.  In our area the first few frosts are usually far between and the season can easily be extended by several weeks if you are prepared to cover tender plants for the first few frosts.

The first step in moving forward with this project is to yank out all of those failing plants that are just taking up space, and looking sad.  Don’t hang onto failing vines just because they might produce another squash or two.  Toss those things on the compost heap – unless they are diseased or infested in which case you should probably burn them as much as I hate to say it.

Once you free up some space you need to consult a calendar to decide what your planting options are.  Calculate the time left until your likely first frost date.

If you have 10 or more weeks left of reliably temperate weather you can still direct sow green beans, squash and cucumbers – but you need to do it immediately if not sooner.  You also still have time to plant cabbage and other brassicas from seed, but if your weather is hot like it is here you should probably do that indoors.  If you can find plants ready to set out you can go ahead and do so now and any time until about 8 weeks before frost.  large heading types may take longer to form heads so check the seed packages or even better talk to a local expert about which varieties to plant.

Here in zone 6 you can usually set out most brassicas until the end of August.

With 10 or more weeks until frost you can also direct sow beets, carrots, collards, lettuce, radish, garden peas, turnips, and potatoes.  Carrots are pretty much cold proof in our climate and will stay perfect all winter long in the ground so plant lots of carrots in your fall garden.

At 8 weeks until frost you can direct sow more lettuce, turnips, radish, arugula, and spinach.  A great thing about the fall garden is that once nights start to cool off your lettuce will stop trying to bolt, and you will be able to pick cool season salad greens throughout the fall from only a few plantings.

At about 6 weeks before frost it will be time to plant lettuce and spinach to establish in a cold frame, green house or other season extender.  This planting will feed you well into the winter in many areas.  When the weather gets really cold it will stop growing, but on fair sunny days growth will continue.  It’s pretty great to be growing fresh salad greens all winter long.  You can worry about building a cold frame or poly tunnel later if you don’t already have one, but get those seeds in the ground now!

You can grow fresh greens like lettuce and spinach all winter long in a simple cold frame, plastic row cover or green house. For best results though you want to establish those crops in the fall while the weather is still warm, and the plants can grow more quickly.

Be prepared to keep everything watered during the remaining weeks of hot summer weather, and also protect tender young plants from marauding insects – row covers are helpful for both of these things.

Growing a fall garden is a great way to make your garden much more rewarding so get out there and brave the summer heat for a while to get one going.  You’ll be glad you did.

Fresh organically grown cauliflower like this tastes as great as it looks, and is a perfect crop for the fall garden.

I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating – When it’s time to plant the fall vegetable garden in July/August it will be hard to find seeds in many locations.  Right now garden seeds are available all over the place, but I’ve already seen the displays coming down in my local home improvement store.  Some are even on close out sales already – Buy Now!

Around August first I plan to sow cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, and late tomatoes as well as pansies and other fall ornamentals inside under lights.  You could also dirrect sow in the garden but it will be very hot and dry at that time, and starting my fall plants inside gives me a few more weeks to clear out space for them in the garden.  Also starting them indoors lets them get ahead of the bugs and weeds that will be in full swing in mid summer – but that’s another story.

In September your garden can look like this one with lots of fresh vegies and greens for the table - if you plan now!

A fall garden can double your fun and give you some of the most satisfying harvests of the year – while everyone elses garden spot is going to waste.  But you can’t plant it if you don’t have any seed!

Sorry I’ve been so negligent about posting lately, but I’ve been outside  – So should you!

Happy Gardening!

Mid November brings the first hard freeze - and frost painting on the cold frame.

I took this picture on our coldest morning so far with over night lows in the upper teens. Yet according to my tell tale thermometer the temperature in my small green house has never dipped below 32 degrees F – although I’m sure it soon will.

This garden is full of fresh greens in late November.

I spotted this thriving fall garden in a vacant lot as I was driving through the edge of town. It looked so good to me that I stopped to talk to the gardener – Jack, a retired mason – who was out enjoying the brisk sunny weather and picking himself a “mess” of greens. Everyone in the south says that – a mess of greens.

Anyway I asked him if he had any secrets to his beautiful fall garden. “No, just plant in September, and water it good.” I was a little bit surprised, because this past September was hot as blazes here in middle TN, and all of his crops – turnips, collards, cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower – are certainly cool season crops.

I don’t know if Jack is actually going to get much cabbage, broccoli, or cauliflower before it gets too cold because those were just beginning to form heads – I think I’ll check back later and see. However it all looks great despite the fact that our temps have already dipped into the teens, and he’s already getting loads of fresh greens from the other crops. I’m certainly going to plant some of this stuff next year.

A cold frame can extend the growing season by weeks at both ends.

The lettuce, spinach, and radishes growing in my cold frame are coming along nicely, although I wish that I had planted some a few weeks earlier as well. Even though the over night lows in the cold frame are right at the freezing point, the daytime temps are in the seventies and I can still see steady growth at this point. Until the nights got cold I had a plague of volunteer tomato plants coming up in here!

I'm starting these lettuce plants under fluorescent lights.

I’m hedging my bets for winter salads by starting some lettuce under lights. Once they get big enough I’ll move some into a window box (with supplementary artificial light) and some into the greenhouse or cold frame. As you can see these were started on Nov 16 and came up 3 days later – about a week ago.

Set your artificial lights as close to your plants as possible.

If you want to grow under lights you can use plain old 4 foot shop lights with 40 watt soft white bulbs – you should be able to get two double bulb fixtures and a timer for well under 30 dollars – maybe even under 20 dollars of you look around. Don’t even worry about special “grow” light bulbs or fixtures unless you are planning to grow to maturity warm season crops like tomatoes or marijuana – in which case you need more advice, like from an attorney

You must use a timer to have any success. Plants “know” what time of year it is by the day length, and if you don’t use a timer the irregular hours of light and dark will freak them out, and might make some plants try to bolt – go to seed – almost immediately.

If you can, put your plants and lights in a window to take advantage of whatever light is available naturally. Set your timer for about 10 hours of light which coincide with actual day light hours. Since fluorescent light is a pale comparison to sunlight you should set your lights as close to the top of your plants as you can – even closer than in this picture.

Fluorescent light bulbs don’t get hot (although the ballast might) so it won’t hurt your plants even if the leaves touch the bulb, but old style incandescent light bulbs do get hot enough to burn the plants if they get too close.

Our plant room is usually really crowded this time of year

We don’t have enough room or enough sunlight in our house for all of the tender potted plants that we have – so a couple of years ago we built a plant room to overwinter them in.  Our plant room is just a small well insulated room with 4 recycled windows built onto the side of our garage. The natural light is supplemented with some fluorescent shop lights. On a sunny winter day the temperature can increase by over 20 degrees just from the sun, and the 5 barrels of water that you can see sticking out in the lower right store the heat and release it at night thus keeping the temperature moderate in all but the coldest weather. When it gets really cold a small electric “freeze guard” heater keeps the temp above 50 F. We can over winter just about anything in here, and it’s also a great place to start seeds to move into the garden later. A few minutes in here can really lift the spirits on a cold winter day. I do need to sweep that floor though.

It’s almost winter, but you can still enjoy growing something if you set your mind to it.

• Plant Garlic now to harvest next summer – buy bulbs right from the grocery store, divide them into cloves and plant 2″ deep and about 7 inches apart (intensive) with the pointy end up.
• Plant Spinach now for fall harvest – you may have to use cloches or row covers in a few weeks depending upon your zone to extend the harvest.
• This is also a good time to plant horseradish roots (straight from your grocers shelf) for harvest next fall (and ever after – it’s a persistent perennial) but consider planting in a plastic laundry basket or other large container sunk into the ground (with drain holes of course) to keep it from becoming invasive.
• Plant turnips as a winter cover crop that will also yield greens and turnip roots.
• Plant crimson clover as a green manure/cover crop to turn under or cut for compost next spring.
• Plant lettuce and other salad greens either to be covered later to extend harvest or in containers to take into a sunny window for winter greens.
• Stockpile grass clippings for making autumn compost when leaves start to fall.
• Use up any finished spring compost that you still have.
• Clean up crop residues and generally clean up the garden as summer crops finish up.
• Plan to prepare ground soon for mid winter planting (spinach in February, snow peas in March for example) while it can still be worked.
• Apply lime.
• Enjoy those last tomatoes – it’s gonna be a long time before next year’s crop.

September Lawn care

• Spread lime if needed
• Broadcast seed – early September is the best time for sowing cool season grasses like fescue or blue grass.
• Consider adding white Dutch clover (or other small clover) to your lawn seed. Clover is good for the soil – birds love it, bees love it, deer love it (which may be good or bad according to how you feel about deer) and it makes great compost – drawbacks are that it is somewhat invasive (nothing like Bermuda grass though) and your neighbors will think you’re nuts if they find out.
• Aerate if you get a chance after a soaking rain when the ground is softened.
• Fertilize very lightly if at all.