In My Garden: Fall is upon us

Fall is upon us but it's not the time to put your garden tools away. In fact, fall, winter and spring are really great times for vegetable gardens.

First prep the garden bed with plenty of compost, worm castings and mix a few shovels of cottonseed meal and alfalfa meal into the soil to boost the nitrogen, potassium and potash. Try to prep your bed(s)s one or two weeks before planting and water the bed(s) twice a week to help the soil balance itself out, because digging always upsets the natural balance of bacteria necessary for plants to assimilate the nutrients in the soil. Prepping a week or so ahead of your planting schedule will give the soil time to recover from the intrusiveness of your dig. 

I usually start almost everything in flats that I keep in my greenhouse until the plants are three to four inches high. They should have a good root system by then. You can use your patio, garage, or window inside the house in a similar way, anyplace with good natural light. When you finally take them outside be sure to let the plants get used to full sunlight by placing them somewhere outside that gets only a couple hours of sun at first, and then over the next week slowly increase the exposure to full sun.

Now is the time to plant lettuce, arugula, kale, cabbage, garlic, onions, scallions, broccoli, cilantro, parsley, peas, fava beans, and broccoli raab, just to name a few of the fall vegetables.

Above: Lettuce "starts"

Above: My new cucumber plants in my greenhouse.

Above and below: Broccoli raab plants just starting to peek through the soil.

Above: Young celery plants

Above: Young cilantro plants

Above: Protecting my Snow Pea's young sprouts from the crows, who love to pull the little sprouts up for fun!