Hit the Dirt; The Fall Vegetable Garden

When I first started gardening in Maine one of the things I was struck by is how long the gardening season we actually have up here on the climate maps these parts are zoned for or a cold zone five depending on just where you are with maybe only a hundred to one hundred twenty day frost free growing season. Sounds pretty short but maps and charts and statistics can be pretty deceiving. When I first moved up here to work on a small farm it was the end of October and I was surprised to see that their gardens were anything but bare at that time for dinners. We would still go out and dig up a cut from the stalk some fresh produce to cook up. Only the real onset of the cold winter weather and the freezing of the ground seem to finally close down the garden for good. Then in the spring on a second farm we were out planting in the very beginning of April a little figuring told me that the real outdoor growing season was more like two hundred ten to two hundred twenty five days or almost two thirds of the year. Working on these farms and then later on my own place has taught me some of the many tricks of the

trade which allows for such a prolong season. Use of some simple season extending devices and the careful choosing of cold tolerant crops and varieties is all one needs to stretch out the main gardening year. This being October I'd like to discuss today a little bit about the fall garden and how to keep oneself in fresh produce at this end of the season. I walk through my gardens today isn't a whole lot different than during late August. I have had a frost already on the lower parts of my property. These first few frosts are invariably quite light just dipping down to slightly below freezing. That is important to keep in mind since a simple covering such as an old sheet or row cover or what have you is enough to keep even the tender crops from damage. Just keep abreast of the weather reports and cover the tender crops the evening before when they predict potentially freezing temperatures overnight. I still have tomatoes ripening on the vine squash Hazel sweet potatoes peppers and eggplants and

beans. Now as we get further into October chances are we will be getting somewhat harder frosts when the mercury starts dropping down into the mid 20s. Such simple covering tactics won't be enough to protect the tender crops. Of course that doesn't mean the end of the garden for the year. There is a long list of crops which are more called Hardy. Beats broccoli brussel sprouts cabbage carrots cauliflower and celery. Chinese cabbage chard Collard and mash and fennel kale Kohl Rabi leeks as well as lettuce peas radishes spinach turnips these are all crops tolerant of frost to some degree. In fact a number of them don't really attain their best flavor until after they have been hit by a couple of frosts your carrots parsnips kale and Brussels sprouts might taste pretty good in September but come October and look out they'll be out of this world cold triggers the plants to convert some of the starches to sugars

making for some of the sweetest vegetables you have ever tasted. Another way the cooler weather of fall can actually be an advantage is in prolonging the period the crops stay in good eating quality. While in warmer weather greens such as lettuce and spinach will become better and both. These crops which mature at the beginning of fall will retain their sweet edible quality for weeks on end. This is because the cooler weather and shorter days slows down the plant's metabolism. The other side to that coin is that once fall arrives the crops are not going to grow a whole lot more. So you want to time their planting so that they will be just reaching maturity towards the end or as Nancy Buell puts it in her book the new starters handbook. The trick is to remember in late spring and early summer how good it was to have fresh young beets and turnips crisp new greens and delicate Chinese cabbage to put on the table last fall after the spring rush.

I turned my attention to starting the fall crops up here that means sowing many of the fall because way back in mid June I think there are other real nice aspects of keeping the garden humming through the fall. I find the crisp fall days quite invigorating and think any activity that gets me outdoors during this glorious time of year. Soak up the maize and foliage displays is all the more worth doing. Needless to say no black flies or mosquitoes will be out to harass you. In fact once some of the hard frosts hit there won't be any crop damaging press pests to deal with either. Although as I will discuss next week there are some that seem to thrive at least through September. Now for the die hard fresh from the garden enthusiastic there are some further measures other than building an elaborate greenhouse to keep you in fresh produce into December and even beyond when the snow flies. The simplest is to grow kale which is amazingly Hardy. I know folks who trudge out in the snow to pick the frozen leaves for a meal well into winter.

You can also build a simple cold frame to place over a section of your lettuce or spinach for fresh salads into the winter and you can mulch your carrot bed so that even after the ground freezes elsewhere you can pull back that mulch and dig up a few roots to go into that winter salad. This works for parsnips and Jerusalem artichokes as well so I hope I've inspired you to keep the garden going beyond those dreaded first frosts and you can smile and think of those climate zone maps as you munch on a delicious fresh salad for Thanksgiving. This is Keith Goldfarb CNN. We can hit the dirt.