The more we eat from our gardens, the more we appreciate the real pleasures
of the seasonal connection to food. The first greens in April, sugar snap
peas in June, delicious early potatoes in July and the bounty of tomatoes,
peppers and corn in August, are all part of the rhythm of the harvest in
this region.
It's been an excellent growing year so far, with plenty of rain and good
weather. Cool-temperature crops like peas and spinach have gone by. The
greens- mustards, kale and chard-are producing lots of healthful leaves
now. Newly-picked garlic has been hung in the breezeway to cure, and we've
started pulling up onions and digging the early Red Norland potatoes.
Greens, onions, garlic and potatoes cooked together provide some of our
favorite meals. The first crops of beans, broccoli, and cabbages are ready
to harvest now and summer staples like corn, peppers and tomatoes will be
ripe soon.
As we enjoy the fruits of our early plantings, it's also time to sow seeds
and set out transplants for fall harvest. We are not yet a third of the way
between the Summer Solstice and the Fall Equinox. Nine weeks of summer
remain, with two-to-three months left before the first frost, depending on
specific locations. There's still time to grow many varieties of
vegetables.
In fact, the next few weeks are the best time to plant winter storage crops
like carrots, cabbages, turnips, beets and other easy-keepers. (These are
vegetables which can be kept successfully for most of the winter in cool,
humid conditions, such as those in a root cellar.)
Some members of the <I>Brassica </I>family (those healthful relatives of
broccoli) thrive when planted now. Red Russian and other kales, storage
turnips, rutabagas and Chinese cabbages can be planted at this time or very
soon for harvest in the fall.
Although the cool weather crops don't do very well in this mid-summer heat,
they flourish in autumn. So we'll plant peas, lettuce, and spinach over
the next few weeks. These crops may need some special care at first to get
them going in the hot sun, but they usually thrive as the days shorten and
temperatures drop. This care may involve soaking the seeds overnight before
planting, or pregerminating seeds by placing them between damp paper towels
in the refrigerator until they sprout. Whether soaked, sprouted, or planted
as dry seeds, frequent watering until the seedlings are well-established is
recommended. When they are young, a bit of shade from nearby crops helps
get them going. For example, some people plant radishes in the row with
carrot or spinach seeds, which are very slow to germinate. Radishes sprout
quickly to mark the row, and shade the tiny carrots or spinach. In about
twenty-five days, the radishes are ready to harvest, and the crop it has
shaded will be ready to take off.
There are two reasons why the outdoor gardening season for vegetables comes
to an end. A frost, often on a still, clear night near the time of the
full moon, kills tender plants like beans, tomatoes, basil and squash.
Although peppers are also tender, they can usually survive a few frosts and
will continue to ripen fruit. Cool temperatures and fewer hours of
daylight also slow down plant growth.
Tender crops that can be planted this month include bush beans, cucumbers,
yellow summer squash and zucchini. The bush varieties of green beans take
between 50 and 60 days from seed to the beginning of harvest, and some
varieties of cucumbers, zucchini and summer squash produce in fewer than 50
days.
Remember, it's always a good idea to plant greens like turnips, Swiss
chard, mustard and arugula. These vegetables are loaded with important
vitamins, minerals and flavor and should be available for the picking well
into November.
Market gardener and author Eliot Coleman, whose book <I>Four Season Harvest
</I>details his year-round methods of growing food in Maine, has just
published <I>The Winter Harvest Manual: Farming the Back Side of The
Calendar. </I> Here, he provides clear explanations of how to produce fresh
vegetables all winter long in cold frames and greenhouses without
supplementary heat.
It's not too late to plant now for a bountiful fall harvest.
For more information on gardening and late season planting, send a stamped,
self addressed, envelope to "Fall Planting," WSHU, 5151 Park Avenue,
Fairfield, CT 06432.
This is Bill Duesing, Living on the Earth
(C)1998, Bill Duesing, Solar Farm Education, Box 135, Stevenson, CT 06491
Bill and Suzanne Duesing operate the Old Solar Farm (raising NOFA/CT
certified organic vegetables) and Solar Farm Education (working on urban
agriculture projects in southern Connecticut and producing "Living on the
Earth" radio programs). Their collection of essays Living on the Earth:
Eclectic Essays for a Sustainable and Joyful Future is available from Bill
Duesing, Box 135, Stevenson, CT 06491 for $14 postpaid. These essays first
appeared on WSHU, public radio from Fairfield, CT. New essays are posted
weekly at http://www.wshu.org/duesing and those since November 1995 are
available there.
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