When blistering mid - summer heat drive us from the garden , it ’s prison term to sit in the nuance with an frozen boozing and dream of coolheaded weather condition crop that freshen up flow menus . Lettuce and prickly-seeded spinach need the milder temperatures of September and October . With some protection , we might institute them to the table in December . Kale , collards and Taiwanese cabbage amend their savour with frost and sometimes can be harvested throughout the wintertime . These crops prosper in cooler temperatures ( 60 - 70ºF. ) and supply vitamins A and C to our diet ; plus they will be ready to eat long after staples such as clavus , beans and tomatoes have had their bout .
Fall offers a 2d prospect to hone those spring veg that did n’t do as well as expect . All these vegetable require well - drain , fecund soil with a pH of 6.0 – 7.0 . Just as with early - season horticulture , it postulate a little planning with an heart toward fall hoarfrost date where you live . Here ’s a guide for extending home - develop nutritious honey oil beyond summertime .
Since the average freeze day of the month for Albemarle County is mid - October , we work back in the calendar to determine when to implant seeds or shop for bedding plants . fix the planting day of the month by add the number of solar day for sprouting for your miscellanea , the duration of time until harvesting , and a “ twilight factor ” of two weeks . The drop component takes into report shorter sunshine and low temperatures at this time of class . Total these days and number back from mid - October to determine a planting date for seed . Since kale , collards and wampum are more tolerant of frost and hot weather , precise calculations are not necessary . But , see note on lucre and spinach below .
About Frost : Old Farmer distinguish light frosts from clayey frosts by the legal injury done . Many fall vegetables will stand up a light frost and even improve their flavor . Frost settles in low spot , so a garden with a slight slope can avoid some damage . When temperatures are drop down below 45º F. by 10 PM , when the night sky is clear with stars , and the air is juiceless , you may know that hoarfrost is likely .
Kale , Collards and Cabbage : Collard and kale seed can be establish alfresco by August . you could add the seeds to an subsist row in your garden , but since hot summers can make our cadaver grime hard , you may prefer to make a bed with a fiddling vermiculite and potting grease in the garden or in a container design for planting seeds . One year we received a present of 25 or more Tuscan cabbage ( also called lacinato or dinosaur Brassica oleracea acephala ) ; they get in a blossom flock and all transplanted successfully .
Due to summertime heat , plant life ejaculate in the garden twice as deep as you would in the spring . A good , easy watering or a rain help with germination . honest-to-goodness Farmer would lay a board over the course to preserve wet , removing the dining table as soon as sprouts appear . Mulching alongside the plants will serve slenderize the need for watering until seedling are well - rootle .
youthful cabbages will postulate to be transfer either from your garden or from the garden center . Thin kale and cabbages to 6 - 8 inches apart when they have at least two leaves ; collard need at least a human foot . These vegetables can withstand the heat of late summertime .
parting of kale and collard greens can be pick as they achieve 6 - 8 in , starting from the bottom of the plant . leave will grow much larger without losing good flavour , and both generate unexampled leaf over the time of year . Cabbage heads can be cut off and eat up when they are firm and the size of baseball . Space snarf farther apart for bigger oral sex ; but reduce lachrymation as the heads spring and get larger to prevent splitting . Light frosts wo n’t anguish and really add flavor .
Swiss Chardis another spring / fall craw that manages fall temperature fluctuations well , although it grows throughout the summertime . Because the mid - nervure of the leaf is sensitive , it can be used like cultivated celery either on an individual basis or together with the rest of the farewell . Rainbow chard dress up the garden when most things are fading from green to brown . Chard require to be slim twice , first when it ’s 6 inches high and again when 8 - 10 inches marvellous — until plants are 8 in apart . Do n’t make the little guys off , but take them to the table . abbreviate mature foliage of 10 - 12 column inch just above the ground .
With all fall greenness , it ’s smart to choose varieties with a shorter time to due date so as to increase your chance of a honorable result . A light software of a balanced fertilizer help . think of that middling temperature are just average . on occasion , the killing Robert Lee Frost for these hardier greens wo n’t come until January . persist hopeful .
September is about right for seedinglettuceand spinach plant . leafage lettuceis the easy and fastest to produce as well as tasting better than the intimate “ iceberg ” principal lettuce . Leafy , Bibb and Romaine dinero will all grow in central Virginia , but require more or less unlike spacing and culture .
Spinachneeds much the same conditions and care as cabbage . As a incentive it ’s eaten either cutting or cooked . Harvest by swipe stems when plants have six to eight leaves . Both lettuce and prickly-seeded spinach are more vulnerable to frost than other Green described above , but may take a hop back from temperatures no grim than 30ºF. Unlike other greens , spinach will not generate unexampled leaves after harvest home .
trouble : Before inhuman weather condition thrust bugs into concealment , pathfinder leafy greens for nibble insects . Worms or caterpillar can often be picked off . Row cover help . We need to be conservative about chemical sprays with greens . Insecticidal grievous bodily harm , neem oil and pyrethrins are less toxic . Good air circulation , coherent soil moisture , leaves that dry before gloaming and crop gyration keeps disease at bay laurel .
PESTICIDE WARNING :
Pesticides ( which include weedkiller , insecticides , rotenticides , etc . ) are venomous . Always register and carefully follow all precaution and safety testimonial give on the container recording label . Store all chemicals in the original labeled container in a locked cabinet or shed , aside from food or feeds , and out of the reach of children , wildcat individual , pets , and farm animal . Consult the pesticide recording label to specify combat-ready ingredients , sign words , and proper protective equipment .
Pesticides applied in your home and landscape painting can move and contaminate Creek , lakes , and rivers . Confine chemicals to the property being do by and never allow them to get into drain or creeks . keep off purport onto neighboring properties and untargeted areas .
Resources :
“ Collards in Va,”https://www.youtube.com / watch?v=6v03TLEyayU
“ Leafy Green Vegetables,”http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/426/426 - 408/426 - 408_pdf.pdf
“ Fall Vegetable Gardening,”http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/426/426 - 334/426 - 334.html
“ comestible Landscaping,”http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/426/426 - 411/426 - 411.html
“ Growing Lettuce & Spinach”http://extension.psu.edu / cumberland / news/2012 / grow - lettuce - spinach
Rodale ’s Garden Answers , Fern Marshall Bradley , ed . ( Rodale Press , Emmaus , Penn . 1995 ) .
