What a confusing gardening season we’ve had for 2012! It leaves us all wondering what weather September will have to challenge us. I also wonder how many of us tried new things this year hoping for good results? Our weather has been the challenge of ages with too warm, too soon, then too hot and windy. Persistence is an attribute we gardeners must own.
Fall is the time to reflect and take notes on what worked well in the garden and what did not. Keeping in mind that this growing season’s weather has been most unusual could lead to an untimely end to our gardens as well. What should you do to prepare your garden before the cold weather hits, however, is fairly routine.
Harvest crops that are sensitive to a light freeze. If your garden is still producing tomatoes, eggplant, basil, bush beans, other vine crops, cover them with frost-protective material. There are products out there made especially for this or a light blanket will do.
Use specific devices to extend the season. Crops that are more cold-tolerant until the hard freeze include all the brassicas (such as kohlrabi, cauliflower, broccoli, kale, etc.), root crops (such as carrots, beets, radishes, etc.), lettuce, spinach, radicchio, fennel, and arugula. Some options include covering with a blanket or Reemay (reusable polyester material that can be placed directly over row crops) or a portable cold frame using wood or conduit and Reemay or plastic as a covering. If you use a cold frame, the soil temperatures are maintained at a higher level, which will give you more time with various crops.
Order your garlic to arrive by Oct. 1, or have your own bulbs drying and cloves ready to plant by first week of October. That’s when garlic should be planted in a northern climate so its roots can get established before the big freeze. Stick with the stiffneck varieties, which are more cold-tolerant. After the ground freezes, mulch them just as you do with newly planted tulips and daffodils. Your leaf crop works well for this purpose.
Crops of spinach, peas, and a few other early-season cold-tolerant crops can be seeded into the garden before the ground freeze-up providing a jump start into the following growing season. Be sure to mulch following first freezing temperatures.
Do a soil test. If you need organic matter, put compost down and double dig it in. Leave it rough and allow the freezing and thawing to work on it all winter long. Get rid of all garden waste, composting the clean material and disposing of the diseased material.
Finally, review the results of your work — rethink what didn’t work; it may be worth another try with a better growing season next year... OR NOT. These are the decisions to be planned out over the winter. Is the investment in seeds, time, energy worth another go or not? For most of us this is our “stock market.” For me, giving new plant choices a second opportunity is worth it. Most seed packages opened, but unused this season, will be fine to plant next year.
Enjoy the clean up, the canned and stored “fruits of garden labors,” and all the rest of this year’s season. It’ll be different in 2013!
More information on horticulture is available from U of M Extension. Use this link: www.extension.umn.edu/gardeninfo/. Up-to-date information on seasonal problems can be found at blog.lib.umn.edu/efans/ygnews/. For help with gardening questions, call 444-7916, leaving your name, number, and question. A local master gardener will call to assist you.
