Selected Fall Gardening Tips from Derek Fell

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SPROUTING SEED, FENUGREEK

There's certainly no shortage of things to do in the garden throughout the spring and summer months . . . as you well know, if you tended a vegetable patch this year. By the time fall rolls around, however, most of your spring and summer crops have borne fruit . . . you've already made plantings of broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale, turnips, and other cold-weather fare . . . andin general-you've done just about everything you're going to do before the first killing frost hits. The question is, what do you do now?

Actually, there are many things you can do from September to November to ensure a well-stocked pantry in the cold months ahead. For example:

Now is a good time to mulch your parsley. Pile shredded leaves against the rows and in the coming weekseven when there's snow on the ground -you'll find more than enough readyto-harvest greenery in your garden to flavor omelettes, soups, fish dishes, and salads.

BIBB LETTUCE

Spinach and loose-leaf lettuce are also surprisingly hardy. Make sowings of these vegetables by September land heap leaves against the rows for frost protection-and you're likely to have good-sized plants that'll survive well into the winter. (Your spinach may even stay green all winter, if conditions in your area are mild enough.)

Many root vegetables will keep in the ground over winter . . . the problem is, it's impossible to get at the buried vegetables after the ground freezes. You can keep the soil open longer, howeverand harvest carrots, parsnips, turnips, salsify, etc., right up until Christmassimply by placing bales of hay over the rows. (When you want to harvest a few roots, just pull back one of the bales and dig in.)

Then too, of course, root vegetables can easily be stored in a cool (40°F or so) basement. Just remove the leafy top growth and bury the roots in boxes or mounds of peat moss, sand, or compost. (Take special care to see that each root is completely surrounded by whatever packing material you're using.)

TOMATO, PIXIE HYBRID

Two other vegetables that take basement storage well are onions and winter squash. In the case of onions, all you have to do is brush the soil from the roots and hang the bulbs from strings in a dry, dark, cool (preferably no more than 60°F, to prevent sprouting) place. If you have difficulty keeping onions, you'll want to try a new variety called Spartan Sleeper, which has been bred to stay firm and crisp even under adverse storage conditions.

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