Timely Gardening Tips for Where You Live
(Page 2 of 3)
October/November 2004
By Carol Mack
Gulf Coast
If you haven’t already started planting, then get with it! Cool-weather-loving vegetables, herbs and flowers are anxious to stretch their hungry roots and take advantage of our best gardening season. Crops to direct seed include beets, carrots, mustard, turnips, radicchio and radishes, and herbs such as chives, dill and fennel. Transplants may work better for lettuce, cabbage, Chinese cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower — protect them from sun and wind with fabric row covers. Don’t neglect the orchard. There may not be much to pick this time of year, but a copper fungicide on peaches, plums and nectarines will knock off the leaves and reduce infection from bacterial canker. After trees and vines are fully dormant consider using an old favorite on the dormant plants — lime/sulfur. It’s too harsh to use during the growing season, but it can help control overwintering insects and diseases. Anthracnose on southern bunch grapes such as ‘Blanc du Bois’ has been devastating, but lime/sulfur looks promising to control it. — Bill Adams, Burton, Texas.
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Central/Midwest
Morning frost delicately edges the leaves and highlights intricately formed seed heads. A chill in the air adds urgency to the harvest. If winter squash, gourds, or dried beans and peas are threatened by a freeze, bring them into a dry, warm, well-ventilated area for two weeks to cure. Then keep the squash in a cool, dry place and check it periodically for signs of spoilage. The beans are ready to store in containers when they rattle inside their shells. Dry the gourds until their seeds rattle — then they can be oiled or lacquered to enhance the colors and patterns. If your weather is still warm, and you want to continue gardening until the snow comes, try seeding lettuces, greens, peas and baby carrots in a cold frame or mini-greenhouse tunnel. With this region’s unpredictable weather, you may be able to have a fresh, homegrown salad with your Christmas dinner! — Connie Dam-Byl, William Dam Seeds Ltd., Dundas, Ontario.
North Central & Rockies
Time to tidy things up and prepare for the snowy blanket that will soon cover our gardens. With luck, fall cover crops have sprouted enough to protect bare soil from the sun and wind. If not, mulch those spots with yard rakings so the soil is not left exposed through the winter. The leaves can be removed in the spring to allow the soil to warm. Next on the list is proper marking. Brussels sprouts, parsnips, carrots, onions and even some oriental mustard greens can be harvested after the first snows. Marking their locations with tall sticks will help you find them under a blanket of snow. Check for broccoli side shoots now — in many years, a nice little bonus crop comes on at this time. I used to mow outlying wildflower and grass areas in the fall, but now I leave everything standing until spring, when mowing creates a nice mulch layer that promotes reseeding. — Bill McDorman, Seeds Trust, High Altitude Gardens, Hailey, Idaho.
