Madman Looks Forward To Fall

The madman is looking forward to fall. No, he’s not tired of summer – he’s looking at the next growing season – the fall garden. We’ve pulled the garlic – it’s drying in the étalier. And any day now the onions will topple over; a sign they are ready for harvest. The madman will lift them and place them on the drying racks next to the garlic. The peas and the woodchuck are a distant memory.

While I’m enjoying fresh tomatoes (hands down my favorite summer vegetable), the madman is looking at bare ground in the garden thinking of fresh fall vegetables. Getting fall vegetables established is tricky business. The heat is a problem, rainfall is scarce and unreliable, and the sun is relentless – drying out everything except for the weeds. So, for the madman the fall garden requires extra thought and plenty of effort.

Watching For Frost

Of course, he always starts by counting back from the last frost date which is October 15 around here. This means he’s working with a 76-day growing season beginning August 1. But, since he is a madman and tends to be optimistic in his outlook these days, he usually adds about 10 days to that number. Thanks to climate change, he says he has about 86 growing days and he’s usually pretty close. Remember his suicide tomatoes in the spring? (Which, by the way were phenomenal this year.) Well, he also has a fall version of suicide tomatoes. The determinant plants went in the ground on July 15, and we have had to baby them through the hot dry days of late July. Some years we get good September tomatoes, other years not so much, but it’s always worth the try.

The madman has also planted some “late” summer squash. As soon as he lifted the garlic bulbs in early July, the plants went in the empty bed. By planting much later than normal, he hopes to thwart the Squash Bug and have late-season squash. So far so good.

He has his good eye focused on the onion patch. Normally the onions are out of the ground by the end of July, but this has been a funny growing year and they are hanging on. When they fall over, the madman has his potatoes ready to go.

A Controversial Crop

Not many people try fall potatoes, and his habit of growing them gets him into some good arguments. One farmer told him fall wouldn’t work because potatoes are a spring crop while another one said it was an interesting concept. But every year he begins looking for fresh organic new potatoes around July 1. He stores them in a warm dark closet hoping the eyes will begin to sprout. As soon as the onions come out, the new potatoes go in which is why he has his good eye focused on the onions.

No Empty Beds

As you can imagine, fall crops go into recently harvested garden beds. This means that soil preparation is minimal, minimal but not nothing. The madman removes all weeds and works in an organic fertilizer. Since seeds germinate best in a moist environment, he will also water the prepared bed if Mother Nature hasn’t sent any recent rain our way. He will then wait a couple of days to plant his seeds. Once the seeds are in the ground, they must be kept moist. No drying allowed because this will stop the process and you will be replanting. The madman has been known to water his seeds two or three times a day in real hot, dry weather.

Beyond the tomatoes, potatoes and summer squash, the madman’s late season garden is pretty typical. What’s missing are broccoli, cauliflower and brussels sprouts because he’s tired of fighting the Imported Cabbage Moth – it seems the white adults are everywhere this year. And, that means the green worms can’t be far behind. When planning out the fall garden, he first checks over his seed box.  If anything is in short supply, he still has time to order it from his favorite seed suppliers.

Planning A Fall Garden

If you’ve never done fall planting, but would like to try, the University of Minnesota Extension has prepared a nice listing of fall crops. We like this listing because the author has included a note on how the plants react to frost. Missing, however, are specific varieties you can plant. Don’t fear – Johnny’s Select Seeds has got you covered. This link takes you to a page entitled, “Summer Planting for Fall Harvest,” where you can find enough varieties to keep your garden growing well into the fall. As we have mentioned before, the madman considers his Johnny’s Seed Catalog his gardening bible and refers to it often for its detailed growing information.

So, with all the varieties available, what will the madman plant? He’ll plant beets, carrots and radishes because we will eat them. We always tell you to grow stuff you will eat, that’s why you don’t find rutabagas, parsnips or salsify in our garden. But plant them if you like them.

Beets, Carrots And Radishes

The madman has always thought that beets, carrots and radishes get along well with each other. They are the backbone of the madman’s fall garden. As root crops, they all like similar soil conditions – light and fertile. The cool thing is the long taproots of carrots and daikon radishes can break up compressed soil making it easier for beet roots to expand while the quick maturity of regular radishes means they are pulled out before the beets bulk up. An extra benefit of this companion planting is that radishes tend to attract flea beetles away from beets leaving healthy beet greens for the madman to eat (they taste like spinach). The madman plans two plantings of these root crops 14 days apart. The problem with these three is that the madman can’t see them since they grow underground. He never knows how they are doing until the harvest.

Greens

On the other hand, he can keep an eye on the growth of lettuce, kale and other greens who hate the hot summer months. When the soil temperatures begin to cool off in late summer the madman will plant his lettuce. Unlike summer crops, they germinate best in cooler soil. While some gardeners prefer head lettuce, the madman favors the loose-leaf varieties so he can harvest only what we need for a meal. These lettuces mature in about 50 days, so the madman prefers weekly plantings to keep his supply constantly fresh. Kale only gets one planting because it matures in 60 days and nothing seems to kill it.

We eat a lot of salads and the madman likes to spice them up with more exotic Asian greens. Asian greens tend to mature faster, becoming ready in 25-30 days. Although like Kale these greens belong to the brassica family, the madman finds they are seldom bothered by the Imported Cabbage Moth. Consulting any seed catalog will boggle your mind with the number of varieties available. Pretend you are the madman and experiment. But, just remember, you may have to give up one or two beach days while you baby you fall garden – the madman thinks it’s worth it.

And I think I’m ready for lemonade.