August 27, 2010 Extending your Growing Season

 Emmie Sherry

 Herb and Vegetable Specialist

       Even though your summer garden may be exhausted by now, you can stretch your growing season in several ways. Grooming tired plants, starting a new fall crop, and planning a cool season garden allow you to continue enjoying home-grown harvests.

       Removing any branches of your tomatoes that are brown or appear dead (showing no signs of new growth or blossoms) often invigorates the plants. Be sure to only trim a third or less of the stems and foliage and leave any healthy green foliage with new growth. That along with the great weather we've been having should provide you with some fresh new tomatoes in a week or two.

       You can also start a new fall crop of fast-producing summer vegetables like bush beans, squash or cucumber. These plants can be ready to harvest in only 40-60 days. Because these plants are not frost hardy, they will need to be harvested before the first frost, which usually happens between the end of October and mid November. You can extend your season even more by protecting these tender plants with a frost cloth or some type of cover. There is even a spray you can use to protect plants from frost.

Cilantro is a great herb to plant in your garden now from seed. It is not frost hardy, but it is fast growing and will provide you with harvestable leaves quickly.

       Another way to extend your growing season is to plant a cool season garden using frost hardy vegetables and even some root crops that overwinter in the ground. Peas, broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower are just a few of the vegetables that will continue to grow and produce after a frost. Leafy veggies like lettuce, spinach, and arugula are also included in this frost hardy group. To learn a little bit more about cool season vegetables, check out this past article.

       Root crops such as carrots, radishes, onions, potatoes, garlic and shallots can be planted now and harvested throughout the winter or in the spring. In fact, fall is the recommended planting time for many of these veggies for early spring harvests.

       Our fall temperatures are perfect for a lot of vegetables often resulting in a more successful garden than in the spring and summer. So try something new and have fun!