Fall planting
- Thread starter bowvalley
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deejaydebi
Legendary Pitmaster
A great winter product is the rutabaga aka the classic New England turnip. Sow in mid September and as soon as the first leaves appear thin to eight inches.
Watch the weather reports and just before the first frost place a good thick layer, about 12 inches, of mulch hay over the bed and moisten well. Some folks even place strips of black plactic over the hay layer. If you are in a good area for snow you will not need the plastic. If you get very cold weather and not a lot of snow go with intermittent strips of plastic.
Other veggies which can be grown this way are parsnips, radishes and some cold varieties of beets.
Then there are the crucifers like the various cabbages, Brussels sprouts, and broccoli which can be planted very early or planted and harvested late. They love the cold. Plant in the spring as soon as you can work the ground and plant late August to mid September for harvest from the time the snow flies and beyond.
Garlic must be planted in the fall and is a good thing. Love garlic!
Hope all this helps!
Watch the weather reports and just before the first frost place a good thick layer, about 12 inches, of mulch hay over the bed and moisten well. Some folks even place strips of black plactic over the hay layer. If you are in a good area for snow you will not need the plastic. If you get very cold weather and not a lot of snow go with intermittent strips of plastic.
Other veggies which can be grown this way are parsnips, radishes and some cold varieties of beets.
Then there are the crucifers like the various cabbages, Brussels sprouts, and broccoli which can be planted very early or planted and harvested late. They love the cold. Plant in the spring as soon as you can work the ground and plant late August to mid September for harvest from the time the snow flies and beyond.
Garlic must be planted in the fall and is a good thing. Love garlic!
Hope all this helps!
deejaydebi
Legendary Pitmaster
Fall crops are great but give something back to your soil - pant winter rye and next year your garden will look like "Honey I Shrunk the Kids!"
Winter rye is high in nitrogen naturally! Plow it under next spring and see what you get ....
Winter rye is high in nitrogen naturally! Plow it under next spring and see what you get ....
we got a couple plants at our local farmer over the weekend and got them in the soil on Sunday...4 cabbage and 4 cauliflower. Never heard of the rye thing...I'd be afraid of that though, our tomatoes are at least 6 foot tall now!!!
Grasses take nitrogen from the soil during photosynthesis. All grasses (i.e monocotyledins). If you till the grass under, the organisms that aid in the decomposition of the plant material will consume a large portion of the nitrogen that the grass has consumed. The net effect of a rye grass crop on soil nitrogen content will be deleterious.
In order to increase soil nitrogen content biologically, ont should plant legumes. Legumes manufacture nitrogen during photosynthesis and put it back into the soil.
In order to increase soil nitrogen content biologically, ont should plant legumes. Legumes manufacture nitrogen during photosynthesis and put it back into the soil.
deejaydebi
Legendary Pitmaster
When the grass is tilled under in the spring the it adds nitrogen to the soil. The rye acts almost like a nitrogen storage battery.
"Both oat and winter rye are very efficient in taking up nitrogen from the soil (remember, the vetch is getting most of its nitrogen from the atmosphere, so it does not need much from the soil). By taking up more nitrogen in the late summer and fall we are reducing the risk of contaminating surface or ground water and the nitrogen is recycled so that it can be used by next years cash crop."
"Both oat and winter rye are very efficient in taking up nitrogen from the soil (remember, the vetch is getting most of its nitrogen from the atmosphere, so it does not need much from the soil). By taking up more nitrogen in the late summer and fall we are reducing the risk of contaminating surface or ground water and the nitrogen is recycled so that it can be used by next years cash crop."
smoke freak
StickBurners
Yeah. What DJ and that Oki guy said. But remember that when you till all this goodness into the soil that you have to allow time for the soil to decompose it all. during the decomposition process soil nitrogen will be tied up . Only after decomposition will all these wonderful nutrients become available.
Yes . Plant LOTS of garlic and always plant it in the fall, Preferably after the first hard freeze.
Wow this is great! Garden talk on my smokin site. I love it!
Yes . Plant LOTS of garlic and always plant it in the fall, Preferably after the first hard freeze.
Wow this is great! Garden talk on my smokin site. I love it!
smoke freak
StickBurners
Smokie if Im not mistaken, legumes colect N from the air and store it in root nodules to be used only for themselves. It only becomes available to the soil after decomp of said plant. That is why we till in our cover crops such as clover, vetch, and alfalfa. Could be wrong though
deejaydebi
Legendary Pitmaster
smoke freak
StickBurners
Back to the original question. I think it was what to plant in fall. Back when I had more time to play around, I had a cold frame. About this time of year you can plant lettuce, spinach, carrots in the cold frame for harvest in winter. Its so cool to have fresh garden salad at Thanks giving or Christmas. You see this stuff completely frozen and think its ruined but when it thaws in the coldframe its as good as ever. Cut while its still froze it turns to mush. A good book on this subject is "Four season harvest" by Elliot Coleman.
How do you build your cold frames? I always used hay for walls and layed corrugated fiberglass panels over the top with a few rocks to keep the wind from blowing them off. I quit doing them because of all the weed seed that the hay brought into the garden.
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