| Â Dear Reader,
At last the weather is getting cooler and I can get back to serious work in the garden. September is a very bus y month, harvesting produce, clearing away spent plants and planting lots of seeds. I think of it asalmost a rerun of March – plus extra! The article this month provides Tips for Fall Planting — I hope it give that extra spark to your gardening enthusiasm.
I trust you are having a bountiful harvest. With it comes the dilemma of what to do with all the extra produce. This summer I built a solar dryer to cope with the overflow. After a bit of research, I hit upon these plans on the web (www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/abeng/plans/6244.pdf). Now I am busily drying tomatoes and any fruit I can get my hands on. Colorado has excellent organic peaches and my wife has been “urban foraging” to collect basket-loads of apples. TheÂ
only problem is if I forget to bring in the produce at night – then the bear takes off the lid and eats everything. Â
The mountain animals are also getting ready for winter. The black bear is a frequent visitor; blue birds, stellar jays and golden tanagers are cleaning up the elderberries; garter snakes are slowing down (I like to pick them up); best of all, I got within 10 yards of a mountain lion in the forest across the road. Life is very full!
This month we are again offering a special on the QLC. This is an excellent time to get some in stock for the winter so that your indoor plants can stay strong and healthy. It will keep those flowers blooming bringing a little nourishment for the soul through the gray winter days.
Have a crisp, clear fall and enjoy all the bounty nature bestows.
Sincerely,
Roland Evans
Organic Bountea
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September/October Garden Tasks
Keep making lots of compost from all the garden waste. Grind material as small as possible so it with break down before the cold weather. Gather materials for winter mulch (see below).  Winterize your greenhouse and keep row covers and plant protectors close by in case of hail or early frost.
Seeds outdoors: see article below.  Sow cover crop of annual rye, clover, buckwheat or alfalfa. Plant garlic cloves: mulch as soon as planted.
Ornamentals:Â mulch well for winter.
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Bountea Compost Tea: Most fall crops need plenty of nitrogen. When you add M3 to the BounteaCompost Tea brew, the microbes transform the organic nitrogen so that it is easily taken up by your plants. Use it to prepare the soil for all your fall and winter leafy vegetables.
While many species of bacteria die off when the soil temperature drops, fungal species continue to live on. The mycorrhizae in the Root Web can survive severe cold. Consider adding Root Web to your last brew of the Bountea so that the fungi will be available for your plant roots in early spring.
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Tips for Fall Planting
Its time to start some serious fall planting. As in spring, you need to think about crop rotation, soil preparation, seed choice and plant and soil protection.
Crop Rotation
Once the ground is cleared, take time to decide what to plant next. Many people neglect the tried and true methods of crop rotation – and their garden suffers. I make it a rule to never plant the same crop twice and to generally follow the simple rotation: givers — heavy feeders — light feeders. The legume family of beans, peas, alfalfa, and clovers add nitrogen to the soil – these are givers. Most leaf and fruit vegetables are heavy takers and need plenty of nitrogen. Root vegetables are light feeders of nitrogen, though they require other minerals.
Fall tips: Plant garlic, spring onions, and carrots after tomatoes. Try inter-planting clover beneath Brassicas.
Soil Preparation
Take a good handful of damp soil, look at it closely, and feel its texture. It should be dark with humus, sticky with the residue of microbial life (not overly gluey with clay) and ideally have at least 1 worm. If in doubt, incorporate well-rotted compost or Alaska Humisoil to improve texture. Fertile soil needs air as well as water; loosen the top 4″ to 6″ to provide oxygen for the microbes.
Fall Tips: Sow cover crops (see above) on any unused ground. A good dose of Bountea Compost Tea with M3 will help leafy vegetables grow fast and strong before the first frost.
Seed Choice
Last year I tried different varieties of cool weather plants: 2 turnip tops, 3 kales, 2 collards, 4 varieties of fava bean and lots of lettuce types and salads. Here are my winners for taste and
hardiness:
Seven Top turnip – milder flavored
White Russian kale for flavor, Red Russian kale for hardiness,
Collards Vates for a tasty long lasting crop
Supersimonia fava beans – the best to over-winter
Salads: Wrinkled Crinkled Crumpled Cress, Mispoona, and Arugula for spicy salads
Kolibri Purple Kohlrabi – mild and crisp
Green Harmony cauliflower, producing multiple mini-florets
Fall Tip: Plant left over pea seeds to provide pea greens or pea shoots for salads and cooking.
Plant and Soil Protection
Always protect seeds and starts with floating row covers. Make sure they are securely pinned to resist wind. Build simple plant protectors to stabilize soil temperature and resist frost. Mulch all bare ground and around every plant with at least 4″ of organic material: hay, straw, leaves, semi-rotted compost, even wood mulch.
Fall Tip: Apply the Deer Deterrent recipe all around the garden every 3 weeks to train the deer to avoid the garden in winter.
Forward this article to a friend
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