4 Fall Beds
If you visit my garden in the fall, you’ll notice four things. First, garden beds are covered with garden vegetation waste. I do this so the soil doesn’t stay bare through the winter, and because I know from experience how crumbly and nice the soil will be come spring. My mulch is made up of leaves, straw, pulled weeds, and other vegetation waste.
Second, you’ll find one or two green-fertilized beds; the mats are primarily blue (or lacy) phacelia and Persian clover, sowed in late summer. Occasionally the entire bed is green fertilized, but more often than not one or two rows of vegetables are still lagging in the same bed.
The third thing you’ll notice is kale, salsify, leeks, parsnips, radicchio, chard, watercress, and other cold weather plants that grow well into late fall, and which can all cope in a few degrees below freezing. A few of them might even get the opportunity to overwinter.
I’m just as pleased each time that I allowed them to spread.
But the fourth and most interesting things are the plants I sowed sometimes in late July or August. That’s when I carried out forward planning, and I’m now reaping the harvest from that strategy. The Asian greens such mizuna cabbage, mustard greens, and pak choi (celery cabbage) especially love the fall. I’m not exaggerating when I say that the bed is bursting with growing power.
Land cress and buckhorn plantain are two other rascals that can also occasionally be found among the fall greens. The first grows slower than Asian greens, but has the advantage of tolerating a few more degrees below freezing. Heads up, however, for those with palates that are more sensitive: winter cress tastes like watercress but has ten times more bitterness and bite. Buckhorn plantains, which also don’t mind some degrees below freezing, are much kinder in flavor. I love its nutty taste; it’s just right for whatever salad mix you have going! Both plants are harvested in consecutive batches. Here, that means a good spell into winter.
