Grow your own

Plant cabbages now for spring crops.

At this time of the year gardeners often talk about soil temperature as though they’re baking bread. To give this some context, it’s the soil temperature rather than air temperature that dictates the growth of our plants. Cool-season varieties need the soil to be around 18 degrees – the perfect temperature to start “baking” cool-season crops.

COOL MOVES While we can’t alter the air temperature, there are ways to accelerate the cooling process. Removing mulch from the patch as the weather chills down will expose the soil to cooler air, like taking off the blanket in bed. And with the soil now exposed, it can cool down more quickly to the ideal planting conditions.

TEMP WORK Rather than licking a finger and burying it into the dirt there are more scientific instruments, such as soil thermometers, that take a more accurate temperature reading. When the soil is approaching 18 degrees, lock in the temperature by replacing the blanket of mulch. Now you’ve achieved autumn planting perfection.