BEET the clock
Growing fall vegetables is all about timing
Do you ever wish you could serve your family fresh vegetables right from your own back yard in the fall — not just spring and summer?
Here's an Oklahoma gardening secret: Some of the best-quality garden vegetables are grown and harvested during the fall season when warm, sunny days are followed by cool, humid nights.
Under these conditions, plant soil metabolism is low, so more of the food manufactured by the plant becomes a highquality vegetable product. Some of the most beautiful Oklahoma vegetable gardens I have ever seen were produced in the fall season
Although it's the hottest part of summer right now, it's time to start planning for fall gardening to ensure a bountiful harvest.
As with any garden, soil preparation is important for success.
Organic matter such as compost needs to be incorporated into sandy soil to help reduce drying and to improve the water and nutrient holding capacity.
Heavy clay soil combined with organic matter will have improved aeration, water absorption and drainage.
If you do not make your own compost, consider purchasing some from a local materials company, municipal composting facility or even getting bagged products to add to your new or existing garden soil.
Many cool-season fall crops need to be sown from seed in mid-August, including beets, carrots, leaf lettuce, collard greens and radishes.
Wait until Sept. 1 to seed spinach and kale since the soil needs to cool slightly for best germination.
You also can successfully sow some summer warm-season crops like cucumber, summer squash and green beans during the first three weeks of August for fall harvesting.
As a gardening rule of thumb, vegetable seeds should be planted no deeper than three times the diameter of the seed. With small seeds such as carrots, this would be no more than ¼-inch deep. High soil temperature would be a problem for
seeds planted at this depth.
Unless the soil remains moist at the depth where seeds have been planted, germination will not take place. Applying mulch over the row following planting and watering with soaker hose or drip irrigation should overcome the germination problems. Remove the mulch after seedlings emerge.
Broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage all will do wonderfully in the fall garden, often much better than in the spring, but must be grown from 4- or 5-week-old transplants. Check with your garden center and plan to get these transplants in the garden by Aug. 20. Remember to water deeply and often just after transplanting to help the transplants get started.
Looking ahead, garlic cloves should be planted in September for an early summer garlic harvest next year. Garden centers definitely will have these bulbs in stock. Separate and plant each clove about 4 inches apart and cover with about 2 inches of soil. Leaves will appear this fall and grow all next spring until you harvest the mature garlic heads in early June.
The Oklahoma State University Extension Service has a great fact sheet on fall gardening that provides planting times and tips for all the best fall crops (HLA-6009 Fall Gardening.) It and other helpful fact sheets can be found at http :// facts he ets.ok state. edu/, or stop by your county extension office to pick them up.