Late-summer seeding can yield fall bounty

Okay, pick yourself up and do it again.

Your efforts to grow vegetables this summer may have been less than successful, hampered by the less-than-ideal weather conditions. However, as in many aspects of life, you can have another go.

Even now, at the end of the first week of August, it is possible to plant beans, beets, carrots and other vegetables with a short growing season for a fall harvest.

In her book "Making Vegetables Grow", the late garden writer Thalassa Cruso wrote about midseason and late planting. For many, the vegetable garden is a one-shot deal. Perhaps it takes so much effort the first time, that the idea of a second round doesn't hold much appeal. But those of us whose seed failed the first time — or who have leftover seed or just want to get the most from the good earth while it is willing — here is another opportunity.

Some of the hardy plants for late summer seeding include: beets, carrots, chard, collards, kale, leeks, lettuce, mustard, spinach, parsnips and turnips.

First, you must determine:

the growing time needed;
how susceptible the plants will be to a killing frost (for Southeastern Massachusetts, it happens in late October);
and what the optimal conditions are for seed germination.



According to Cruso, reseeding can be done through early August for good crops, even in late August for lettuce.

"One year," she wrote, "when rabbits took an unprecedented delight in our chard, I reseeded a row (after indignantly fencing the plot) around the 15th of August. We harvested small but delicious leaves from this row until early November, since chard is extremely cold-tolerant. Such a late sowing would not have been possible with bush beans, which are frost tender."

Fall crops don't necessarily require direct seeding. You can raise them as you do spring seedlings before planting them. This saves space in the immediate garden for the summer occupants and also averts the leaf-eating worms that can wreak havoc on the directly seeded vegetables, particularly those in the brassica family.

Two weeks ago I reseeded peas, lettuce and set in cukes and lima beans. Although it's a long shot I have just planted a fruiting globe artichoke and eggplants into pots to see them through the time required for development. I can hear my father muttering 'Don't bother.' But at the least, I will have baby-sized produce — an epicurean passion right now.

Attentive gardeners want to be ready for when the first frost is predicted. Although broccoli, cabbage, Swiss chard, kale, and spinach do not need protection against early frost, there are numerous tender crops that can continue their stay but with protection.

Tender crops can often be protected by sheets of newspaper, sheets of plastic or old burlap bags.

"The first frosts usually are light, and though there can be several of them, they are often followed by a long spell of fine, frost-free weather. For that reason it is well worth trying to save some tender crops, such as bush and pole beans, cucumbers, lettuce and squash, that do not ripen well indoors," Ms. Cruso relates. However, tomatoes are best picked before the onset of frost as they can easily ripen indoors.


"Don't bother to protect root crops; a touch of frost makes them sweeter and they will self-store perfectly happily in the ground until you have to clear them out in order to do the fall soil preparation," writes Ms. Cruso.

By mid-August there will be areas of ground that are vacant. Be sure to keep these weeded or covered with mulch. I'm still adding seaweed to my garden as a cover to keep roots moist and also as a soil enricher. This will repel weed seeds from taking over. It's preferable to spending hours pulling weeds out. Ms. Cruso reminds us that most weeds are perennial. Thus if you don't rid the garden of them in fall, "they will reappear as giants refreshed and hinder your effort at spring planting."

Whether you're weeding, sowing, reaping or all of the above at this point, enjoy the process — which is itself a reward.

QUOTE:

"My vegetable love should grow

Vaster than empires, and more slow"¦"