What to Plant for Fall

Vegetables that can thrive in the fall garden include salad greens, spinach, kale, peas, carrots, beets and broccoli.  Feel more adventurous? Try chard, endive, kohlrabi, turnips, or oriental vegetables like Chinese cabbage and bok choy. Brussels sprouts, anyone? Those love fall weather, too. These plants like the cooler weather, and can also do well under the cover of a cold frame even when the first snowflakes start to fly. But let’s not think about snow just yet! In fact, some vegetables actually do better in the fall garden than they would during the summer. For instance, spinach prefers the moist fall weather and cooler temperatures. Get a crop going, and you may find yourself harvesting into the winter!

Amending the Soil in the Fall

To prepare your garden, rake out any dead or dying plants and of course, any weeds. Till the soil to loosen it and work in a nice deep 2-inch layer of organic compost. You may also want to mix in some organic fertilizer. Spinach in particular needs some good plant food, so if you’re planting spinach the fertilizer is especially important.

For salad greens, you can sow seeds by scattering them on the surface of the soil you have just tilled, then just cover them lightly with compost or enriched topsoil. If you have clay soil – which is so common in our area – know that it can form a crust and challenge your germinating seedlings. A good solution is to cover the seeds with compost instead of garden soil. Spread a bit of compost over the scattered seeds, and then just pat them lightly with your hand, and they’ll be at a good depth to get started in germinating. For other fall garden crops, seeds should be planted deeper, at about a quarter inch depth and at least half an inch apart – more for larger vegetables like kale, which should be spaced up to two inches apart when sowing seeds.  Spacing between rows should be 6 to 8 inches.

Watering Guide for Fall Vegetable Gardens

Watering is important for the fall vegetable garden, especially when seedlings are first emerging. Watering in the early morning and at dusk will help your plants stay properly hydrated. (A small investment in a sprinkler timer is a great idea!)

Organic Pest Removal

Keep your seedlings thinned out properly, which will help their leaves gather sunlight properly and will also cut down on pesky garden slugs. You can also keep those at bay the natural way by putting a shallow dish of beer in the garden, in which they will drown. Or, you can splash your plants with a cold caffeinated beverage like coffee or tea – caffeine is a neurotoxin for slugs – but do it at night when the slugs are actively feeding on your plants.

Harvesting the Fall Garden

If you don’t have a cold frame, you can cover your greens when frost is predicted with a cardboard box or an old blanket. Some gardeners have luck protecting greens in this way, even when evening temperatures dip into the 20’s. Once plants are in full growing mode, you can harvest spinach and lettuce leaves individually by cutting them an inch above the soil. That way, the plant will keep producing delicious greens to enjoy even in the late fall.

To keep your garden producing on a regular basis, you’ll want to rotate through a series of edibles according to the summer heat. Things you can plan to plant now for harvest in later summer include:

Carrots - Get that second row in now for a great harvest. Once you grow your own, supermarket carrots will never be the same! Leave them in longer for full-size carrots, or

Beautiful purple carrot varieties, from Johnny's Seeds in Maine.

harvest early for true baby carrots. Did you know there are many varieties of carrots to choose from? Beyond orange, you can find red, purple, and even yellow carrots. There are also varieties of shapes to plant, from traditional long carrots to even round varieties. Try Johnny’s Seeds for many varieties of carrots to grow now.

Beans - If you don’t want to build trellises, try bush beans. Grown in rows, they produce one or two harvests during the season.

Beets – They’ll do well into the warmer weather. As they’re growing, you may want to try harvesting some of the greens and sauteing them. They are delicious!

Arugula – Typically added to salads, arugula also makes a delicious pesto. It’s a unique, peppery flavor and great on pasta with fresh steamed peas.

Basil - While your first crop may be peaking now, plant some new basil for later harvest. You can make pesto from your harvest, or chop basil and freeze it in cubes for later use when it’s out of season.

Salad greens – You have to be a bit careful in very hot weather with lettuces, as they “bolt” (go to seed and become bitter) in high temperatures. YOu can try planting heat-tolerant varieties, as well as planting your salad greens in an area that gets some shade later in the afternoons. Water well!

Toscano variety of kale from Johnny's

Kale - It’s full of essential vitamins and minerals, and does well even in the hottest of summer heat. You can even plant greens like Kale and Swiss Chard in a container,making both a beautiful and edible addition to your deck or patio. Make sure your soil contains plenty of organic matter, and plant your greens where they will get at least four hours of sun.

Squash - A spot in the sun and a good water supply is all you really need to grow great squash. Two or three plants can actually feed a family of four in full summer season! Yellow squash produces less than zucchini. Either take up a good amount of garden space, but also produce a bounty for the space.

Warmer weather causes quick growth in your garden. That means the microorganisms in the soil are also in higher gear, releasing the food your plants need to fuel their growth spurts. Adding organic compost now will replenish the “natural fertilizers” your perennials need to give you a good showing this season. It will also form a perfect base to support that organic vegetable garden we all want in our yards these days!

What makes compost so good? The better the variety of materials used to make the compost, the more nutrients it provides. To grow well, plants need a combination of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus. They also need some small amounts of minerals you think of for gardening, like copper, iron and zinc for instance. When we make compost at GreenCycle, we mix just the right amounts of brown organic material (like dead leaves and twigs) with green organic material (like lawn clippings) to create a balanced product. Interestingly, people often have a misconception that compost has a low pH value. This is not true with GreenCycle’s organic compost, which usually measures a pH of around 7.

What we feed our veggies, we feed ourselves.

The great thing about using organic compost as “fertilizer” for your garden is that it provides “food on demand” for your plants. If you’re just switching over now to being more “green” and avoiding putting chemicals on your lawn and in your garden, this will be a different way of thinking for you. Think of it more like feeding your soil so your plants get fed from the roots up, rather than fertilizing from above as you’d do by spraying your plants or watering them with commercial fertilizers like MiracleGrow mixed in, for instance. Organic compost binds to other elements of your soil, making the soil more crumbly. That helps the soil hold more moisture, and creates spaces throughout the soil where oxygen can gather – and that makes for better plant roots. Those spaces also give water better channels through the soil, which means better drainage for your garden.

Creating a healthier soil environment for your plants also creates a healthier environment for the many creatures that live in your garden’s soil, like that great gardener’s friend the earthworm. Remember, there’s a whole little ecosystem in your garden to care for – not just the plants! So while you’re clearing out your beds and preparing your soil for the season, make sure to incorporate some rich organic compost.

How much compost does your soil need? Tilling in a good three to four inches to the top six inches of your garden is a good start. And remember, it’s not just your vegetable garden that will benefit. Don’t forget to enrich your flower beds, too, especially any new perennials you may be planting. Even your trees and shrubs could use a fresh dose. If you’re not sure how much compost you need, just give us a call and we’ll help you calculate the right amount. Need bulk delivery of compost? Please call us and remember to give us some advance notice. Our trucks are loading up!

At GreenCycle we often have bulk deliveries of organic compost, topsoil, and mulch to local farms offering Community Supported Agriculture programs, or “CSAs”. We love supporting other local businesses, and seeing our great natural landscaping products put to use to truly feed the communities where we work. So we thought we’d share with you some information about Community Supported Agriculture, as many of our customers would like to participate in the “locavore” movement.

How CSAs work is pretty simple. A family or individual signs up with a participating farm ahead of the growing season and basically “subscribes” to the farm’s produce during the growing season. By prepaying for your share of the CSA for the season, you’re helping farmers obtain more financial security. Some CSAs also welcome their members to come to the farm and participate in workdays, so you can actually see the food you’ll be eating grown and cared for.

CSAs are growing in popularity each year, especially as we hear of more instances of food recalls and many more people seek to eat organic. One CSA we supply is even an “urban” farm, called Urban Oaks. Visit their website at www.urbanoaks.org. Last year we had a blog post on how farmer Mike Kandefer used GreenCycle’s compost as a tool to save his pepper crop!

With Community Supported Agriculture, you are basically signing on for some of the same risks the farmer experiences. For instance, you’ll get a weekly basket of produce, which will be whatever is ripe and ready to be harvested that week. It’s not like visiting the produce aisle of the grocery store, in other words. Some CSAs offer just vegetables, herbs and fruit. Some even offer meats and eggs. When you sign up, you get what the farmer gets that week.

If you live in Connecticut, you can find a CSA near your home by checking out www.farmfresh.org. It has a wealth of great information, including a list of what’s in season in which weeks during the growing season. The website also lists things like farmer’s markets, farm-based family activities (like pick your own and farm stays), and even wine tastings.

Many farms want CSA members to come to the farm to pick up their weekly bounty, some deliver. In CT, we have a startup company called CT Farm Fresh Express that will even deliver your CSA produce to your door. Their website is www.ctffe.com.

If you can’t find a CSA with shares available this year, don’t despair. Get on the list for next year, and remember you can still buy direct from most local farms on their market days, and through farmers markets.

Think of your investment in preparing the right ground for your plantings now, in the early spring, as less time you’ll likely have to spend adding fertilizers over the course of the summer. Whether you prefer to garden in raised beds or directly in-ground, now is the time to give your garden beds a good thorough raking and clean out any weeds that might already be taking root. Then assess the quality of the soil that’s already there and decide whether you need to start with a fresh bulk delivery of topsoil and compost, or whether you can amend the soil that’s there now.

By amending your soil with organic compost you’re giving your plants a base that includes more humus, is easier to work, and is more fertile. Oxygen and water will travel to your plants’ root zones more easily because the compost creates increased  ”pore space” throughout your soil. Adding organic compost also helps soil hold more water, which is helpful for watering less frequently and supporting your plants better during summer dry spells.

Unlike some commercial fertilizers, compost is a natural fertilizer that stores nutrients and releases them when needed. It’s not a “quick hit” for your plants, but a sustained type of fertilizing method that works over time to keep important soil microbes active and healthy. Organic compost even has some abilities to keep disease organisms at bay.

Not sure how much compost or topsoil you’ll need? No worries. Call our experts or stop by in person, and we’ll be happy to help you calculate just the right amount.

For information on pricing in your area for organic compost, topsoil, and also a great selection of beautiful mulch products, choose the GreenCycle location closest to you. Don’t forget, you can either come visit us to pick up your order or have us bring it right to you, depending on the size of your order and your needs.

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You won’t catch landscapers at Michigan State University gathering up leaves and carting them away during the fall. That’s because studies done there show the merits of mulching leaves back into the grass instead of gathering them up with rakes, tarps, and lots of elbow grease. Researchers even found that (pesticide-free) maple and oak leaves mulched into the lawn can be an effective way to prevent dandelions in Kentucky bluegrass. The first year of the study showed an incredible 80% reduction in dandelions on test plots at the university. The next year, there was another 50% reduction in those pesky dandelion weeds.

So if you’re tired of raking this fall (and every other autumn ahead), there’s a greener landscaping practice you can use without having a shred of guilt about laying the rakes down. Just mow over the leaves with your lawn mower, and feel good about it.

Some municipalities used to collect residential leaf piles every autumn. In West Hartford, which is just the next town over from GreenCycle’s Farmington facility, for instance, big leaf vacuum trucks were a regular sight each autumn. Not any more. Budget cuts mean the town now has residents bagging their leaves and bringing them to the curb for collection. The bags are heavy, and disintegrate when wet. A great solution: don’t collect them, mulch them into the lawn. It’s easy, less labor intensive, and can even cut down on dandelions. You even may save a tree by not buying all those landscaping bags. We say it’s a no-brainer for any homeowner.

Yard waste disposal doesn’t get much easier than this, though mowing fallen leaves may feel foreign at first. You might worry that the mown leaves will ruin the rest of your hard work on your grass. It’s important to note that you have to mow often enough to keep the volume of ground up leaves from covering your grass entirely. That would result in a landscaping blunder that will leave you needing to reseed your lawn entirely. But do it right, and you’ll love the results – and you’ll have a healthier lawn, too.

Important Landscaping Tip for Leaf Mulch Success

Make sure your grass leaves are still exposed to the sunlight. This may mean mowing often to stay ahead of the fallen leaves and keeping them from becoming too dense on your grass. You might have to mow every few days during peak leaf season so leaves aren’t lying on your lawn for more than three or four days.

How to Mulch Your Leaves:

• The smaller the leaf particles, the easier it is for them to blend into the lawn
• Only mow leaves when they’re dry
• Use a rotary mower to shred and grind up the leaves
• Make sure your mower blade is sharp, to finely grind the leaves
• Make a few passes over the leaves if needed to grind them up well

A day or two after mowing, you’ll see the leaf particles will have settled into the lawn. A little rain will help the process. To read more about the Michigan State University study just follow this link.

With annuals petering out for the season and perennials past their peaks, it may seem like not much is going on in the garden these days. But until your soil truly freezes, there is plenty going on underground you might not realize. All those new trees and shrubs on sale have probably tempted you into added to your landscaping. They’ll need to establish good root systems to carry them through the winter and set them up well for growth and development next spring.

Evaluate your Past Season

Take a look at your garden and ask yourself what worked and what didn’t this year – colors, textures, etc. It’s a great time to divide perennials, move them around in your garden and even share them with neighbors – who will want to do the same for you, no doubt. If you have tender perennials like cannas, dahlias, and gladiolus, remember to dig them up and store them in a cool, dry place for the winter. Back in the garden, fill in holes, add plants with varying bloom times, add some bulbs maybe.

Add Fall Bloomers for Next Year

Some good plants to consider for fall blooming if you seem some obvious bare spots now include black eyed susan, asters, anemone and sedum. It’s also a good time to plant some hardier hydrangea species for colorful blooms next year. Check with your local garden center for tips.

Feed your Soil

All this moving, planting and re-establishing of your garden plants means it’s the right time to refresh your soil’s nutrients. With root systems establishing and spreading, and the mulch you spread in the spring largely decomposed by now, it’s time to replenish your soil. A good, thick winter layer of mulch will help your plants (established ones and those newly planted or transplanted alike) as it keeps temperatures more even as well as provides essential nutrients for root systems.

It’s recommended to use up to six inches of mulch for winter, and apply it just after the first frost. Visit GreenCycle to see our mulch selections, or call us and let us help you decide what type is best for your purposes.

Neaten Up Landscaping

Meanwhile, with the cooler weather it’s also time to remove dead and blackened leaves and stems of your annuals and vegetables. This not only helps neaten up your yard’s appearance, but also helps banish harmful diseases from appearing next year, and gets rid of those pesky insect eggs that could overwinter in your garden. Don’t forget to tend to the vegetable garden now, too. Tilling in the fall helps reduce workload for spring. But don’t forget to mulch your newly tilled garden to prevent weeds and protect any perennial vegetable plants. Mulching the vegetable garden will also help protect plants from the freezing and thawing cycles of winter, which can result in plants being lifted up from their soil.

bare spots and dead grass are prevalent on lawns this fall

For obvious dead spots, now is the time for repair and reseeding. You want to do any reseeding now, in time to allow roots to grow and spread before facing freezing temperatures. Mid-September is a good target date for having your reseeding and lawn repair projects completed. Where to start? We consulted with one of our local experts, the UCONN Home and Garden Education Center, for some great advice on fall lawn care. Here are some great tips they shared:

1. Choose the Right Seed: Do your yard a favor by investing in quality grass seed that is appropriate for your geographic area and the amount of sun or shade it receives. UCONN recommends also adding some Dutch clover to your planting, to help keep your lawn healthy and well-fed with natural nutrients.
2. Rake and Prep: For best results rake up all dead grass and get rid of the debris. It’s important for any new seed to be able to work its way into the soil, which means a serious overall raking and/or slit seeding your lawn. For your lawn as a whole, it’s a great time to fertilize with organic compost and overseed your lawn to encourage thicker, more robust grass in the spring.
   

   overseeding with organic compost

3. Tackle Bare Spots: Rake them up well – really well. Each bare spot in the lawn should be dug up to a depth of around 4 inches. Of course, removing rocks and weeds is a good idea while you’re at it. Then add ¼ inch of organic compost to each spot, and rake it into the soil to re-innoculate it. The biological activity of the compost will help rebuild your soil, creating a healthier base for your grass seed. This is also a great time to fill in any dips or holes, using a mix of topsoil and compost, to even out your lawn. When your bare spots are nicely prepared, seed them and cover with straw mulch.
4. Fertilize Organically: This is the time to fertilize your entire lawn, and of course at GreenCycle we recommend only organic methods. Organic and slow-release fertilizers release nutrients over a number of weeks, instead of dumping a big load of nutrients on your lawn all at once. It’s better to give grass nutrients over a period of many weeks, because anything that isn’t used right away will simply be washed from the soil. As recommended by UCONN, a thin layer of organic compost applied over the whole lawn is the best natural fertilizer you can use. They recommend 1/8 inch of finely screened compost applied over the whole lawn and raked in before overseeding the lawn. Call your local GreenCycle for help in determining how many yards you’ll need for your specific lawn size.
5. Seed Well: Use a slit seeder if you can. Otherwise, seed by hand broadcasting or with a spreader. Follow broadcasting with a good raking to work the seeds into the existing lawn.
   

   grass seed broadcast over organic compost

6. Water on Schedule: Water your newly seeded lawn faithfully until it germinates. A good thorough watering every morning for the next two to three weeks (taking into account, of course, watering provided by Mother Nature) will be required, so investing in a good cycle sprinkler and even a timer will help you accomplish this.

For more organic lawncare tips, UCONN recommends Paul Tukey’s “The Organic Lawncare Manual, A natural low-maintenance system for a beautiful lawn,” published by Storey Publishing, ISBN #10:1-58017-649-6. (about $20) You can also visit www.ladybug.uconn.edu for great tips and fact sheets on many organic lawncare and gardening topics.

This past week has brought record-breaking temperatures to the Northeast. How do you keep your container gardens from wilting away? Soil in containers dries out faster than in the garden bed. If you plant in clay or unglazed terracotta pots, those retain heat and dry out very fast. Topdressing your pots with a generous 2-inch layer of mulch will help keep the soil cooler as well as keep more moisture in the soil from evaporating. An added benefit is that the mulch will also keep weeds from sprouting amongst your beautiful blooms.

Watering Strategies for Healthier Plants

To prevent pots from drying out, make sure you water thoroughly and get moisture all the way to the plant roots. If you have really large containers that are hard to keep moist, try this tip: put a perforated tube in the middle, all the way down to the pot bottom. Water from the tube will seep through the holes and give your container a great drench. Generally you should water your plants early in the morning. It gives plants a nice reservoir to draw from as the day heats up, and gives leaves the opportunity to dry quickly and avoid fungus problems. This advice also applies to lawns, which should never “go to bed with a wet blanket on” as they would do if watered in the evening. If you can’t water often, do make sure that your occasional waterings are longer and deeper, so they get to those all-important plant roots. This is more beneficial to plants than watering often but lightly, which may not get those roots the hydration they need.

Rescuing Wilted Plants

If you’ve tried everything but still come home from work to be greeted by sad, drooping flowers, take heart. It happens to even the most diligent gardeners, especially when extremely high temperatures persist for days. Act fast by removing any dead or damaged parts of the plant. Soak the container and plant in a bucket or tub of water to rehydrate for an hour or more. Then put the plant in a shaded spot and cross your fingers. If you got to it in time, you will see the plant recovering and its leaves rehydrating.