Keep it Green, by Michael Womack
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Saturday, July 7, 2001

Plan your fall garden now

Although the summer heat has taken its toll on the spring garden, it's not too early to begin planning for your fall vegetable patch. Remember, a garden is only as successful as the plans laid out by the gardener. Now is the perfect time to clean out old garden beds, sterilize the soil and determine what you want to plant in your fall garden.
   Prep your plot
   Garden plots should remain weeded during the off-season to reduce future generations of weeds. Solarization is one way you can use the summer heat to your advantage by sterilizing your soil. Simply turn the soil in your garden with a turning fork or cultivator, moisten the soil and cover the bed with clear plastic for six to eight weeks. The soil temperatures will rise above 160 degrees, killing weed seeds, fungi and insects in the soil.
   Keeping the plastic in place may be a challenge due to our high winds. If your garden is surrounded by landscaping timbers or railroad ties, staple the edges of the plastic directly to the boards. Stapling through a thin strip of cardboard, or nailing through thin wood strips may help prevent the wind from getting under the plastic and tearing the plastic from around the staples. If your garden has no border, lay the plastic and use bricks or timbers around the outside edge.
   It is important to carefully plan your garden. Consider which crops can be grown during the upcoming season, the crops that your family enjoys eating, how many you will feed and the space available.

Veggie family tree

Family			Vegetable Crops
Composite			chicory, endive, salsify, lettuces, artichokes
Goose Foot			beets, chard, spinach
Gourd			summer & winter squash, cucumbers, melons
Lily			onions, garlic, leeks, chives
Mustard			cabbage, collards, brussel sprouts, kale, cauliflower, broccoli, kohlrabi, rutabaga, turnips, horseradish and radishes
Nightshade			tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplants
Parsley			carrots, parsley, celery, parsnips

   The Vegetable Planting Guide for Nueces County available from the Nueces County Extension Service can help you make these decisions.
   The most common mistake in gardening is overcrowding. Plants need a certain amount of space for proper growth. Plants that are overcrowded have weak, spindly growth. There is also a reduced air circulation factor that increases the chance of insect and disease damage, especially in the cool, wet autumn months. Another problem associated with overcrowding is difficulty in harvesting.
   It is also important to try to rotate crops
   whenever possible. This practice may be difficult in small gardens. Planting crops that are in the same family (for instance, potatoes, tomatoes and peppers) in the same space season after season will cause pathogens (disease-producing organisms) to build up in the soil. Try planting greens, broccoli or root crops where tomatoes, peppers or potatoes were planted last year.
   Fall gardens are traditionally planted near the beginning of September to get warm-season crops like beans, peppers, squash and tomatoes harvested before the average first freeze date of December 15 in Nueces County. Many cool season crops like cabbage, broccoli, root crops and greens can survive our mild bouts of freezing temperatures, allowing vegetables to be grown throughout most of the winter. Cool season crops include beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, collards, greens, lettuce, onions, radishes and turnips. You might also keep in mind that some cool season crops may have to be planted later in the season, not in late August or early September like tomatoes and beans. Lettuce, for example, will not germinate if temperatures are too high.
   You might consider planning for multiple crops of quick-producing vegetables like radishes, turnips and beets. Planting smaller amounts at two-to four-week intervals will allow you to enjoy these vegetables over a longer period.
   If your space is limited, you might consider some of the following crops: bush beans, tomatoes, eggplant, Swiss chard, turnips, beets, radishes, onions, lettuce, broccoli, bush squash and carrots.
   Growing your fall garden can be fun and productive if you start planning now. Use the summer heat to your advantage to solarize your beds, and in the meantime, plan your garden layout in the comfort of air conditioning to get ready to harvest a bumper crop this fall.
  
  

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Michael Womack is a horticulturist with the Texas Agricultural Extension Service. Got a question? Michael Womack will answer landscape and gardening questions. Call 886-4648, category 3025 to record your question. Write Keep It Green, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, P.O. Box 9136, Corpus Christi, TX 78469 or email wm-womack@tamu.edu

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