Planning for fall

vegetables in the garden

Source: Rick Durham

It’s time to start planning how you can continue to enjoy your garden and even add new plantings. You can plant a variety of produce in Kentucky gardens in the coming weeks allowing fresh items to be available well into the fall.

The cooler nights experienced later in the year as these vegetables mature may increase the sugar content of many crops and thus increase their quality. Cooler nights also slow growth, so crops can take longer to mature than in the summer. Keep this slower pace in mind when you check seeds for days to maturity.

Late July or early August would be the time to make a last planting of bush beans, carrots, sweet corn, kale, collards, Bibb lettuce, turnips and cole crops such as kohlrabi, Chinese cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli. For late August and into September try planting mustard greens, spinach greens, radishes, turnip greens and leaf lettuce.

Before planting, remove any existing debris including crops and weeds to the compost bin and cultivate the soil.

If the previous crop was well fertilized and grew vigorously you may need to add little if any additional fertilizer, otherwise apply about two to three pounds of a complete fertilizer such as 5-10-10 or 10-10-10 per 100 square feet of planting area.

Remember to keep fall gardens well watered as this tends to be a fairly dry time in Kentucky. A weekly irrigation sufficient to wet the soil to 6\six or eight inches should be adequate. This is more or less equivalent to a weekly one-inch rain.

To learn more about fall gardening options, contact the Clinton County Cooperative Extension Service at 606-387-5404 or email colby.guffey@uky.edu.

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