It’s autumn at last. About this time I am happy to put the garden to bed. Happy to cease weeding and happy to turn off the soaker hoses. I hear tell that many a farmer is happy to have his rigorous work come to a close as well. But wait. What’s that I hear in the distance? Overwinter? Season extension?

Don’t stow that fork and shovel just yet. Some spring planting can be started now; some fall crops can be persuaded into producing on into winter. Don’t ask me why, but some folks choose to apply a little season extension to their cold weather crops to see how long they can coax that spinach to leaf and that broccoli to floret. Basically, it’s a matter of creating the right micro-climate which allows the plant to continue to grow.

The ideal season extender would be a greenhouse in which plants such as lettuces, brasiccas and spinach are grown directly in the soil. Barring that option, you can make a small greenhouse called a cloche to place directly over your bed or row. I grow in 4-foot by 10-foot wood-framed raised beds and have attached strapping to the side at each end and middle where I then insert 8-foot 1-inch pvc pipe which bends to make a hoop. Over these three hoops I place 6 mil clear plastic which I attach to the pvc pipe with clips made especially for this purpose. If you do not have wood boxes to attach the pipe to you can use rebar. Hammer a 4-foot length into the ground around the beds leaving about 2 feet above ground. Place the pvc pipe over the top of the rebar to make your hoop.

When temperatures drop below 20 degrees, I place floating row covers over the top of plants to give them extra insulation. If the cold spell persists you may lose your crop. Often times it will warm up again and the plants will remain in a state of stasis until they can regain their composure and resume growing.

One crop that is simple to overwinter is garlic. There are two types of garlic, one commonly called soft-neck (Allium sativum) and the other hard-neck (A. ophioscorodon). Hard-neck garlic yields larger cloves and usually tastes better but is harder to prevent from sprouting in long-term storage. Soft-neck garlic has a longer shelf life, is a little easier to grow in warmer regions, and may have slightly higher yields than hard-neck garlic. Most garlic sold in supermarkets is soft-neck. The garlic I prefer is hard-neck because the skin is a bit tough and easily peels off the clove.

Garlic grows best in deep, rich soil and full sun. The best time to plant is in the fall, around the middle of October. The bulbs should have a little root growth before winter so they won’t be heaved out of the ground by frost. Spring-planted garlic rarely provides satisfactory yields. To protect the overwintering plants, mulch around the base with the leaves you raked up from the yard and saved for mulching and composting.

Here’s a tip for you late planters: don’t plant cloves from supermarket garlic — they may have been treated with an antisprouting chemical. You may, however, be able to buy some from Earth Fare or French Broad Food Co-op that have not been sprayed.

You may choose not to overwinter or season extend and put the whole lot to bed. In this case, cover crops provide a good blanket for your garden during cold and freezing weather. Cover crops are plantings of grasses or legumes that cover the soil surface and help prevent soil erosion and weeds from taking over unplanted garden beds, improve the soil structure, and provide habitat for micro-organisms, earthworms and beneficials. Cover cropping requires a small investment in time and money while furnishing amazing improvements in soil quality.

After your final harvest, till up the bed a bit and leave bare for a week or so to let the birds eat the grubs and bugs that remain behind. Next, plant a cover crop of winter rye or red crimson clover or Austrian peas. In the spring the cover will bounce back and grow a bit more. When ready to plant, simply turn under the cover crop, which is also called green manure, and you will have added a sizable amount of nitrogen to your soil in preparation for spring planting. To get maximum benefit from green manures, turn them under before they go to seed, and plant a crop soon after turning green manures to avoid nutrient loss.

The last thing to do before stowing your garden tools is to get your soil tests complete. Stop by the extension office to get the boxes and forms this week. Fall is the best time to get this job done and the results back in time to implement your soil amendments in the early spring.

Even though it’s the end of the growing season, there’s a never-ending selection of gardening workshops and classes to attend while you’re waiting for spring to arrive. Coming up in November is the Carolina Farm Stewardship Sustainable Agriculture Conference in Rock Hill, S.C., and on March 16 plan to attend the Organic Growers School at Blue Ridge Community College. Visit the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association website for more details closer to those dates: www.main.nc.us/cfsa mountains.

See you in the garden!

(Kathleen Lamont is a Haywood County Master Gardener as well as a seasoned speaker on organic gardening practices. She can be reached at garden_girrl@yahoo.com)

 

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The Smoky Mountain News