Fall gardening

By Rennie Phillips

It definitely is fall, isn't it? The temperatures last weekend didn't feel like fall, but all the signs say it is. I noticed the persimmons were falling. I haven't picked up any, but they are all over on the ground. The pecans are falling. Marge spent a few minutes one evening last week and picked up more than a gallon. Our cattle are shedding their summer coats and starting to grow some long, warm hair. I've noticed the cats are doing the same, and so is our dog.

I've also noticed our garden is showing signs of fall. Days right now are about 12 hours long from daylight to sundown. That's plenty of light for some crops, but not others. I have a row of rainbow chard in one tunnel, and it is just growing like gang busters. Big, beautiful leaves and pretty stalks. Some of them are green, while others are red and yellow. It has a different taste. I read it is kind of a mix of spinach and beets. I'm not sure about that, but Swiss chard likes cooler weather. I boil mine until it's tender. I then put a little vinegar and soy sauce on mine.

My okra is about done. I may get a picking or two off it, but that will about do it. Nighttime temperatures are getting down into the lower 50s and upper 40s. Okra doesn't like temperatures that cool. Okra likes the heat of summer and the 14-hour days. For some reason some of my okra is at least 10 feet tall. It is a bear to pick when I have to bend every one over so I can reach it. I normally save okra seed, but may buy it next spring.

I planted beets in both of my tunnels and they are doing super. It is looking like they won't be big enough this fall, but they will really taste good next spring. I picked a couple 5-gallon buckets of beets last spring that I'd planted the fall before. A week ago I went through a row of beets to weed them and pulled enough for a mess of beets. They tasted pretty good with butter and seasoned salt on them.

We also planted six tomatoes plants a couple months ago. They grew and put on tomatoes, but very few are getting ripe. I think the length of the daylight and the temperatures are slowing them down. I have them in one of the tunnels, so they probably won't frost until November. Four of the plants are romas, so they will be good later this fall if they ripen. The days back on March 18 were 12 hours long, then 13 hours in April and 14 hours in May. Tomatoes need those long days of sunlight to do well.

About two months ago we also planted a number of cucumbers in one of the high tunnels. They have been doing really well. Little by little they have been producing more and more cucumbers. I don't believe they are quite as good as summer cucumbers, but they're close enough to be enjoyable. The one thing about my cucumbers is they are a greenhouse variety. They are parthenocarpic, or they don't need a pollinator. This is especially helpful in the spring and the fall when there might not be enough pollinators. I had a couple volunteer plants come up and we are getting a few cucumbers off them. They're not shaped quite right where they are off of hybrid plants. Normally one can't save seed from hybrids.

I always plant my turnips around the middle of August. They are about hen egg size or a little bigger right now. We have been enjoying a couple about every evening. The other evening I cut up a couple turnips, a cucumber and a couple radishes. They tasted pretty good. I tilled under some radishes last week that were just too hot to eat. I know they were radishes, but they were as hot as our jalapeño peppers. They had plenty of water, so getting dry wasn't an issue. I went through Chaffee, Missouri, the other day and bought some small radish seed from Steve. Radishes might have time to make it down here where we live.

When our tomatoes in the tunnels quit, I planted several rows of Jade green beans. Marge and I have been picking beans off them. They're beautiful green beans, if I have to say so -- long and straight and tender when cooked. We have some small inch-long worms that are enjoying them as well. I sprayed the beans and tomatoes and rainbow chard with BT, which is super safe. I need to spray again and water them as well.

Our Chinese cabbage is starting to make some nice heads, so it should make it this fall. I may pick one and enjoy it while it's still on the little side. I like to shave them really thin and then put some coleslaw dressing on it. It's pretty good that way.

We have sure enjoyed our garden this summer and fall. It's not as good as some past gardens, but it's still a joy to watch it grow and to enjoy the goodies from it. Probably the corn did the worst in our garden this summer. It was looking really good when we got some storms that laid it all on the ground. Our early tomatoes were probably the best crop. We started eating them the second of June. One other crop that did really well was our yellow zucchini. Not only are they pretty growing in the garden, but they also taste pretty good when fried. We're still picking a few off our late plants.

Love those veggies.