Well, it’s that time of year again, and it came so quickly this time! Wasn’t it just yesterday when I was digging my year’s garlic harvest out of the ground and hanging it to cure?
Anyhow, for those of you who grow your own garlic, I hope you ordered early in the year as many of the good suppliers are sold out at this point. You will still be able to purchase garlic seed at a local hardware store, but it won’t be the same as buying from Fillaree or Territorial Seed.
The first couple of weekends in October will be the optimal time for planting garlic so get your gardens prepared now so you aren’t scrambling at the last minute. Remember that garlic bulbs need to be fed during their growth periods prior to the winter freezes (if you get those) and also need plenty of water as well. Don’t over water, but definitely do not let the soil dry out either. The better you treat your garlic bulbs early on, the bigger and stronger the bulbs will grow!
Now that winter is underway here in Texas, I thought I would take some time to write about garden bed preparation for the winter sleep and rejuvenation.
If your area is anything like ours, by the time the temperatures started south, you already had an abundance of the perfect material to work into and cover your beds… leaves. In Texas, we have a type of tree called a “live oak,” which is an evergreen and an “ever-shedder.” This tree drops leaves periodically throughout the year. If you are diligent with your leave cleanup, you should be stockpiling leaves for winter prep. Here is a nice write-up on live oaks: Live Oak Trees
I am fortunate enough to have several types of trees on property and mulching leaf blower/vacuum, so I am able to create a good amount of organic material for my garden beds. In addition, I have a good friend with three horses who lets me clean up her stalls and bring ample amounts of manure home. Remember, organic matter is essential for building good soil over time. It replenishes nutrients in the soil, helps with microbial beings, and provides good loose composition, which is essential for plant growth.
It is not recommended that you mix leaves into your soil. Decomposition of leaves uses nitrogen, which is one of the nutrients you are trying to replenish while the soil is sleeping over the winter. I am mixing a small amount of leaves into my soil (because I have a heavy clay base), but I am also added a significant amount of manure and compost as well.
When thinking about building soil, think about what happens in nature. On the forest floor, leaves, branches and other organic items sit on top of the soil. As time passes, the bottom layer decomposes, essentially creating new topsoil material. This is the same method you really want to use in winterizing your soil, except you are going to have to replenish the nutrients much faster, since in the south, there is a much shorter winter season.
Once you’ve mixed in the nutrients into your soil, you’ll want to provide a good cover which will shield good bugs, worms and microbes from the winter cold, while at the same time decompose and provide more organic matter. Leaves are the perfect solution and I recommend an initial layer of four inches of leaves at the onset of cold weather. Wet that layer down significantly and allow it to set and shrink over the next three weeks. Add another layer of leaves and rinse and repeat this process until late February.
By the time planting season starts up in late March (or so), your soil will be in great shape!
If you haven’t done so already, you can plant chive, green onions, onions,leeks, and shallots for the next week or so. Sow seeds indoors or under cover outdoors for chives, leeks and green onions. Sink bulbs outdoors for shallots and bulb onion.
This is for southern gardens only with a frost line around zone 8 or 9.
Even in the south, my good friend Fall visits and gives me those wonderful cool mornings I can enjoy on the patio, sipping a cup of hot coffee, while watching the sun rise. Today was just one of those mornings, although I was running late for work, so I didn’t get to go outside. There is always tomorrow!
Anyhow, it was a brisk 61 degrees here in Round Rock, with the slightest of fog, so what a nice morning! I will live vicariously through my wife on this one, since I know she’s going to sit outside with her cup.
Also, this is the perfect time of year for fall crops down here. My kale, chards, lettuce, cabbage, and mache are well underway, giving me hope for a decent batch of salad greens before next year. Also, if you haven’t done so, this is just about the last week for planting garlic family plants for a spring harvest. Get those bulbs in the ground now! I have three stages of garlic already growing so I can spread out my needs throughout next spring.
For those of you who forego the fall crop route, now is the time to get your fresh manure worked into your beds so it will compost over the winter and be ready to provide your spring garden with plenty of nutrients. Here is a nice table of nutrients across various manures:
Nitrogen
Phosphorus
Potassium
Calcium
Magnesium
Organic
matter
Moisture
content
(N)
(P2O5)
(K2O)
(Ca)
(Mg)
FRESH
MANURE
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
Cattle
0.5
0.3
0.5
0.3
0.1
16.7
81.3
Sheep
0.9
0.5
0.8
0.2
0.3
30.7
64.8
Poultry
0.9
0.5
0.8
0.4
02
30.7
64.8
Horse
0.5
0.3
0.6
0.3
0.12
7.0
68.8
Swine
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.2
0.03
15.5
77.6
TREATED
DRIED MANURE
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
Cattle
2.0
1.5
2.2
2.9
0.7
69.9
7.9
Sheep
1.9
1.4
2.9
3.3
0.8
53.9
11.4
Poultry
4.5
2.7
1.4
2.9
0.6
58.6
9.2
Personally, I use horse manure for my fall fertilizing and then throw in a cover crop of rye grass to hold in the nutrients. I have a good friend who has horses and doesn’t mind me coming out to clean up stalls every so often. Regardless of what manure you use, I would highly suggest using a cover crop over the winter and turning it in when it flowers, before it goes to seed.
Well, it’s that time of year for us southern gardeners to plant our fall crops. Because of the extended warmth here, you can almost duplicate your spring plantings for this season.
If you started tomato plants last month, now is the time to transplant them. Although some people will claim that you can prune back your tomato plants from spring and get a second harvest, I’ve tried this here, and they grow quite nicely, but never set. So, my advice is to just start anew. I’m not planning on planting any fall tomatoes, as I want to get a good load of horse poo in those beds for spring.
Nom Nom Lettuce
My concentration this fall will be beans, greens, winter squash and members of the onion family, primarily bunching onions.
For beans, I will be planting bush beans in three separate beds, separating them by two weeks in between plantings. Rows will be 6″ apart with plants being 4″ apart in the rows. I have the first bed planted and managed about four rows in my four-foot-square beds. With each bed, I’ll water it in the morning, around noon and in the evening, just before dusk until the first sprouts emerge, then I’ll cut the watering down to morning and mid-day until they are well-established.
For greens, I’ve planted Swiss chard, collards, and multiple types of leaf lettuce, in addition to starting head lettuce and cabbage in my growing bins in the garage. I’ll transplant the head plants after they establish themselves. Down here, greens are somewhat sensitive to the heat, so I’m keeping the beds moist, but not saturated, until the cooler weather sets in. I’m not to worried about critters getting in my beds as I have two heavy-producing pecan trees which are keeping them busy. PLUS, I heard an owl in the front yard yesterday morning, so I might be putting up an owl house to see if I can keep them around.
For onions, I’ve already planted bunching green onions and I just received my box of seed garlic, which will supplement the box of elephant garlic my mom sent me last month. I’m planting garlic heavy this year and will leave some of the beds alone once the tops die off, letting those get established. I may leave them all alone for a year, but we’ll see. I’m also going to try and plant some sweet onions for the fall and see what happens.
The squash I’ve started in the growing bins and will transplant after I’ve hardened them off. Hopefully the vine borers will not be trashing my plants this go round. I’m talking to the local organic garden center and hoping their advice will pay out.
