What some folks do
Hot outside again. The box fan in the bedroom never stops. Grass is crunchy, birds are thirsty, and this haiku sums up my garden experience: Stand straight with purpose/pull up dry cucumber vines/five varieties.
What some gardeners do after a month of heat beats down their best intentions is clear out the casualties and move on. Autumn allows gardening. Autumn might even rain on us. Gardening can be endless if you let it. Wendell Berry wrote, “A garden gives the body the dignity of working in its own support.” His writing is so truthful it can make you cry. He also noted growing vegetables makes the gardener “somewhat independent of the grocery business.”
So, the season is over for some vegetables which means it is time to reclaim and refurbish the soil they grew in. What some folks do is let their garden rest unattended till spring. Other folks clear out the used-up plants, add compost and soil amendments while listening to cardinals and doves, and plant lettuce, winter radishes, brassicas and snow peas because it is best not to go too long without soil under your fingernails.
Some folks plant green manure crops during the off-season. They sow crimson clover, hairy vetch, mustard, or winter rye and then commit the plants to the soil in spring. Adds not only biomass but nutrients, and the biomass contributes to friability. I knew a gardener who, like clockwork, planted fava beans as a cover crop every autumn. For him, it would have been irreligious not to. I intend to try buckwheat in certain beds, but vegetables in others.
Beets like autumn weather. Some folks plant beet seeds close together, and that’s okay. Thin out a few at a time and use the leaves in salads. Beet roots are famous for vitamins and minerals. The antioxidant effect helps keep our hearts healthy and blood running on time which keeps brains of beet eaters bouncy and alert. Also, besides reddish-purple, there are white and golden beets, and some are long like carrots… which also like autumn weather. Really. Get them planted soon. They take a while to sprout, so sprinkle in radish seeds to mark the space, and keep the soil delicately moist.
Carrots assist with your dental hygiene. Crunching on carrots dislodges the bits still stuck in there, plus compounds in carrots help build tooth enamel. Really. There is a European variety with dark purple skin but is orange inside and an Indian variety dark purple through and through. One French variety is an orange ball just over an inch wide. Carrots are versatile.
Carrots abide cold weather up to a point. What some folks do when that point is threatened is lay on mulch to protect the soil. If carrots freeze, they turn mushy and that’s not good, so harvest them first. Roots with leaves still attached don’t last as long in the refrigerator, so find something useful to do with the leaves. They’re edible, so try them in your homemade recipes to see if you like them, or put them in the compost. Be useful.
Autumn welcomes leafy brassicas of all colors and nationalities. An avid gardener from Vietnam gave me seeds of three leafy brassicas, and I don’t know their real names. Doesn’t matter. To me, they are Alameda 1, 2 and 3. Because leafy brassicas are easy to grow and come in such cool shapes and colors, it is easy to plant more than you need. I tend to overplant, and it’s time to do it again. I’ve never tried to overwinter cabbages, but it’s what some folks do.
Snow peas and snap peas are cool weather plants that rank high in fiber which cleans out the plumbing. Also, kids like them, but not because of clean plumbing but because of the pantothenic acid and riboflavin. Plus, they’re crunchy. Really. If you plant more than you need, freeze the excess for later. That’s what some folks do. Really.