Here comes winter
Toward the end of our very hot week, I noticed all the shade in my front yard was gathering beneath the shadiest tree – shade stacked on top of itself to avoid the heat. I also went over there to say hi, and the shade and I chatted about the Olympics. The sassafras shade suggested there should be a team jump rope competition and we bandied about which country would win.
And it is on days this hot at the end of July that gardeners think of winter.
It doesn’t take much room to grow a few winter vegetables. Most of this discussion will focus on gardening in the ground, not in pots on a patio, though I have grown prodigious lettuce plants in a big pot by a window. Also, I know someone who gardens in probably 30 pots and tubs year-round, so a covered deck area with a few pots could keep a mindful gardener busy all winter.
But before that, there is still time to sneak in summer radishes or a second cucumber or bush bean crop. These will be gone by winter, but plenty other things will survive and entertain you through the cold season.
Garlic planted next month will develop strong leaves which will fade when the weather gets consistently cold. Leaves sprout again when weather allows in spring, and by early summer the bulbs will be mature. Save some to plant again for the next year.
Garlic might be in that spot for nine months, so prepare the soil well and add gobs of mulch.
Onion sets grow like garlic except young onions can be harvested along the way. Last winter, all the strong, spherical-but-flattened onion leaves in my garden played dead during the hard freezes, but new leaves sprouted in the spring. The resulting bulbs were not as robust as the ones planted last spring but still were crisp and onion-rific.
Winter radishes should be planted soon so they can establish before frosts arrive. They are usually larger but less spicy than summer radishes. Winter radishes are a nutritious package in a variety of colors and sizes. Even if you overplant (like someone did in my garden last year), the extras store well in a refrigerator or a root cellar for maybe three months. If you pickle them, they smell like kim chi.
Daikon radishes are typically the only Asian radish I see in grocery stores. They are large white carrot-shaped roots. China Rose is another long variety. A Black Spanish radish can be as big as a baseball. Slightly smaller is a Watermelon radish which is – you guessed it – red inside. Mildest tasting in my experience is the cylindrical green Shawo radish.
Carrots are just as colorful as radishes, also nutritious, and they would like you to plant them right now. They need deeply cultivated soil which, around here, means get the rocks out. Carrots take maybe three weeks to sprout, so keep the soil damp enough in the meantime.
Beets, like carrots and radishes, will keep well in a refrigerator for a while. Plant a few extra to make pickled beets. I recommend pint jars because it takes a lot of water to sterilize quart jars.
Not everybody likes kale and not everybody likes opera, but we can still get along. Kale, mustards and Asian greens such as bok choi, tatsoi and many more grow well here, especially during colder weather. We need our greens, and a family might need only a small patch.
Lettuce also grows well until the weather gets too cold.
Snow peas and sugar snaps can handle cool weather. I intend to grow green, yellow, and purple snow peas. I’m fearless that way. English peas, in which you separate the tasty peas from the shell, also grow well here. Get things started soon because winter is just around bend.