Time to Plant Your Fall Garden

With all of the rain that we have received over the past couple of months, many people did not have much of a summer garden.  If you fall into that category with me, then you are hoping for much better luck with your fall garden.  And if you have not done so already, you need to be finishing up planting your fall garden by the end of this month.

Early August would be the time to make a last planting of bush beans, carrots, kale, collards, bibb lettuce, turnips and cole crops such as kohlrabi, Chinese cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli.  Late August plantings can include mustard greens, spinach greens, radishes, turnip greens and leaf lettuce.

Before planting, remove any existing debris including crops and weeds to the compost bin and cultivate the soil.

If the previous crop was well fertilized and grew vigorously you may need to add little if any additional fertilizer, otherwise apply about 2 to 3 pounds of a complete fertilizer such as 5-10-10 or 10-10-10 per 100 square feet of planting area.

Remember to keep fall gardens well watered as this tends to be a fairly dry time in Kentucky during an “average” year.  A weekly irrigation sufficient to wet the soil to 6 or 8 inches should be adequate. This is more or less equivalent to a weekly one-inch rain.

To learn more about fall gardening options, contact the McLean County Cooperative Extension Service at (270)273-3690.  Educational programs of Kentucky Cooperative Extension serve all people regardless of economic or social status and will not discriminate on the basis of race, color, ethnic origin, national origin, creed, religion, political belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, marital status, genetic information, age, veteran status, or physical or mental disability.