Gardening In LA
  • Home
  • About
  • Services
    • Garden Coaching
    • Speaking
    • Photography
    • Writing >
      • List of Articles
  • Blog
  • News
  • Monthly Tips
    • January
    • February
    • March
    • April
    • May
    • June
    • July
    • August
    • September
    • October
    • November
    • December
  • Events
    • Submit Your Garden Events
    • Botanical Gardens' and Other Organizations' Garden Events
  • Jobs
  • Web Links
  • Newsletter

More Perfect Sowing and Transplanting Weather for Halloween

10/30/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Antirrhinum seed pods
Picture
Aristolochia salvadorensis
Picture
Hydnellum peckii
Picture
Veggie Man
Picture
Picture
Historical sign at the Shelburne Museum of art, design, and Americana in Shelburne, Vermont
    Here we are, at our first major Fall holiday, Halloween, and the weather continues to be perfect for sowing and transplanting.  With mid-80s during the day and mid-to-high-50s at night, seeds will germinate well and baby plants will establish healthy root systems as long as we keep the soil moist.  Another benefit of climate change, I guess, having this great weather this late in the calendar year.
 
Remove Struggling Summer Plants
        However, trying to keep summer-bearing plants carrying on is another matter entirely.  It’s not so much the warm days that keep the plants green, but rather the cooler evenings that determine that the plants start shutting down for the cooler weather. 
     Consequently, I give up on the tomatoes and squash and cucumbers that still have clumps of green foliage and even a fruit or two.  Instead of attempting to keep them alive in the hopes that the fruits will ripen up, I pull them and prepare the soil for its next crop. 
       When I first started gardening, I was intrigued with the idea that I could trim back the dead foliage, feed and water the plants, and get them to continue fruiting.  But then, after all this additional effort and nurturing, with a couple of months’ passage of time, the resulting fruit were at best blandly flavored, certainly no better than what I could purchase at the grocery store (and they weren’t available at farmers’ markets since they were off-season).  I determined that I would no longer “waste” my garden space trying to hang on to old plants that were beyond their season, to say nothing of beyond their peak.  Instead, I would revitalize the soil and sow or plant veggies that thrived in chilly weather and bore fully-flavored fruits.  In other words, grow what grows best when it grows best.
 
Still Harvesting
       Chard and Lacinato kale, both of which made it through the summer heat, again put out tender leaves, although they’re growing more slowly.
 
Seeds to Sow and Seedlings to Plant Now
     Sow or transplant fava beans, beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, chard, coriander (cilantro), garlic, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce (especially romaine types and small-heading Bibb and buttercrunch types, which thrive with only minimal damage from light frosts), mustards, green and bulb onions, parsley (the flat-leaf type is hardier than the curly one), peas, radishes, shallots and spinaches, especially the curly-leafed savoy types. While these plants won't grow much till early spring, they'll have well established root systems ready for the great growth spurt with the first warmth.
 
Planting Garlic, Shallots, and Bulb Onions
         Garlic and shallots and bulb onions planted now will develop a strong root system over the winter, and leaf production can begin early in the spring, resulting in a large head next summer. The sooner you plant them now in rich, well-drained soil, the larger they'll be at harvest.
        Planting in the spring, even with rich soil, they will develop only into medium or small sizes; garlic may not separate into individual cloves.
      For the largest resulting sizes, plant individual cloves or bulbs four to six inches apart in a raised planting bed that is well-drained and compost-enriched, and keep the soil moist through next June.
 
Transplanting Strawberries
     Renovate strawberry beds away from where solanum-family plants -- potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers -- have grown within the last three years. Incorporate rock fertilizers, compost, and cottonseed meal. Water well. Let all these amendments mature for two to four weeks.  Then, transplant strawberries one foot apart so the crown is just above the soil level. Strong roots will develop over the winter, and spring warmth will encourage fast growth and large berries.
 

0 Comments

    Archives

    April 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

© 2015 Yvonne Savio. All Rights Reserved.                                                                                                                                                         Web Design by StudioMAH.