1. Fall is the time to plant brassicas, also known as cole crops or crucifers, in the vegetable garden. Cole means cabbage in German and crucifer refers to the fact that all brassicas (and all members of the mustard family to which they belong) have four flower petals arranged in the symmetry of a simple cross. Brassicas include cabbage, kale, collards, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, kohlrabi, bok choy, mustard greens, and watercress. Whichever ones you plant, it is highly advisable to stretch floating row cover over your seedlings. Otherwise, they will be visited by white cabbage butterflies that lay their tiny yellow eggs on foliage undersides. These eggs hatch out into larvae (caterpillars) that munch the leaves. Floating row cover is so-named because it consists of spun polyester, sufficiently lightweight that it can be laid or “floated” on top of your plants, allowing in light and water, even while excluding insect pests.
Floating row cover also protects from frost so you can drape it over cold sensitive ornamental plants when frost (temperatures of 32 degrees or lower) is predicted; just make sure, in the case of ornamentals, to remove the row cover in the morning. By the way, if you are debating whether to plant red or green cabbage, keep in mind that red cabbage contains ten times more vitamin A than green cabbage, as well as more vitamin C, potassium, iron, and antioxidants. However, green cabbage contains more vitamin K and folic acid. When cooked, green cabbage is also sweeter than red cabbage and makes a tastier sauerkraut. Sauerkraut has its own health benefits, especially in easing digestion due to the probiotic bacteria it contains. We generally think of brassicas as annuals but there are tree kale and tree collard varieties, harvested throughout the year, that can live for two decades and reach 20 feet in height. They can be propagated both from seed and stem cuttings. To learn everything there is to know about tree collards, go to projecttreecollard.org. You can order seeds, cuttings, and rooted plants from the site.
2. Three notable bedding plants in the mustard family, all of which may be grown in full to partial sun, are often part of the fall planting experience. The first is sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima), available at the nursery in plastic cells but also easily raised from seeds. Sweet alyssum is found in white, rose, and purple varieties. A large planting of billowy alyssum is a soothing sight either by itself, planted amidst annuals, as edging to a flower bed, or over recently planted bulbs that will poke their foliage and flowers through in due time. Since its roots barely penetrate the soil surface, sweet alyssum serves as a suitable ground cover under roses and other woody plants. Stock (Matthiola incana) is an annual whose heavily laden flower stems may be cut for vase arrangements. Its spicily fragrant, double flowers are found in white as well every shade of pink and purple. Failure with stock is due to inadequate soil preparation so enrich the soil with plenty of compost prior to planting. Stock got its name from the way its flowers are wrapped stiffly around the stem, roughly resembling a clergyman’s collar known as a stock. The flowers of both sweet alyssum and stock are edible and are often used as garnishes. Wallflowers (Erysimum spp.) are grown as annuals, biennials and perennials, with flowers in yellow, orange, red, mauve or brown. The most notable wallflower variety is Bowles Mauve, a plant that flowers heavily for months on end. Wallflowers get their name from an imprisoned 14th century maiden who fell to her death while trying to escape over a wall to meet her lover.
3. Succession planting is a strategy that allows you to extend harvest of your favorite vegetables. With succession planting, you simply plant seeds or seedlings on a weekly basis over a period of a month or longer. For example, if you eat 12 radishes per week, plant fifteen radish seeds one week, fifteen the next, and so on for as many weeks as you wish since you can grow radishes throughout the year. The same is true of lettuce, another year around crop in Southern California, although you will want to give lettuce a sunnier exposure in winter than in summer. If you have a limited growing space, which would include a patio or balcony where vegetables can be grown in containers, in addition to radishes and lettuce, you can plant peas this time of year, again in succession, as long you have trellises in place to encourage vertical growth. Other crops that lend themselves to succession planting include arugula, carrots, green onions, kale, kohlrabi, mustard, Swiss chard, cilantro, dill, spinach, and turnips. Succession planting is meant for determinate crops, those whose edible portions are produced all at once. This strategy would not apply to indeterminate tomatoes, as well as to peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, melons, and squash.
4. There is much talk about the immunization of people but there is also immunization of plants which, in the experience of some, can be achieved by continuous breakdown of organic material, known as mulch, layered on the soil surface. This is a great time to utilize the year’s final yard and garden trimmings for this purpose. Ruth Stout, a famous New England gardener and author, mulched primarily with hay, which is animal feed consisting of grasses such as orchard grass or legumes such as alfalfa, and her plants were virtually pest free. Should you choose to go this route, you can find hay bales where livestock feed is sold, such as at the Red Barn in Tarzana. Stout was also an advocate of sheet mulching, otherwise known as “lasagna composting,” by which you simply layer different organic materials on top of each other, utilizing fallen leaves, tree and shrub prunings, kitchen fruit peels and vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, and shredded paper or newsprint in the process. You can do sheet composting around trees and shrubs or choose a spot in your yard to build a layered pile, perhaps in an area you wish to convert into a vegetable plot. A traditional compost pile consists of mixing together equal amounts of green or fresh organic material (grass, hedge prunings, vegetable scraps, manure) with brown, fibrous, or aged organic material (fallen leaves, bark, wood chips, sawdust, shredded paper). If the pile is primarily brown it will take longer to break down but the decomposition of any organic material always results in the same end product: compost – a moist, brown to black, sweet-smelling, crumbly, soil-like material. As compost ages in the soil, it finally transforms into humus. Humus consists of the skeletons of decomposing bacteria and is the marvelous substance that, more than any other, is responsible for the health of garden plants, imparting resistance to diseases and insect pests. Under powerful magnification, the intricate design of humus particles has been revealed. The structure of each particle is unique, having been compared to a cross between a snowflake and a nerve cell.
5. Utilize uncarved pumpkins as temporary planters. Cut the tops off and remove the seeds. Drill holes in the bottoms for drainage. Fill with potting soil and plant seasonal flowers or vegetables. You can actually do the same thing with a carved pumpkin as long as you line it with a plastic bag after making a hole in the bottom of the bag. Although pumpkin planters may last only a month or so before they begin to rot, by that time the plants growing in them should have developed robust root systems that will ease transplanting to larger containers or into the garden. Meanwhile, you will have benefitted from a decorative touch of orange topped by foliage or flowers for your entryway, patio, or balcony. After removal of your plants, cut the pumpkin up into little pieces and toss them onto your compost pile; small pieces of any compostable material break down more quickly than large ones. Or you can just bury your pumpkin remains in your garden where they will decompose soon enough and enrich the earth for future planting.
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