Gardening

Cool weather signals start of fall gardening

By Dr. William M. Johnson
Galveston County Extension Agent - Horticulture

September 28, 2006

Fall is the ideal time to plant onions and garlic in the Upper Gulf Coast area. Sam Scarcella of La Marque will conduct a workshop entitled "Grow Your Own Onions & Garlic" on Saturday, September 30, from 9:00 - 11:00 a.m., at the Galveston County Extension Office.
Photo by William M. Johnson.

A glorious thing takes when summer heat gives way to the cooler temperatures of early fall. We get another opportunity to reestablish the vegetable garden with hopes of a grand harvest in the cool, fall climate.

Fall vegetable gardening is in many ways better than its spring counterpart. Many vegetables seem to do best in the fall. Almost anything grown in spring will do well in the fall, with the possible exception of sweet corn and, according to some gardeners, tomatoes.

ONIONS & GARLIC SEMINAR ON SEPTEMBER 30: Two of my favorite veggies to grow in the fall garden are onions and garlic. Onions and garlic grow very well in our Upper Gulf Coast growing environment. Best production is obtained when cool temperatures prevail over an extended period of time, permitting considerable foliage and root development before bulbing starts.

Fall is the ideal time to plant onions and garlic and the Master Gardeners will be conducting a seminar on "Grow Your Own Onions & Garlic." The seminar will be conducted on Saturday, September 30, from 9:00 - 11:00 a.m., at the Galveston County Extension Office located at 5115 Highway 3 in Dickinson.

Sam Scarcella will provide the seminar. He is an expert onion and garlic grower and a Certified Texas Master Gardener with the Galveston County Extension Office.

Pre-registration is required due to limited seating and reservations are made on a first-come, first serve basis. Visit or contact the County Extension Office (phone 281-534-3413, ext. 6 or e-mail GALV3@wt.net) to make your reservation. Pre-registrations can also be made online through my website provided at the end of this column.

RADISHES: Does any plant you touch seem to wither and die? Get your gardening confidence back by growing radishes this fall. This is one vegetable that provides almost instant gratification. About the only way you can fail with fall radishes is letting them grow too close together.

Radishes can be planted from mid-October through November. Plant the seeds 1 inch apart and 1/2 inch deep in small blocks rather than single rows. For most varieties, thin the seedlings to stand about 2-3 inches apart in each direction within a few days of emergence. Be aware that if plants are not thinned adequately, you get mostly tops with puny bottoms.

There are numerous varieties available including Cherry Belle (22 days, round, red), Snow Belle (30 days, attractive, round, white, smooth), Champion (28 days, large, round, red), Cherry Queen Hybrid (24 days, deep red, round, slow to become pithy) and Early Scarlet Globe (23 days; globe-shaped, small taproot, bright red).

KALE: More gardeners are familiar with flowering kale than with the more edible varieties intended for the garden. That's too bad, because kale tastes better than turnip greens, has more Vitamin A than mustard greens, more Vitamin C than spinach and withstands cold weather better than other greens.

Plant seeds 1/2 inch deep and 1 inch apart in rows and then thin the seedlings to 2 inches apart. When their leaves begin to touch, snip off every other plant. When the leaves of the remaining plants touch each other, again thin them to every other plant and enjoy the thinnings as sweet, tender greens. I call this the "thin and eat" approach. The final spacing between plants should be 8-to-12 inches.

Harvest by removing the outer leaves, allowing the bud and center rosette of leaves to continue growing for later harvests. Dwarf Blue Curled, Dwarf Siberian and Vates are excellent varieties. Kale can be planted now to mid-October.

SPINACH: Spinach will keep growing throughout all but the coldest Texas winters. Spinach can be planted now through November. Seeds can be planted 1/2 inch deep and 1 inch apart in rows.

Because spinach plants are smaller than other types of greens, they can simply be broadcast over the seedbed and covered 1/2 inch deep by raking up soil from the edge of a bed. Thin the seedlings to stand 6 inches apart. There are several excellent varieties available including Early Hybrid 7 and Dixie Savoy.

MASTER GARDENER PLANT SALE ON OCTOBER 21: The Ornamental & Perennial Seminar & Sale, sponsored by the Galveston County Master Gardeners on October 21 is an "absolute must" for all area gardeners. This is an early notification so area gardeners can pencil in this popular event on their gardening calendar.

This year's offering will feature plants for creating a butterfly garden, as well as a wide selection of foundation plants for the home landscape. More than 200 types of perennials, vines, ornamental grasses and flowering shrubs will be available including many hard-to-find varieties.

The activities will begin on Saturday, October 21, at 8:00 a.m. when Heidi Sheesley of TreeSearch Farms Nursery will present a slide seminar on perennials for the Upper Gulf Coast. She will discuss proven perennials for this area and guidelines for growing them.

The Plant Sale itself will be held from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. All activities will be conducted at Carbide Park in La Marque.

Dr. Johnson is a horticulturist with the Galveston County
Extension Office of Texas Cooperative Extension, Texas A&M University. Visit his web site at http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/galveston/index.htm

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