In the Vegetable Garden – October 2019

By Patty Leander
Photos by Bruce Leander

The weatherman said it best recently: “We are taking baby steps to fall.” Summer’s grip has been awfully tight, but every day we are getting closer to milder weather AND the next rain. My vegetable garden has been so parched, and because of its size, I could not justify the cost of water to keep it going. With the exception of a few okra and pepper plants, the garden is on hold—cleaned up, mulched and waiting for a good soaking. It is now mid-September and I am getting antsy to plant for fall. It’s hard to resist the vegetable transplants showing up in nurseries.
For now, my vegetable plants are going into containers where I can easily monitor their water needs, and my cool season seeds are laid out with their plant tags, ready to go, as soon as the soil is refreshed with moisture. Hopefully by the time this newsletter is published the heavens will have opened and rained upon us as we look upward with profound gratitude.




Here is the vegetable gardener’s checklist for October:

• Get the most value from your garden by growing vegetables that cost a premium at the grocery store. Romanesco cauliflower costs almost twice as much as white cauliflower yet it is easy to grow and readily available as a transplant.
• Direct seed beets, radishes, turnips and carrots.
• Make room for Swiss chard. It grows well in our cool season and adds beauty to any landscape, container or vegetable garden.
• Fertilize vegetables and flowers every 2-3 weeks with a water-soluble fertilizer to encourage vigorous growth.
• Continue to monitor plants, especially brassicas, for caterpillars, they are often hiding on the underside of leaves. If you see clusters of worm droppings look on leafy growth above for the culprit.
• Plant garlic this month. Softneck varieties, which include Silverskin and Artichoke types, are recommended for gardeners in the South because they do best in our region. Hardneck varieties produce fewer but larger cloves with deeper flavor and are often preferred by garlic lovers. Hardnecks generally grow best in areas with colder weather but it’s worth experimenting with both types. Elephant garlic can also be planted this month. It is a type of leek that produces very large, mildly flavored cloves. A good online source for garlic is Filaree Garlic Farm in Washington (www.filareefarm.com). They have been in the garlic business for 30 years and sell Hardnecks, Softnecks and elephant garlic. Popular varieties sell out fast. Local nurseries and farm supply stores often sell seed garlic. I know many gardeners who have good results planting organic garlic from the grocery store. It is usually a Silverskin type. Plan your location for garlic carefully as it will be in the same spot in your garden until late May or early June.
• Plant lettuce after the soil temperature cools off. Optimum temperature for germination is 65-75° but it will germinate at cooler temperatures and can be planted throughout the cool season. A recent development in leaf lettuce is a type called easy-cut or one-cut; the colorful leaves, both frilly and smooth, are eye-catching at farmer’s markets. Individual heads are compact with uniform leaves, and when the entire head is harvested a simple cut an inch or so from the base causes the leaves to fall away, providing instant baby greens. Johnny’s Seed (www.johnnyseeds.com) sells several types under the name Salanova, and High Mowing (www.highmowing.com) sells under the name Eazyleaf. You’ll pay a premium for this special type of pelleted lettuce seed. For best results, start seed indoors and transplant to the garden when 3-4 weeks old.
• Stockpile leaves as they begin to fall—they make an excellent mulch all winter long.