in the vegetable patch
Our last garden tips of the year...
Fall has arrived. The rains have started, greening up the parched and brown lawns of the summer. Perennials and shrubs, whose leaves were scorched by the historic heatwave, have recovered nicely, and if you look hard around you, fall colors are starting to show in the trees and shrubs.
This is the month to think about putting in your garlic bulbs, onion sets and planting fava beans to overwinter. All vegetation in the vegetable beds should be cleared to prevent harboring disease, and a layer of mulch such as compost can protect the bare soil from the winter rains and from weeds taking hold. There is still time to sow a cover crop to improve the soil for next year’s crops. For those who are interested in gardening year round, this is the month to put up row covers or cloches to provide the crops protection from the rains and cold.
For a detailed planting calendar, please refer to
- Seattle Tilth's "The Maritime Northwest Garden Guide" book
- PDF from Oregon Tilth https://tilth.org/app/uploads/2015/02/OT_PHCalendar_Archive.pdf
- Oregon extension service https://extension.oregonstate.edu/gardening/techniques/monthly-garden-calendars
- Washington State University extension service https://extension.wsu.edu/snohomish/fall-and-winter-vegetable-gardens-for-western-washington
garden Borders and beyond
Fall is bulb planting time
Fall is the perfect time for planting bulbs for spring/summer color. Crocuses, snowdrops, daffodils, tulips, hyacinths and ornamental onions will provide gardens with splashes of color from early spring to midsummer. Fall is also a good month to move and transplant shrubs or trees once their leaves have dropped and they have gone into dormancy. Consider leaving seedheads of flowering perennials up and not cleaning up too much plant debris to help wildlife overwinter. Fall leaves can be raked up, shredded, and added to garden beds to protect the more tender plants and to enrich the soil.