60 THE QUEENS COURIER • AT HOME • NOVEMBER 8, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
at home
Fabulous Fall Flavors: Why Autumn is ideal
for gardening, plus timely tips for success
For any gardener, fall is bittersweet.
Th e exuberance of summer’s bounty has
started to fade, while cooler nights and
less daylight signal the approach of cold,
dark winter.
However, there’s still plenty of time to
savor some of the garden’s best fl avors
before you close your door on the season.
In fact, now is the perfect time to
plant what are collectively known as “cool
weather” crops - tasty favorites that thrive
in autumn’s chill.
Bonnie Plants grows a wide variety of
cool-weather veggies and herbs, perfect
for fall planting. Availability of Bonnie’s
fall varieties is limited to specifi c regions,
so check your local garden retailers to
fi nd plants near you.
Select some hardy favorites to get weeks
of crisp cabbage slaws, healthy kale bowls,
crunchy caulifl ower and broccoli or even
hearty greens like collards or Swiss chard,
perfect to pop in a long-simmering winter
braise.
Other fall favorites include Brussels
sprouts - delicious roasted with slivers
of garlic, olive oil and a touch of balsamic
vinegar - or any of the versatile salad
greens like lettuce and spinach or fl avorful
herbs like cilantro that tend to suff er
and bolt prematurely in sweltering summer
sun.
Here’s six timely tips from Bonnie
Plants to help you make your fall garden
as enjoyable as your summer harvest.
1. Go big at home
Plant pre-started vegetable or herb
transplants rather than seeds to squeeze
every last moment out of fall’s compressed
growing season. Th ese plants love
warm soil coupled with cool air and will
start to grow quickly. Using transplants
instead of seed also means you’ll be gathering
tasty produce weeks earlier than
you would with seed-sown varieties.
2. Stretch the season
While you can certainly plant cool-season
veggies and herbs in pots or in the
ground, a simple, commonly available
garden product, a “cold-frame”, can help
you extend your fall season by providing
some added protection. A cold frame is a
four-sided, clear box - open to the soil at
the bottom - with a hinged lid. Because
the ground inside stays warmer than the
ambient air temperature, a cold frame
protects plants long aft er unsheltered veggies
start to fail. (On warm, sunny days,
be sure to crack the lid open to prevent
too much heat from building up inside.)
3. Prepare you plot or pot
If planting in-ground, be sure to clear
the area of previous planted crops and
weeds, as they may decay and harbor bacteria.
Always bag, tie and discard debris.
Turn up the soil’s top layer and add some
bagged compost, and mulch. If planting
in a pot, be sure to sanitize pots and use
fresh, new potting soil, specifi cally formulated
for containers.
4. Proactively patrol for pests
While pest numbers naturally decline
in the cooler days of fall, they don’t
disappear entirely. Common pests of
cool-season plants include tiny, sap-sucking
aphids, caterpillars (particularly from
cabbage white butterfl ies) and harlequin
bugs. Inspect your plants for tiny clusters
of aphids or tell-tale holes in the leaves.
Handpick caterpillars or harlequin bugs
from plants and dispose of them or use a
strong blast of water from a hose to dislodge
aphids.
5. Embrace cooler, carefree
comforts
With the warm days and cool nights of
fall, less moisture evaporates from your
garden or pots, so you’ll need to water less
oft en. (Only water when the soil 2” deep
is dry.) In addition, many cool weather
crops handily survive light frosts, growing
well until a very hard freeze ends their
productivity. Better yet, chilly weather
improves the fl avor of many late-season
varieties, including members of the cabbage
family, kale, Brussels sprouts and
chard, by turning their starches into natural
sugars, making them a sweet and
healthy treat.
6. Take time to relax
Just like plants, gardeners enjoy a break
from the stifl ing heat of summer. With
the leisure of cool days, fewer chores and
less weeding as the garden begins to wind
down, you’ll be able to enjoy the garden
more while you wait to harvest your fall
favorites to boost your recipes and brighten
your table.
If you don’t want to give up on your
garden’s bounty, pick up a selection of
cool-season favorites from Bonnie Plants
now - and keep your garden growing!
For more information on fall gardening
and varieties, please visit www.bonnieplants.
com.
Courtesy BPT
/www.bon-nieplants.com
/www.bon-nieplants.com
/www.bon-nieplants.com
