Fall Vegetable Planting

Guest Blogger Master Gardener Amy Weis writes: 

The recent cool days and nights have reminded me that fall is right around the corner. That means I need to start thinking about my autumn garden. Soon I will be enjoying the last of my summer crops – including tomatoes, potatoes, squash and peppers and will start preparing my fall garden.

Farmers around the Lehigh Valley are going through the same process right now, tearing out cucumbers and replanting carrots, kale and beets. I typically pick my fall plants by their hardiness and maturity speed. I have found that the key to a successful fall harvest is timely planting because the crops need time to grow and mature before it gets too cold. Most of the plants will tolerate a light and sometimes even a hard frost with some frost protection, but its best to get them in as early as possible since the average first frost date for our area is October 20.

I usually try to choose varieties that are known for quick maturity, which will be noted on the seed packet or in the seed catalog. Growth often slows down on later season plantings especially when the weather is cloudy. I count back from the days to maturity on the packet to figure my approximate planting date and typically add a couple of weeks for the slower fall growing time. Sometimes transplants from a local garden center are useful, if they are available, as they can save growing time.

It’s best to look for hardy vegetables that like cool weather and will tolerate shorter daylight hours such as spinach, swiss chard, members of the brassica family like cauliflower, brussel sprouts, kale, kohlrabi and broccoli; and root vegetables including turnips, carrots, parsnip and beets.

Then, before planting, I clean up my summer garden, removing old plant materials. After that I add back some of the nutrients my summer harvest has depleted from the soil by adding a thin layer of aged manure or compost made from last years shredded leaves and grass. It’s important to plant a tad deeper that you would for spring planting and to ensure that the new plantings get enough water during the remaining dog days of summer.

Our typical Indian summer weather is ideal for cool season crops, but sometimes row covers or a thicker layer of mulch is needed, to be able to keep harvesting even after a few light frosts.

It’s also important to know when to harvest each crop. Some vegetables are quite forgiving in having a long harvest window, others can go from tasty to bitter overnight. Many of the fall root crops can be left in the ground throughout the winter if mulched heavily.

After all this is finally finished, I can sit back and look forward to enjoying fresh greens at Halloween and tasty broccoli and carrots for Thanksgiving.

Sources:  Season Classifications of Vegetables

Grow Your Own:  Vegetable Gardening…Recommendations for Homeowners in Pennsylvania

Support Your Farmer:  Pheasant Hill Farm is owned and operated by George and Melanie DeVault .  They focus on quality, growing everything from arugula to zinnias, with chemical free blueberries, raspberries, heirloom tomatoes, greens and flowers taking top billing. Melanie focuses on specialty cut flower bouquets, and starting hundreds of seed varieties, most heirloom, in one of their four high tunnels.  You can find them at the Easton Farmer’s Market on Saturdays and the Emmaus Farmer’s Market on Sundays. 

Fall crops recently seeded in a high tunnel at Pheasant Hill Farm

Can You Really Tip a Cow ?

Picture courtesy of Lehigh Co. Farmland Preservation

Cow tipping is an activity that allegedly involves sneaking up on a sleeping, standing cow and pushing it over.  Is there any truth to it?  Can you really push a cow over?

The answer is “no”.  Cow tipping is an urban legend and there are two major facts that debunk it: first, cows do not sleep standing up, (unlike horses, they lie on the ground to sleep) and second if the cow was standing, one person would not have the strength to push over a cow - mature beef cows can range in weight from 1,100 to 1400 pounds!

You also wouldn’t want to hop a fence to get close to a cow.  Farmers raising cattle need considerable cow handling expertise in order to protect both themselves and the cows.  In order to reduce stress on the cows and protect the farmer, there are a few behavior traits that farmers keep in mind, especially when they need to move the cattle. 

For instance, cows can see almost all the way around them, with a field of vision in excess of 300 degrees; humans, by contrast, have only a 180 degree field of vision.  However, despite their excellent panoramic vision, cows cannot focus quickly. They also have poor depth perception and vertical vision.  Because of this, a mere shadow on the ground could appear to be a deep crevasse to the cow.  Small distractions, such as something as simple as a coffee cup on the ground, in their field of view could also alarm the cattle.  Farmers can decrease shadowing and distractions by having uniform colors in handling areas and moving cattle through solid sided alleys (as opposed to an open fence). 

Cattle also have comfort zones, just as people do, that are referred to as “flight zones”. A cow’s flight zone could be from 5 feet to 25 feet for tame cattle.  Invading the flight zone too much can cause the cow to panic.  When farmers need to direct the cattle in from the pasture, they stand at the edge of the flight zone and move slowly.  Cattle naturally want to go around humans, so farmers position themselves in such a way, that the cattle will move around in the desired direction.  Other cattle handling tricks include working with and approaching the cows slowly, as well as never leaving one animal alone in a pen; they want to be with other cattle and will make every attempt to do so.

Sources: Cattle Handling and Working Facilities – Ohio State University; Cattle Handling Pointers – Utah State University

Support Your Farmer:

RAINBOW FARM: The Schoeniger's operate a 29-acre farm that raises beef, pork, chickens and turkeys on rotational grazed pastures. Come see their farm on the 2013 Lehigh County Open Gate Farm Tour!

GRAVER FARMSTEAD: Graver Farmstead is a preserved family farm raising grass-fed beef and pork. You can see their farm on the 2013 Northampton County Open Gate Farm Tour!

Keep those veggies coming!

High tunnel at Bechdolt's Orchard

Our usual hot, humid summer temperatures have cooled off quite a bit in southeastern Pennsylvania, feeling more like fall than summer.  Even though produce is booming now, the cool temperatures remind me that soon the harvest will be tapering off and I’ll be tilling in the garden before I know it.  Most vegetable farmers will have ample produce well into September, and many of them will be producing food much later in the year, thanks to structures called high tunnels. 

High tunnels are essentially a cross between green houses and row covers (Row covers are made of light weight, woven material that’s pulled over top of the plants.  The cover allows water and sunlight to pass through, yet covers the crops enough to give a few extra degrees of warmth.).  High tunnels are constructed of metal bows and posts, forming a quonset-shape (like a greenhouse) that is covered with greenhouse-grade plastic. High tunnels are ventilated by manually rolling up the sides each morning and rolling them down early in the evening. Unlike greenhouses, there is less environmental control with no permanent heating system or electricity, with typically only an external water connection for trickle irrigation.  

While high tunnels don’t have all the bells and whistles of a greenhouse, they do elevate temperatures a few degrees each day for a period of several weeks that will increase growth, yield and quality.  High tunnels are also relatively inexpensive, simple to construct, prevent wind and rain damage, and provide frost protection as well as some control of insects, diseases and predators, like birds.  High tunnels can be used to grow a variety of crops like vegetables, small fruits and flowers.

Sources: http://extension.psu.edu/plants/plasticulture/technologies/high-tunnels

Grow Your Own:  You can learn to extend your own vegetable growing season at one of the sessions at Workshops for the Gardeners scheduled for Saturday, September 14^th in Nazareth.  Click here for more information.

Support Your Farmer:

You can check out high tunnels at the following farms during the Northampton County Open Gate Farm Tour on October 12^th and 13^th:

BAARDA FARM, located in Mt. Bethel, is a 20-acre fruit and vegetable farm that makes, presses and sells apple cider and vinegar. Never wasting anything, they sell brown eggs with over 200 chickens that are corn fed and given greens from veggies that stop producing. 

CLEAR SPRING FARM, located in Easton, is a 23-acre vegetable and pumpkin farm.  They have been running a CSA (community supported agriculture) for 9 years.  They have a farmstand on site as well as 3 high tunnels where they will be starting their strawberries for early picking in the spring.

JUNIPERDALE FARMS, located in Nazareth, is a 20-acre fruit and vegetable farm with a variety of field crops.  This is a family farm run by Brian and Eva Fulmer with their children, nieces and nephews.   They have a few beef animals and a high tunnel to start selling vegetables earlier in the season.  During strawberry season they have a pick your own strawberry patch.  In fall, they offer pick your own pumpkin and hayrides to the patch.