Joanna Radford

from Surry Living Magazine - August 2022

HOME, FARM, & GARDEN p.8 OUT & ABOUT p.16 SIMPLY DELICIOUS

by Joanna Radford Gardening in August

While summertime is a great time to harvest vegetables, it is not the only time. Believe it or not, summer can be a good time to plant for a bounty of fall harvest vegetables for your kitchen table. Strategic planning will help in extending (or in my case, starting) a vegetable garden. July and August are the main planting times for the fall garden. As you plan the vegetables you would like in your fall garden, pay attention to the length of maturity required for each vegetable. Those vegetables that have a maturity cycle of 60-80 days should be planted around August 1 in the Piedmont. Of course, this is a rule of thumb and planting can be several weeks before or after this date as well. If turnips and leafy greens are your preference, their planting can be delayed until September since they are quicker to mature. It is wise to refer to the average date of the first killing frost for the area in which you live. In Surry County, the average first frost date is October 15. Keep in mind, this is an average date and can vary two weeks on either side of that date. Use this date to count backward using the number of days to maturity to determine the best time to plant in your area. The maturity information is usually found on the back of the seed packet. The soil in our area can form a hard crust, especially after August rainfalls followed by hot and dry periods. This can affect the seed germination. Seeds of lettuce and spinach have a hard time germinating when soil temperature exceeds 85°F. To help keep the soil cool and moist, the seeded area may need to be covered with burlap cloth, newspapers, or boards. Great additions to fall plantings include vegetables in the squash family such as cucumbers, summer squash, and zucchini for a fall garden. These vegetables typically begin to produce 50-60 days after seeding in the garden. Do not forget to monitor for pests as they have the potential to be heavier in the fall. Protect young squash and zucchini plants from the squash vine borer moth by covering them with an insect barrier cloth or floating row cover. These covers will need to be removed when the plants begin to bloom so pollinators may visit the flowers. If pollinators cannot get to them, there will not be anything to harvest. Snap beans also grow well as a fall crop. They can be harvested 60 days after sowing. Bush varieties typically mature 7-10 days earlier than pole varieties. Now is too late to plant some of the slower growing vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant from seed but they can be planted as young plants. The challenge there may be finding these young plants at this time of year. More information on planting dates and specifications of vegetables you want to grow can be found in the Fall Vegetable Planting Guide from NC State University. It can be found at https://extensiongardener.ces.ncsu.edu/wp-content/ uploads/2016/07/NC-Vegetable-Planting-Guide.pdf?fwd=no/ Your local NC Cooperative Extension is another great resource for your fall gardening questions. If you have never tried gardening in the fall, I challenge you to give it a try.

PEST ALERT:

The spotted lantern fly has been confirmed in Kernersville, North Carolina. Please report any sightings to North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services – Plant Industry Division at http://ncag. gov/slf or your local NC Cooperative Extension.

Photo credit: www.maine.gov/dacf/php/caps/slf/index.shtml