Tip of the Week: Late-Season Vegetable Planting

Posted in Gardening Tips on September 7 2009, by Sonia Uyterhoeven

Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education. Join her each weekend for home gardening demonstrations on a variety of topics in the Home Gardening Center.

While many types of gardens are put to bed in the fall, with a little planning the vegetable garden can still grow strong. In the Louise Loeb Vegetable Garden in the Home Gardening Center I practice succession planting and generally have three major planting times during the growing season: late March or early April for early spring crops such as peas; after the last frost date of May 15 (for NYC) for warm season crops; and August to September for cool season crops.

One of the easiest vegetable crops to grow in the fall is lettuce. In the spring my harvest is plentiful, and I grow enough lettuce to feed the local family of rabbits and myself. Most lettuces start to suffer in the heat of summer and many bolt or perform poorly unless they are grown in part shade. The end of August gives you another opportunity to grow your own greens.

Asian greens such as mizuna (Brassica rapa var. nipposinica), tat soi (Brassica rapa var. rosularis), and mustard greens (Brassica juncea) are a good option for a late harvest. They come up quickly and can be harvested before they reach maturity.

Loose-leaf lettuces (Lactuca sativa) and mesclun mixes also fare well at this time of year. Not only do they offer a fast and easy late harvest, they also provide some beautiful color in the late-season garden. ‘Forellenschluss’ is a loose-leafed heirloom romaine lettuce that has wonderful red speckles on a green background. ‘Red Ridinghood’ is a Boston-type lettuce that withstands light frosts. Its green leaves are dipped with red.

Crops such as beets (Beta vulgaris) and turnips (Brassica rapa ssp. rapa) are nice and tender when young and can be harvested before they reach maturity. Their greens are delicious in a salad or steamed. We often grow a beet called ‘Bull’s Blood’ for its ornamental as well as its culinary value—it has deep-red leaves that combine beautifully with marigolds (Tagetes) in the vegetable garden.

In terms of taste, if you haven’t tried yellow beets—look for ‘Golden Beet’, ‘Burpee’s Golden’, or ‘Yellow Intermediate Mangel’—they have a milder flavor that is delicious. If you are a traditionalist try ‘Detroit Dark Red’. It’s an heirloom that has tasty greens and a sweet flavor.

Cole crops such as cabbage, kale, kohlrabi, and broccoli (Brassica spp.) can withstand a light frost and grow well when either planted in early spring or late in the season. A second crop can either be sown from seed in mid-July or planted as transplants in mid-August. By the time these vegetables are maturing it is nice and cool.

With all late-season crops, find early maturing varieties. To figure out the appropriate planting time, take the days to maturity and the date of the first killing frost and count backward. Remember that with the shorter, cooler days in autumn, the rate of growth slows down; so add a week or two to your calculations to be on the safe side.

This entire summer has been on the cool and wet side. If you have been keeping track of the garden you will have noticed that the leafy vegetables have thrived this year while the fruiting vegetables have suffered. These leafy customers are the ones that you want to focus on for your fall sowing.