The Fall Vegetable Garden

Four Season Harvest - E Coleman

You can extend your garden growing season by using some of these practiced techniques. With the help of row covers, fall and winter crops can be harvested well into the winter and early spring. Cold tolerant varieties are planted in late summer or early fall, primarily in low tunnels, for harvest throughout the winter. This requires learning the correct planting window times for your location. It is important to keep records by writing them down in your Garden Journal, determine what works best, and make improvements. Timing is important when planting. Eliot Coleman refers to the winter "Persephone period” when with less than 10 hours of daylight plant growth essentially stops. For the best fall and winter harvest, plants should reach 75% of their maturity by the Persephone period. This winter period starts on November 6th and ends on February 3rd in the Treasure Valley.

Row Covers Row covers or low tunnels are essentially small greenhouses. Plastic irrigation tubing is used to make arches and clear plastic sheeting is pulled tight at either end and buried on one side. The other side is held down with long boards and used to access and harvest the plants inside. These covers are placed over the winter hardy plants in October and vented on warm days. When daytime temperatures remain below freezing they are kept tightly closed and only harvested on the warmest sunny days. Snow can make them inaccessible at times, but the plants inside remain well insulated and protected. When the temperatures warm enough to melt the snow, the carrots, lettuce, spinach, onions and other greens will not only be eatable, but will begin to grow again. When daytime temperatures are above freezing the cover is removed and only pulled back over on freezing nights. Watch a great video on how to install row covers!
Succession Planting
A continuous harvest is insured through succession planting, which allows for crops to mature at different times, provide a longer harvest period, and create a buffer if winter temperatures arrive unusually early or late. Well-timed, staggered plantings create a smooth transition from one harvest to the next for a steady supply through the winter. Cold hardy crops are planted outside in late summer, then a movable row cover or low tunnel is placed over them when temperatures drop below freezing. After the winter crops are harvested, open spaces can be reseeded with cold tolerant crops for an early spring harvest. Whenever a crop is harvested or grows beyond its prime it is removed, the soil is amended and new seeds are planted. All salad and Asia greens grow so rapidly that it is necessary to have sweet tender leaves. Overwintered crops protected by a row cover can be uncovered by the middle of March. These protected crops of Spinach, lettuce, leeks, and onions will begin to grow with the increased daylight and warmer days, but still tolerate nighttime freezing. The row cover can now be used to warm and protect a new planting of carrots, beets and lettuce. Crop rotation aids in not exhausting the soil, and pests and diseases overwintering in the soil and infecting the new crop. An example would be to follow early lettuce with beans, peas, or carrots. It should be three to four years before the same crop is returned back to the same plot in your garden.
Here's a link for Idaho: Vegetable Planting Calendar.
Garden crops
Garlic Allium sativum Garlic is an essential ingredient in most savory dishes, and is another flavorful plant that can be used at any stage of growth. In Asia, young green garlic is common and has a mild fresh flavor. Garlic is planted in October to allow for the roots to establish before winter. The garlic beds are then covered with straw or a row cover, which is removed in spring. It is related to both onions, leeks, shallots, and chives. When considering a location, it is important to also note that Garlic does not do well where Brassica family crops grew the year before. When the green tops begin to die back the garlic bulbs are loosened and pulled. They must be allowed to cure out of direct sun, with good air flow.
Leeks Allium porrum Leeks are an important part of my year-around garden. They are an essential ingredient in winter and spring soup. Leeks are a long season crop and are started early from seed inside, then transplanted out into composted deep holes for long blanched white stems. For a winter harvest they can be protected by row covers and harvested well into the spring. If leeks remain after winter and they begin to go to seed, the flower stem can be removed and sautéed with butter, then the root will form a white bulb in early summer. These “leek bulbs” are wonderful in stews and roasted. Early leeks can be planted in succession and harvested into summer.
Spinach Spinacia oleracea Spinach is a hardy green that can be harvested almost all winter. It will germinate and grow at temperature just above freezing. Fall planted spinach can be overwintered under row covers and harvested right up until hard freezes. October plantings will overwinter very small and begin growing in the early spring for a fresh new crop when the winter harvest has depleted. Spring planting can start as early as January and continue through April for an almost uninterrupted harvest. During the heat of summer Spinach goes to seed rapidly and other greens can be consumed until it cools and the fall crop begins.  

Radish Raphanus sativus Radishes are traditionally the first crop harvested from a spring garden and one of the last late into the fall. Because they are related to the Brassica family they should not precede or follow them in the same location. Radishes grow quickly in cool moist conditions. They are a fast crop and can be planted in small open space throughout the garden every 2-3 weeks. 

Lettuce Lactuca sativa Lettuce is an essential crop in my garden rotation. Succession planting of cool season lettuces in the fall provides salads well into December and the new growth begins again at the end of January under the protection of row covers. Lettuce requires high soil fertility and consistent moisture at planting. In the heat of the summer it can be helpful to cover newly planted lettuce seed with a board to keep them cool and moist until germination. Be sure to check them daily and remove the board when the first seedlings are spotted. Plantings at two week intervals to replace other crops removed has been the best way I have found to insure a consistent lettuce harvest. Any excess lettuce provides a much loved treat for chickens.
Tatsoi Brassica rapa var. narinosa Tatsoi is an Asian green that forms a compact, thick rosette and has a long harvest period. It is both heat and cold tolerant and is excellent both in salads and stir-fries. Succession plant beginning in spring at 2-3 week intervals for a continuous harvest. They should be harvested before bolting for a less bitter flavor. Control flea beetles and other pests with a floating row cover. 

Carrot Daucus carota Carrots planted the first of August can be left in the ground with row covers for protection and harvested all winter. The cold-soil storage enhances the sweetness and flavor as they remain in the ground. New spring sowing can be made in December for an early May harvest.

These carrots were in hoop house and pulled mid February.
Onions Allium cepa Fresh onion all growing season is attained by planting a combination of seeds and transplants. January sown ‘Copra’ seeds will be transplanted into well composted soil where lettuce has been grown previously and provide the main harvest of storage onions. Fall planted overwintering ‘Walla Walla Sweet’ onions protected by a row cover provide green onions during the spring through thinning, and will produce an early large bulb in June.
Beet Beta vulgaris From beet green at thinning time to baby beets, and fall storage beets are a widely available and flexible root crop. Beets do best in a neutral pH soil with a generous amount of organic matter. Beets can be sown under row covers in January for an early spring harvest, all the way to August for a fall harvest. They should be thinned to 2 inches apart and the thinnings can be added to a salad. 

Wonderful Bounty Throughout the Winter!!!