Mid to Late October: It’s a Wrap
This week is our last post for the growing season! We hope that you have enjoyed the journey, as we have, and that you have been inspired to explore some new plants or techniques in the veggie plot. All of this season's veggie journal entries will remain here on the website for you to refer to whenever you’d like.
At this time, we will be getting prepared to plant garlic and shallots (but not planting yet!) and looking ahead to next year with a soil test. We'll be introducing you to the amazing Nanking cherry and discussing the importance of fall leaves, both as a resource for your garden and for supporting wildlife. We’ll also give you a recipe for nasturtiums.
Planting Garlic and Shallots
As the cool weather sets in, lots of people start to think about planting their bulbs. We plant lots of garlic and have recently discovered shallots. They are pretty easy to grow, and we plant them in the fall with our garlic, making one less thing to do in the spring.
Avoiding Common Mistakes
One of the most common mistakes when planting garlic or shallots is to plant them too early! On Cape Cod, we recommend waiting until after Halloween to plant.
Our temperatures tend to stay a bit warmer in the fall than locations inland, and warm temperatures encourage top-shoot growth, which we don't want until next spring. Your goal is for each clove to establish its root system, so any energy put into top shoot now is just wasted and may even dry out your cloves and kill them when the cold, dry winter sets in.
Another common mistake is to not supply the plant with enough fertility. These alliums are heavy feeders. However, you should limit the nitrogen, or you will get a lot of vegetative growth and fewer bulbs. When prepping your soil for planting garlic and shallots, add these amendments:
Organic fertilizer (slow-release, full-spectrum)
Compost
Alfalfa meal
Kelp meal
Lime, if you need to adjust your pH (consult your soil test as discussed below!)
Following the Planting Process
Here are the steps for planting:
1. Gently work the amendments into the soil without upsetting the soil structure. Use a garden fork to aerate but don’t turn over the soil. Rake the top to take off debris.
2. For garlic, break each individual clove from the bulb, being careful not to damage them. If you strip the coating or gouge the clove, don’t plant it as it may rot in the ground. Wait until just before you plant or within 24 hours of planting to separate the cloves so they don’t dry out.
3. Space cloves or bulbs 6-8 inches apart to minimize competition between your plants. We plant in 4-foot beds so we can fit 6 -7 garlic across the bed and plant each row offset from the preceding one to efficiently use our space. Bring your yardstick out to the garden when you plant.
4. To plant, press each clove or bulb (pointy side up) 3-5 inches below the surface of the soil. If your soil is compacted, you might want to use a dibble to make a hole first. But if the soil contains ample organic matter and is aerated enough, you may not need this.
5. If you’re going to mulch (we highly recommend it!), place your irrigation system down now. You will be all set to hook it up in the spring without disturbing your plants.
6. Mulching your garlic and shallot beds right from the start is a big help. The tops will find their way up through the mulch next spring. Here are some of the benefits:
Moderates the soil temperatures so you don’t get too much top growth in the fall.
Protects the soil from a vicious freeze-thaw cycle that can push your cloves up to the surface in the winter.
Minimizes weeds all growing season
Helps retain moisture all growing season
We use straw and leaves for our mulch. We use a lawnmower to shred the leaves. Then we place the straw on the soil surface and cover it with the shredded leaves to make a 6-inch mulch layer in total. The straw helps prevent the leaves from matting down.
Fruition Seeds has a great online course (that’s free!) all about growing garlic and shallots.
Soil Testing
A periodic soil test will let you catch any nutrient deficiencies that your soil might have. As you pull out your crops this fall, it's a perfect time to take some samples that will help you plan for any needed additions next spring. We suggest taking a soil test every three years, or anytime you are having big problems with some of your crops.
Understanding nutrient deficiencies, soil acidity, organic matter content, and soil texture can allow you to focus on the appropriate amendments and keep you from spending money on things you don't need!
Here is what will likely be included in the analysis:
Minerals
Phosphorus
Potassium
Aluminum
Boron
Calcium
Copper
Iron
Magnesium
Manganese
Sodium
Sulfur
Zinc
Other info
Soil texture
Percent of organic matter (4-8% is a good goal to maintain)
Total exchange capacity (how readily your soil can store and release nutrients)
pH (if your pH is not within an appropriate range, plants can't uptake nutrients from your soil)
You may notice that these analyses don't include nitrogen. This is because nitrogen easily leaves the soil as gas or is leached out, so a one-time measurement doesn't tell you much. The amount of organic matter in your soil is a better indicator of how much nitrogen will be available in the near future as the microbes in the soil break it down. Add organic matter each year to keep your nitrogen levels consistent.
It's important to use the right technique when taking your soil sample. You may want to take two separate samples for areas that have very different uses, like a lawn vs. a veggie garden, although vegetable and flower gardens can be sampled together.
Clean off any surface debris such as wood chips, compost, plant residues, or sod, and then take a slice, uniformly thick from top to bottom, going down about 6 inches. You will want a representative sample, so dig in six to eight random spots around your veggie garden and mix the soils together. Use a clean bucket to gather the samples. Mix the samples well and spread the soil on a clean baking pan to air-dry for a day. After it's dry, take about one cup, put it in a ziplock bag, and send it to one of the soil testing labs listed below.
A soil analysis typically costs about $25 for a standard test and goes up from there if you want a more detailed analysis. Most gardeners will get all the information they need from a standard test.
Here are a few of the labs we have used:
UMASS Cooperative Extension Service
email soiltest@umass.edu or or call 413-545-2311
https://ag.umass.edu/services/soil-plant-nutrient-testing-laboratory
Logan Labs
620 N Main St, Lakeview, OH 43331
Midwest Laboratories
13611 B Street, Omaha, NE 68144
402-334-7770
Finally, our friends at Fruition Seeds have a great explanation of how to test your soil and why it’s important on their website.
Nanking Cherries: Easy, Productive, and Beautiful
Nanking cherries are in the same family as cherries, plums, and peaches. This shrub grows 6 to 10 feet tall and wide but they can be planted as close as 4 feet apart and trimmed into a hedge. When we use them in our Resilient Roots designs, we often plant them to line a fence or driveway or place them on the south side of a small fruit or nut tree. It's a nice way to fit in a fruit-bearing plant without needing the space required for a tree.
The fruit is a mix of tart and sweet and can be eaten fresh or made into jams and jellies. Those who have them say they'll give you so much fruit you won't mind sharing with wildlife! Be sure to plant more than one Nanking cherry for cross-pollination. A full-sun, well-drained soil situation will make them the happiest. They are very tolerant of drought and heat.
Nanking cherries require minimal pruning, but you may want to cut back the oldest branches every few years to invigorate new growth.
Give this shrub a try for its three-season beauty, wildlife habitat enhancement, and no-fuss personality. We have planting details on the Plant Info pages of our website.
Ben Falk of Whole Systems Designs in Vermont is a big advocate of Nanking cherries; check his video out here!
This Fall, Leave Some Leaves
It's always been a tradition to rake a big pile of leaves, jump in them, and then drag them out into the woods. Lately, though, we've realized what an amazing resource leaves are. Now we rake them into a shallow pile and run over them with the lawnmower to shred them a bit, then spread them on the garlic bed or on various perennials beds and around fruit trees. If we have a lot, we put them in the corner of a fenced area and let them break down over the winter. By spring, they partially decompose into leaf mold, which we also use for mulching.
What we are doing is mimicking what nature does. Leaves fall from the trees in the forest and slowly decompose, releasing nutrients back to feed the trees, shrubs, and understory. This leaf litter is home to myriad pollinators, butterflies, beneficial insects, and small vertebrates and provides valuable winter cover.
The best way to support these important parts of the ecosystem is to just leave the leaves in as much of your yard as possible. Maybe rake just the sections of lawn where they accumulate in a thick layer and spread those on your garden. That's less work for you!
Let's not throw away the best parts of nature when we do our fall cleanups this year!
Let's Eat! Nastursium Capers
Did you know you can make your own replacement for capers out of nasturtium seeds? All parts of the nasturtium are edible. The leaves and flowers are a great addition to salads, and now that seeds are forming you can collect them, saving some for planting next year. The rest you can pickle. They taste like peppery capers! This recipe is from Rachel Lambert
Ingredients
1 cup nasturtium seeds
1/3 cup vinegar
1/3 cup water
Large pinch of sea salt
Large pinch of sugar
2 tsp chopped herbs of your choice (optional)
Directions
Wash the seeds and place them in a pint-sized pickling jar.
In a small saucepan, heat the vinegar, water, salt, and sugar to boiling. Pour over the seeds.
Add the herbs if you’re using them and stir them in so they’re submerged.
Screw on the lid and store it in the fridge. That's it! If you can, leave the seeds for 2 weeks before using them to let the flavors develop.
Thanks for a great gardening season. See you next year!