Vegetable Garden
By Lori Rose
How lovely it is to savor the fresh flavors from our gardens throughout the summer months. It is hard to imagine cold winds and frost (yes, it is coming) during these sultry summer days. Wouldn’t it be nice to get another harvest from the vegetable garden before putting it to bed for the winter? If you sow the seeds of cool weather crops now, during the hottest days, and keep the little plants well watered and lightly shaded until the heat has subsided, you will be eating fresh salads right from the garden, right up to the first frost. And, if you really enjoy your autumn salads, you can continue to harvest through the light frosts with just a bit of extra effort. Here’s how.
Just about any plant that thrives in the spring can be grown in the fall. The plants need to grow quickly so they are ready to eat before winter sets in. Choose lettuces, arugula, mizuna, spinach, radishes and peas. At this time of the year, greens grow quickly and actually taste even better when they mature during fall’s cooler temperatures. This is also the best time of year to plant garlic to harvest next summer.
There are thousands of different varieties of lettuce, which is a member of the sunflower family (Asteraceae). Iceberg lettuce, that beloved ball of crispy water, got its name from the way it was shipped in the old train carriages that used to transport it to the markets. Since there was no refrigeration, ice was piled on the cartons of lettuce to keep it cold. When the train carriages were opened to unload the lettuce, they looked as if they were filled with “icebergs.” Iceberg lettuce is best left to commercial growers. When growing your own lettuces, opt for something a bit more interesting.
Salads were once an afterthought in American diets, consisting of a few leaves of iceberg lettuce and a slice of tomato. Today, however, we eagerly sample a variety of international cuisines and have tried many varieties of salad greens grown and eaten in Europe—with French mesclun being the most popular. Unfortunately, the price of these tender young greens is staggering. Markets may charge as much as seven dollars per pound, even though it takes less energy and time to grow a mesclun mix than it does to grow a head of iceberg lettuce.
Mesclun, meaning "mixture" in the dialect of Nice, France, is the word used to describe a collection of wild and cultivated greens eaten as salad in the Mediterranean. Gourmet restaurants prize the blend of flavors, colors and textures. Seed companies offer combinations for different seasons, colors and flavors, as well as gourmet, fashionable, antique, tangy, tender, and sweet mixtures. The best part is that they are easy and inexpensive to grow.
There is a great demand for varieties of lettuce with different leaf shapes, and colors other than green. Plant breeders have developed and rediscovered over one hundred varieties. I create my own sweet and tangy mesclun mix using greens that are suitable for cut-and-come-again harvesting.
Black Seeded Simpson is an heirloom lettuce and one of the earliest to mature. It is a crisp lettuce with light green, frilled and rumpled leaves with a delicate flavor. Green Ice has large, wavy leaves with fringed edges and a crisp texture. These big, glossy, dark green leaves will nicely fill your salad bowl. Red Oak Leaf lettuce is a beautiful plant, with long, deeply lobed, ruffled leaves that do look like oak leaves. They are deep red fading to light green, giving unexpected color to your salad. To give your sweet salad a tangy twist, try arugula. The deeply indented leaves of arugula, also called rocket, give salads a zesty flavor. It is one of the easiest greens to grow. Mizuna is a Japanese mustard with serrated leaves and a mildly spicy taste. Try growing both the green and purple leaved varieties to add color and texture to salads. Like loose-leaf lettuces, both arugula and mizuna plants respond well to cut-and-come-again harvesting.
Harvest the greens when the outer leaves reach three to six inches, depending on the type. Cut them off the plant with scissors, just above the growing crown, leaving two-thirds of the plant intact so it is strong enough to continue growing. Rinse your mesclun in cool water after harvesting. Pat the leaves dry with a paper towel, or try a salad spinner to remove the moisture without damaging the leaves. Use them as soon as possible, or wrap the leaves gently in slightly damp towels, seal in a plastic bag and place in the refrigerator. They should stay fresh for several days. If harvested mesclun becomes slightly wilted, revive it in a bath of cool water. Re-crisping should take ten to fifteen minutes.
Use large, deep green spinach leaves as a base to display your lovely and tasty array of fresh autumn greens. Add your homegrown radishes and peas for color and crunch. Mesclun salads are best served with simple dressings, such as oil and vinegar or a light vinaigrette. From a culinary standpoint, strong flavors such as Bleu cheese, garlic, or anchovy paste are best avoided, as they will overpower the fresh flavors of the greens. Try a mesclun salad with grilled chicken, roasted red peppers, black olives, and a mild cheese, with a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar for a delicious meal.
Since you’ll still be working in the garden, save some space to plant garlic and onions for next summer’s harvest. Homegrown garlic is richer and zestier than the comparably bland heads found in supermarkets. To get beautiful garlic heads that will store well into the winter, plant the cloves in the fall, right around Labor Day. The idea is to get the cloves in the ground during warm weather for good root formation. It is a good sign when you get green shoots peeking above the soil in late autumn. Don't worry—garlic can tolerate frost. Don't plant garlic from the supermarket. It has been treated not to sprout. Get your "seed" garlic from a good local nursery or a supplier. Plant the biggest cloves and eat the rest. Your garlic will send up green shoots this fall, go dormant over winter, and then continue growing next spring.
Plant your fall salad garden intensively since all greens should be harvested as baby leaves. If it is still really hot, hold off sowing until the weather moderates a bit: most of the real growth should take place during fall’s cooler weather. Keep the seed beds evenly moist during germination. Continue to water regularly if necessary while harvesting the delicious baby leaves.
To continue harvesting delicious salads right through light frosts, protect them with floating row covers. These are inexpensive, easy to lay down and remove, and they let light and water in while keeping the plants warm. Keep an eye on nighttime temperatures: if it threatens to dip below freezing, cover the beds with the floating row covers to protect the plants and extend the harvest season.
Put your garden to bed a little later this year, and enjoy the fresh, crisp bounty of spring during the colorful, comfortable days of fall.
Lori Rose, the Midnight Gardener, is a Temple University Certified Master Home Gardener and member of GardenComm: Garden Communicators International. She has gardened since childhood, and has been writing about gardening for over twenty years.