Garden Notes - No Rest for the Gardenerby Karen Bert Summer finally arrived and my garden has been growing exponentially. I have been steadily harvesting beans, zucchini, yellow squash, onions, lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, basil and dill and even managed to salvage enough tomatoes for salads every now and then. I've enjoyed the flower garden as well, with several varieties of sunflowers, sweetpeas, jasmine scented tobacco, zinnas, cosmos and roses adding color to the garden. However, I haven't had much time to sit around and admire the flowers as I've been preparing for the winter garden, setting out young plants of over-wintering broccoli, kale, and cabbage, sowing turnips and mustard, starting seeds of perennials, planting garlic, taking cuttings of santolina, lavender and rosemary, and digging new beds to enlarge the garden for next year. Fall is no time to rest if you are a gardener! September is also the time to begin planting cover crops, which grow over the winter, protecting the soil and adding nutrients. I am planting fava beans this year in all the beds not occupied by crops. Favas (Vicia faba) are a hardy annual legume that fix nitrogen in the soil, which means they convert atmospheric nitrogen into a form that can be used by plants in the soil. Favas also create a lot of organic materials which I will till under in the spring. In the beds occupied by winter crops I'm planting winter rye after the crops are firmly established. There are many other cover crops suitable for this area such as clover, vetch, and Austrian winter peas. Contrary to what many people believe, fall is a great time to plant many shrubs, trees and perennials. In fact, fall is the preferred time for planting summer dormant perennials like Oriental poppies. Peonies and garlic grow much better if planted in the fall as well. Planting trees and shrubs now can give the plants time to establish strong root systems before the buds break in the spring, and ensures that the tree will be ready to grow very early, before we would be able to plant in our rain-saturated soil. The only trick to fall planting is to get it done when soil temperatures will remain above 50 degrees for several weeks, and to remember to water these new plants frequently until the rainy weather resumes. Often nurseries have fall sales to clear out their stock for the winter, and the savvy gardener can sometimes find some real bargains. September is also the time to begin planting spring-blooming bulbs. Here in Western Washington we can plant bulbs throughout the autumn, so we don't have to rush this task, in my opinion one of the greatest pleasures of gardening. I plan to concentrate on minor bulbs such as crocus, dwarf iris, chionodixia, or glory of the snow, snowdrops, fritillaria melegris and winter aconite, as I get a lot of pleasure from these tiny treasures blooming in the gloom of late winter. Of course, no garden can ever have enough daffodils and tulips, and I want to try foxtail lilies, which send up a candelabra of golden-orangy spires in May-June. Bulbs are easy to plant - just follow the directions on the package! I like to add some bonemeal to the soil when planting, although I have read that some experts recommend waiting until the bulbs emerge from the soil to fertilize. I think spring flowers are a wonderful bargain - much cheaper than a vacation in the early spring when winter seems to last just a bit too long! Next month: planning a winter flower garden, or how to have flowers all through the year! Cover crop seeds are available locally at Black Lake Organic. Karen Bert is a staff writer for the Green Pages.
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