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Your Fall Vegetable Garden—Start Planning and Planting in July

Fall Vegetable Gardening
Every summer I vow to have a bountiful fall garden, but often have little to harvest because I didn’t plan ahead. In Buncombe County, our average first frost date is in October, so some fall veggies need to be planted now!

Choosing crops
Grow what you’ll eat! Greens and root vegetable are top crops for fall planting, but cole crops—as well as some legumes and herbs—are good bets, too.

  • Cole crops: broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, kale, kohlrabi
  • Greens: arugula, chard, lettuce, mustard, spinach
  • Herbs: dill, parsley
  • Root crops: beets, carrots, parsnips, radishes, rutabagas, turnips
  • Legumes: green beans

Making space
Decide on the number of plants you’ll need, and then check how much sun and room they’ll require. If you have a dedicated vegetable garden, you’ll likely have some bare spots where you’ve harvested spring cool season crops or where earlier plantings have succumbed to pests or diseases. Are there other planting areas where you can squeeze in some vegetables? Many veggies are attractive enough to spruce up your fall landscape.

No free space in your existing garden beds? Add some container plantings or expand your growing space by doing away with part of a lawn or planting a mulched area.

Transplants or seeds?
Except for beans and root crops, you can choose either seeds or transplants for your fall garden. Transplants give you a little longer to get your planting space ready and may be easier to get established in hot, dry weather. Transplants cost more than seeds, though, and you may have more trouble finding plants, especially of unusual varieties. Check your favorite plant and seed sources now to see what they have available for fall.

Timing is everything
Be sure to plant in time for your veggies to reach eating stage before cold weather settles in. You can harvest herb snippets and outer leaves of greens—and cole crops grown for their leaves—when the plants are still small, but green beans and most cole and root crops need time to mature. Seed packets and plant tags will give you average days to harvest, but here are some guidelines for planting dates to maximize your chances of producing a fall crop:

  • July 1 to July 15: green beans
  • July 1 to August 15: cole crops, parsley, and parsnips
  • July 15 to September 15: carrots, lettuce, mustard, and turnips
  • August 1 to September 15: arugula, beets, chard, dill, radishes, rutabaga, and spinach

You can push these limits if fall weather is mild, but frost will damage or kill tender plants, so consider how much money and time you’re willing to risk before putting in late plantings.

Don’t plant and forget
Be sure you will be around to water, weed, and fertilize your fall garden and watch for pests. Plan on daily attention to newly planted fall crops, especially if we have high temperatures and/or little rain.

Learn more
The N.C. Cooperative Extension publication, Vegetable Gardening: A Beginner’s Guide, is an excellent tutorial and resource. To view, go to http://content.ces.ncsu.edu/home-vegetable-gardening-a-quick-reference-guide.

Enjoy your fall harvest!

Article written by Debbie Green, Extension Master Gardener Volunteer.

Photographs of lettuce, beets, and spinach by Lucy Bradley, NCSU Cooperative Extension; radishes by Kim Ogburn, Buncombe County Extension Master Gardener Volunteer.

What NOT to Do in the Garden

Frost has left your yard looking kind of dead. You hear the neighbors blowing leaves and see them busily tidying up—you feel guilty that you’re going out for a hike or sitting inside dreaming of next spring rather than doing yardwork. But you may be doing your landscape a favor by doing less!

Leaves that need to be raked, bagged or not ?

What to do with leaves?
Do you really need to rake up and dispose of leaves?
Leave them! In many cases, you can simply leave them where they fall: in wooded areas, under trees or shrubs, on your vegetable garden, flower beds—in fact, almost anywhere but a lawn, leaves can act as a mulch and eventual soil enrichment.
• Move them where needed. If the leaves are constantly blowing back onto your lawn, or are matting and smothering groundcovers or small plants, move them to other areas where they can break down in peace.
• Shred them with a shredder or lawn mower. Shredding will help leaves stay in place and break down more quickly. Using a mulching mower on your lawn before leaves get too deep will save you from raking there, too.
• The bottom line: If you must rake, save your leaves in a compost pile or in an unobtrusive area of your yard to spread back on your planting beds once they break down.

What about leaf blowers?
If you must move leaves around, consider that these concerns—Electric or gas blowers may:
• Harm beneficial insects, small animals and their habitats
• Damage plants and shrubs
• Create noise and air pollution.

What about pruning?
With the exception of diseased or damaged wood, leave pruning shrubs and trees until late winter—or immediately after bloom in the case of trees and shrubs that bloom on “old” wood.

Evening primrose_Oenothera biennis_seed pods_Andreas Rockstein_CC BY-SA 2.0_Flickr
Consider leaving seed heads for awhile.

What about annual and perennial plants?
Although you may be tempted to cut everything back in the interest of neatness, consider leaving dried seed heads for winter interest, self-sowing, and feeding the birds—at least until the seeds are gone or stems start to break down. One exception, of course, is if plants seed so aggressively that they become nuisances. Consider removing such plants and replacing them with more desirable alternatives.

Enjoy your break from yardwork!
Take time to reflect on what is working well in your garden and what needs rethinking. How does your yard look at this time of year? Does it have good “bones” that make it attractive in all four seasons, or do you need to consider adding some new plants that look good in fall or winter? Do you need to remove failing or overgrown trees or shrubs? Is there too much lawn? You still have time to plant this fall—until the ground is frozen—or start planning for next year!

Take time to evaluate your landscape.

Article by Debbie Green, Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteer

For more information about fall planting:

https://chatham.ces.ncsu.edu/2017/09/fall-is-the-best-time-to-plant-trees-and-shrubs/

 

The Garden Detective: Dusty-looking Plant Leaves? Could Be Powdery Mildew.

Q: I noticed that my bee balm and phlox looked bad this year. The leaves were covered with a white powdery substance. What is this stuff and is there anything I can do to control or prevent it next year?

Powdery mildew on Monarda didyma_Emma Cooper_CC BY-NC 2.0_Flickr
Powdery mildew on Monarda leaf

A: A fungus (from the genus Erysiphe) attacked your plants! Many Erysiphe species produce powdery mildew—what looks like white dust on plant leaves, stems, and even flowers.

Distinguishing powdery mildew from other plant problems
There are other plant mildews that cause a white, powdery appearance—most notably downy mildew. For more information on the difference, see the blog Mildew on Plants? What to Watch for!

Spider mite damage_AgriLife Extension Service_CC BY-NC-ND 2.0_Flickr
Spider mite webbing is sign of insect problem, not disease.

Also, serious infestations of tiny insect pests, such as spider mites, white flies, woolly aphids, or mealy bugs, may make your plants look white! If you look closely, you can see spider mite webbing, white flies flying, or aphid or mealy bug individuals to determine if you have an insect problem rather than a disease! 

What conditions favor powdery mildew?

  • Low light
  • Wet leaves and high humidity
  • Overcrowded gardens with poor air circulation
  • Excessive nitrogen fertilization

Powdery mildew’s preferred climate—hot dry days, cool nights, and morning fog—means that for gardeners in Western North Carolina, powdery mildew is a fact of life. 

Plant damage
Powdery mildew requires living plant tissue for its vegetative part (the mycelium) to grow. Mats of branching mycelium threads absorb nutrients. As these mats spread, they decrease photosynthesis, causing affected leaves to look yellow (chlorotic). 

Powdery mildew on pumpkin leaves_Jeff Kubina_CC BY-SA 2.0_Flickr
Powdery mildew on pumpkin leaf

Susceptible plants
There isn’t much that powdery mildew doesn’t go after. It affects more than 1,300 plants! The good news is that it is host specific—different fungal strains affect different plants. In addition to the perennials you mentioned, different fungal species cause problems for some ornamental trees, such as our beloved flowering dogwood (Cornus florida), vegetables—cucumbers in particular—and many fruits, including apples, strawberries, peaches, and grapes.

Minimizing powdery mildew infections
Given the growing conditions in Western North Carolina, eliminating powdery mildew is a bit like Don Quixote tilting at windmills! 

Monarda 'Marshall's Delight'_Chadwick Arboretum_CC BY-NC-ND 2.0_Flickr
Monarda didyma ‘Marshall’s Delight’

Selecting disease resistant varieties is a better approach. Ask for disease resistant cultivars when shopping—or go with a list of desirable varieties. One good source is our own NCSU Mountain Horticultural and Crops Research Center in Fletcher, N.C. Testing done by Extension Specialist Dr. Richard Bir gives the following perennial cultivars high marks.

Among bee balm (Monarda didyma) varieties:

  • Early Blooming – ‘Claire Grace,’ ‘Marshall’s Delight,’ and ‘Stone’s Throw Pink.’
  • Late Blooming – ‘Beauty of Cobham,’ ‘Blue Stocking,’ ‘Cambridge Scarlet,’ ‘Elsie’s Lavender,’ ‘Mahogany,’ ‘Marshall’s Delight,’ and ‘Vintage Wine.’
Phlox paniculata 'David'_Karen_Hine_CC BY-SA 2.0_Flickr
Phlox paniculata ‘David’

Among garden phlox (Phlox paniculate) varieties:

  • ‘David,’ ‘Robert Poore,’ ‘Bright Eyes,’ ‘Eva Cullum,’ ‘Fairest One,’ ‘Franz Shubert,’ ‘Natascha,’ ‘Orange Perfection,’ ‘Rosalinde,’ and ‘Starfire.’

Because powdery mildew is such a threat to flowering dogwoods, major agricultural universities, including NCSU, have undertaken decades of research to create disease-resistant varieties. When purchasing look for crosses between Cornus florida and Cornus kousa, such as ‘Stardust,’ ‘Stella,’ and ‘Celestial.’

NOTE: Resistance doesn’t mean immunity, but it does mean that there is a reduction of disease growth in the plant.

Improve your growing conditions. Once you have selected the right variety, give your plants the best chance for success.

  • Grow them in full sun—if your plants can tolerate it. Powdery mildew prefers shade!
  • Give them breathing room. Encourage good air circulation by thinning and pruning.
  • Reduce or eliminate overhead watering.
  • Remove and dispose of infected leaves during the growing season. In the fall, remove and destroy infected leaves and branches.
  • Apply fungicides that target powdery mildew, remembering that most need to be applied before the onset of infection.
  • Use horticultural oil—but only if conditions are right. Some oils may cause damage if applied during warmer summer weather.

Yes, powdery mildew is a formidable opponent. But by selecting the right plants and creating an environment that impedes fungal growth, you and your garden can enjoy success next season!

Article written by Janet Moore, Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteer.

Learn more
Let’s Talk About Powdery Mildew
by Dr. Bill Hanlin, Horticulture Assistant
NC Cooperative Extension, Wilkes County, NC

Monarda and Powdery Mildew Resistance
and
An Evaluation Report of Selected Phlox Species and Hybrids
by Richard G. Hawke, Coordinator Plant Evaluation Programs
Chicago Botanic Garden

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Buncombe County Extension Office
49 Mount Carmel Road
Asheville, NC 28806
Helpline 828-255-5522

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