One advantage we have in Texas is that we can grow vegetables all year long. Fall, winter and spring can be some of the most rewarding times of the year to garden.
You will need to get ready while it is still hot by making plans, enlarging or creating garden beds, or renewing beds that need to be cleaned out and given a good dose of organic compost before planting.
Melody Fitzgerald is a McLennan County Master Gardener who has spent more than 35 years facing the challenges of Central Texas gardening.
This is a good time to think about what you would like to grow this fall. Once it cools off you can plant herbs, perennial flowers, shrubs and vegetables. All these things will do better than if they were planted in the spring. You can also plant bulbs and tubers in the fall garden for blooms next spring.
If you plan well you can plant these now and enjoy them at the earliest hint of spring. If you don’t plant irises now, for instance, it will be hard to locate tubers for beautiful, but rare varieties later on in the year.
In the vegetable and herb garden, you can plant fall vegetables and most herbs as soon as it stops being hot and cool fall days become the norm. Here is a good list of what vegetables you can plant: lettuces, greens, beets, carrots, onions, garlic, chives, bok choy and radishes.
Try the Unusual
This is a good time of the year to explore unusual varieties of such things as greens and lettuces that come in many exciting colors and shapes. Try a range of Chinese vegetables and get to know these nutritious and fun vegetables for a new taste treat for your dinner table.
Did you know there are green radishes, lettuces in almost any color you can imagine, and many varieties of both that you have never tried before? Be sure to grow Swiss chard because there is no weather that Texas can throw at it that will defeat it — it grows in icy-cold weather or 104-degree summer heat.
The only real threat to it is snails. Go to a dollar store and buy hot chili peppers that have been grated up. Sprinkle all around where your Swiss chard and other greens are growing. This renders the area almost snail-proof. It’s the best thing I have ever tried. While you are at it, sprinkle your irises, too.
Grow Herbs
If you have never grown your own herbs, you need to begin now. This is a fun and useful hobby. I love to cook Italian sauces. I put on some fresh tomatoes on the stove and then head out to the garden. I pick basil, garlic, onions, oregano and rosemary.
I defy anyone to come to my house after those things are cooking with the tomatoes of not wanting a big bowl of pasta with homemade sauce. By the way, my daughter and I who both cook for enjoyment have found out that when using fresh tomatoes, you do not have to peel them. Just cut them up and ignore the fact they have skins — it just doesn’t matter.
When people ask me what is the easiest thing to grow I tell them it’s herbs. Herbs are not often bothered by insects or diseases and most of them come back year after year without replanting.
Most will continue to yield a harvest all year long so you are never out of fresh herbs for cooking. They will tolerate more shade than most vegetables too, so you may be able to fit them into an area in which you thought you couldn’t grow anything edible.
The exception to this is basil, which must have warm weather. I can forgive basil its weakness, however, because basil grows very well from mid-April to the first time it freezes in the late fall. When you go out to pick basil, snip off the top growth, especially any flower stalks.
Basil should never be allowed to bloom. The plant will respond by growing bushy and full of wonderful and fragrant leaves just waiting to be made into a wonderful sauce for your dinner table. In addition to Italian basil, this fall and next spring, try growing Tail basil. It has the most delicious, subtle flavor for Asian dishes. Combine it with ginger, garlic and sesame seed oil for a delightful experience.
I hope I have inspired you with the great things you can grow and cook with this fall if you plant these suggestions in your garden. Everything will look great in the garden, and if you cook with these vegetables and herbs, you could gain a reputation as a great chef.
Melody Fitzgerald is a McLennan County Master Gardener who has spent more than 35 years facing the challenges of Central Texas gardening.
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August 27, 2020 at 12:30PM
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Garden: Vegetables for fall - Waco Tribune-Herald
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