Fall Gardens
Consider planting a fall garden if you are wondering what to do with that empty space left from your summer garden. Although tomatoes, okra and a few other garden vegetables will continue to produce late summer, most summer vegetables give up the ghost when cool temps begin to creep into our area. Generally speaking, North Mississippi experiences our first frost around Oct. 27 to Nov. 2, a fact fall vegetable gardeners need to keep in mind.
Examine seed packages for the growing time to harvest and add ten days for North Mississippi growing. This will tell you the latest day you can plant that seed in our area and expect a good harvest. There are some fall vegetables such as kale, broccoli, mustard greens, carrots, onions, and English peas that will continue to yield a crop after that date. Summer squash, tomatoes, okra and eggplant generally begin to cease production during cooler weather.
Onions grow well from transplants in the fall and are a welcome addition to the spring table. Leafy greens have a special flavor when seeds are planted in the fall. English peas put into garden soil in the fall and trellised up in the spring are a gourmet treat and easy to grow. Cilantro is a Mexican herb that grows best planted in the fall. Remember to keep your fall garden watered well during the dry days of autumn.
Start your lettuce seeds now and when cool winds begin to blow, make a low tunnel to protect them. Hoops covered with clear plastic sheeting can create a mini-greenhouse to protect tender lettuces in cold weather. Think home-grown lettuce on your Christmas dinner table!
Good fall garden advice is available online at Mississippi State Extension’s website “extension.msucares.edu”. Read “The Garden Tabloid” on that site and learn.
Bulb Collections
Anyone who has ever planted a garden or nurtured a plant grown from seed will probably attest to the miraculous nature of growing a living thing. In my mind, flower bulbs are the biggest miracles of all. Now is the time to plan and plant for spring blooms of some of nature’s loveliest flowers.
A true bulb is a self-contained plant complete with flowers that is capable of blooming every season for years, even decades, with very little care. Bulbs need several months to attain root growth that will support the foliage and flowers of the developing plant. For this reason, fall is the season to plant bulbs that bloom in the spring, which in turn produce some of the most beloved of all flowers in the south.
Narcissus is a species found across the south, even at old, abandoned homesites, showing off their naturalizing ability. Other names include daffodil, jonquil and paper-whites. They make great companions when planted with redbuds, dogwoods, azaleas, flowering quince and spirea. Recommended varieties are ‘Ice Follies’, ‘Jetfire’ and ‘Rijnveld’s Early Sensation’. Buy bulb mixes that include different varieties for months of blooms each spring.
Irises are glamorous beauties and addictive to grow because there are literally thousands of different choices. Unfortunately, they only bloom for a short time but sword-like green foliage adds unique interest to your garden for weeks. Five varieties that do well in the south as a whole are bearded ‘Sarah Taylor’, Dwarf Crested Iris, Japanese Iris ‘Goldbound’, Louisiana Iris ‘James Dickenson’ and Siberian Iris ‘Butter and Sugar’.
Snowflakes are nostalgic little bell-shaped white flowers with tiny green dots that are often passed along from one generation to another. They make an exceptional border plant for spring beds and look great with blue pansies or violas planted in front of them. ‘Gravetye Giant’ is a recommended variety due to its large size and hardiness.
Tulips are the most popular bulbs sold in the U.S. but give southerners fits. Heat and rain will often spoil their beautiful displays in our neck of the woods and they do not come back reliably at all. Your best bet are peony-style selections like ‘Angelique’ that will bloom for 2-3 weeks.
November 01, 2020 at 04:00PM
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Master Gardeners - October | | djournal.com - Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal
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