Ghost Gardener: Interesting Veggies For Your Fall Garden

October 4, 2013

I must confess here and now that I have never, and I mean NEVER, planted a vegetable garden.  Yes, basil and parsley regularly appear in my spring containers, but a full-blown plot to advertise my status as veggie novice? Hardly.  No good reason, either, since I don’t count fear of failure a good reason.

That’s all about to change, and lucky for me I have an audience to prove myself to now.  Thanks for the motivation!

One excuse I’ve used in the past is lack of proper sun in my yard, but this was just in the backyard where I have always thought that a garden should be.  I let that preconception go after viewing several neighborhood garden plots where expansive front lawns used to be.  Keep in mind that deciduous trees lose their leaves, letting in more winter sun.  Remember also that the winter sun doesn’t get quite as high in the sky during its daily arc, so that north-facing areas may be in shade from October thru March.  

What to plant besides the usual suspects of leaf lettuces and collard greens?  To find out, I spoke with my go-to horticulturist buddy Alex Crawford at Southern Vistas Garden Center here in town.  I challenged him to enlighten me—and my readers—about any new varietals with an added value that makes them better than your average cabbage.  Plus, they had to be available here in Columbia —and all of them are currently for sale at Southern Vistas and most other nurseries.

The time to plant is NOW as most winter-harvested veggies take 60-120 days to mature, so if you desire your leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables, and cold-weather herbs, let’s go!   Here are Alex’s recommendations, followed by photos of my own gardening adventure last weekend:

MALABAR SPINACH   
This PERENNIAL VINE is native to New Zealand, whose natives used the berries for dye and paint.  This spinach grows and flowers virtually year-round in our climate and can be cut back regularly (even weekly!) to promote growth.  You can harvest the young leaves to eat raw, or use the older leaves in stir-fry or to thicken soups.  As beautiful and hardy as most ornamental vines, with the added value of edible, nutritious leaves!

FAVA BEAN
Alex calls this bean bush one of the greatest winter vegetables since you can pick the young bean pods and eat them whole and then wait for other pods to mature in order to harvest the beans from their shells.  Fava Bean is the Italian name:  they go by Broad Beans here in the states.

ROMANESCO BROCCOLI
Tastes just like regular broccoli, but looks like something made by an alien computer lab.  See for yourself here.   I’m definitely planting this one!  If only for the Ahh! Factor…

 RADICCHIO
One of the newer cabbage family varietals, Radicchio is much more tender-leaved and sweet when sautéed.  And, just like Savoy Cabbage, you can harvest the bottom leaves of the smaller heads along and along as the plant matures, and it will continue to produce, unlike regular cabbage that bolts after it produces its single large head.

BRUSSELS SPROUTS
The Latin name of this plant is Gemniflora, which means plant jewels, and this really applies to this high-yield edible.  Each plant boasts an average of 30-50 sprouts that mature all at once for your feast.

Yes, I’ve heard from experienced gardeners here in the Midlands that they’ve had no luck with Brussels Sprouts.  Alex explained that this plant needs really good drainage—meaning no clay in your planting medium—and also needs to be kept continually moist, which can mean daily watering when our fall days reach temps in the 80’s.  One trick he taught me—and I need to do this—is to use a regular unglazed terra cotta planter as a slow-release waterer:  Stop up the pot’s drainage hole with silicone caulk, bury the pot up to its rim in the soil next to the Brussels sprouts plants (may need several pots), and keep the buried pot filled with water.  Cover the top with the little round saucer the container normally sits on.  Water will slowly and continuously sweat through into the soil.

KOHLRABI
See that slightly purple swelling of the stem just above ground?  That’s called a broccoli apple by Kohlrabi fans to describe the taste of this above-ground root veggie.  No need to wait for this plant to flower to produce the fruit as the broccoli apple is ready to harvest in just 45 days.  Plus, each plant produces one large and several smaller bulbs.   This is worth growing just to see who can guess what it is in a stir-fry.

VIETNAMESE CILANTRO
Finally!  A cilantro that comes back after dying out in our hot summer sun! And just look at those leaves—much heartier than regular cilantro.   Perfect for a sunny container.

LEMON CYPRESS
I have used this beautiful, lime-green dwarf conifer in containers, and now I learn that its foliage makes an incredibly aromatic tea.  Wow.  But be careful when harvesting as conifers can only handle light pruning as it won’t come back if the main trunk is severed at any point.  Put one in the ground and it’ll grow up to 10 feet tall — or keep it small in a container.

In a view from the sidewalk, here’s the wasted space in my front yard that I am transforming into treasured place.  See where the cactus is growing?  Not only does that spot get 6 hours of direct sunlight, it’s also a sheltered nook.  Will it get too hot because of this? We’ll see.

Note also the wooden frames.  Happy to say I scored these when Rebekah’s Garden closed its doors last year as they were originally used, with wire mesh stapled on top, as plant shelving.  Two are stacked here, and I will add another to form my raised bed structure after removing all the cacti and any sod that has grown there.  

 
The hardest part is screwing the wood frames together at the corners to make the stacked structure more sound.  If you’re using landscape timbers, screw the first layer to the second, the second to the third and so on.   You only need 12 – 18 of depth in your raised bed for veggies.

Once your frame is in place, simply fill it up with nutrient-rich soil.  I used Dixie Mix which is rich in organic compost and offers excellent drainage.  Plus, it’s ready to go.  I avoid using the soil in my yard as it is full of grubs that love to munch on plant roots.
 
Voila!  Here is the finished product!  Note the wire mesh panel between planter and house:  this was taken off the wooden frame and will be affixed to the house for the Malabar spinach to grow up on.  Besides kohlrabi, Brussels sprouts, Malabar spinach, fava bean, radicchio, cilantro and Romanesco broc, I’ve planted Swiss chard, Romaine lettuce, and red cabbage.  I will keep you posted on my plants’ progress.

Ghost Gardener is co-owner of Viva Verde Customized Gardening.  You can spot her in clients’ yards from Shandon to Blythewood to Forest Hills.  She’ll be sharing her fall veggie planting experience in upcoming articles.  Questions or comments?  Contact her at [email protected]