the garden: fall planting

The other day, Tony was lamenting back-to-school time and summer's imminent departure. "It seems like summer just started," he told me. 

Um, no. See, he drives to work. For those of us who walk to the Metro every day, it seems to me like summer, the incessant 90-degree temperatures and the wretched humidity have over-stayed their welcome. Bring on autumn breezes and light jackets. 

So I'm happy to report that I've officially declared this to be "late summer," which is when you put fall vegetables in the ground. The cool season crops that you plant in the spring also do well in the fall. 

Tony and I usually have a salad with dinner, so I planted four different kinds of lettuce and one spinach. And I get a kick out of picking radishes, so I planted three different types. 

I always have had good luck with Botanical Interests' Freckles romaine, so I'm planting a ton of it. I've had fairly good luck with Burpee's Black Seeded Simpson, so I'm trying it again. The Burpee Big Ruffles Hybrid spinach got eaten by bugs when I planted it in the ground in the spring, so I'm planting it in a pot this fall to see if that works better. And I got two kinds of lettuce from my dad, which I'm trying for the first time: Botanical Interests' Speckles butterhead and some sort of baby romaine. (Lettuce seed packets have about 10 billion seeds in each one, but you only need a seed or two in each hole, so they're good for sharing with, like, your 100 closest friends.) 

As for radishes, the Burpee Cherry Belle did well for me in the spring, so I'm planting it again. Plus, I'm trying some new fancy pants kinds: Botanical Interests' French Breakfast and NK's White Icicle. 

By the way, I love those garden label sticks (which were a present from my parents) to help me remember which variety I planted where. 

Let's talk containers. I have most of my summer vegetables in terra cotta pots, which are great for amateurs like me because the clay absorbs excess water, so it's hard to kill your plants by overwatering them. But that's not such a good quality to have in the wintertime because the excess moisture in the pots will expand when it freezes, and the pots will crack. So, I planted some of my cool-season vegetables directly in the ground, in between the summer plants that I'll have to take out when the weather turns -- and the rest I have in indestructible plastic containers. If there's a light frost, I'll try to cover the lettuce and radishes or bring the containers inside to extend their lives for a little bit. But if I forget, at least the pots won't break.

And finally, another great planting tip, which I picked up from my mom: Put a coffee filter over the holes in the bottom of your pot to make sure dirt can't escape.