Tips for Planting Delectable Fall Veggies in Powell River
While many gardeners across Canada are thinking about their final harvest and getting ready to put the garden to bed for winter, we’re lucky enough to get a second chance to plant a new crop of veggies for harvest this fall. Imagine the Thanksgiving table full of freshly picked produce from your garden!
Our first frost generally comes towards the end of October in Powell River. Even if you estimate conservatively, expecting frost by October 20, we’ve got about 70 days left to grow between August 9 and October 20. Plus, you can cover plants for those first few touches of frost and eke out a couple of extra weeks, even into November.
Since we’ve written about the basics of fall and winter growing before, we’re going to focus on our absolute favourite fall crops in this blog post.
What Veg Can I Plant Now?
There are quite a few things you can plant in August, directly from seed, or from transplants. The main things to consider are maturation dates, and how much time you want to spend taking care of your garden in the fall. If you are looking for easy and low maintenance, choose seeds that say the plants mature in 60 days or less, or come pick up some starter plants at the greenhouse, they’ll start producing fruit much sooner.
On the maintenance side of things, you can keep your garden producing right through the winter, if you’re willing to cover and uncover outdoor plants on frosty nights or grow in cold frames or a greenhouse.
Here are 5 of our favourite veggie varieties you can grow for fall harvests.
Purple Sprouting Broccoli
This unique and tasty broccoli is actually a perennial vegetable, tolerating temperatures as low as -12ºC! It takes a long time to grow from seed, 220 days to mature, but you should get tasty broccoli from it this winter if you start it from transplants.
Snow Crown Cauliflower
This cauliflower is fast and delicious, maturing in 60 days. If you plant a few now and then more in 7-10 days, you’ll have cauliflower through to November. The cooler temperatures of fall generally mean fewer problems with pests, but it’s still a good idea to use row covers over your brassicas like broccoli and cauliflower.
Seaside Spinach
Seaside spinach is one of the fastest varieties, maturing in just 25 days. If you plant a row every 7-10 days through August and early September, you’ll have as much spinach as you could possibly want this fall. It has excellent flavour, produces profusely, and is resistant to downy mildew.
Walla Walla Onion
Walla Walla onions are some of the sweetest onions out there, and they produce large onion bulbs, perfect for sandwich slices. If you plant them right now, early in August, you’ll be able to harvest the greens all winter long until April. In May, the bulbs will start to grow, and you’ll have large onions ready for harvest at the end of June.
Buttercrunch Lettuce
Buttercrunch lettuce has such fantastic flavour and rich texture. It matures in 67 days, so if you plant a new row every 7-14 days, you’ll have plenty of gorgeous lettuce for salads and sandwiches well into the winter this year. It’s an annual plant, but it can tolerate temperatures well below zero.
While you’re thinking up ideas for planting up your fall containers, don’t forget about adding a second crop of veggies for fall as well. You can enjoy homegrown produce year-round here. And don’t forget about garlic; it should be going in the ground pretty soon, too!