Getting Ready for the Third Season

We are getting ready for the third season.

Here at Blackberry Farm, we divide our gardens into three seasons, Spring, Summer and Fall. The Spring gardens begin with lettuce, spinach, green onions, radishes, swiss chard, english peas, potatoes and other early Spring crops.

The Summer gardens are filled with everyone’s favorites: beans, summer squash, tomatoes, corn, okra, melons and other crops that thrive in Summer.

Beginning around the July 15, we start our preparations for the Fall garden. Numerous trays are filled with seed starter mix which is then seeded with cabbage, collards, kale, swiss chard, kohlrabi and a number of other Fall greens.

By mid- to late-August, these seedlings will be ready to be set out in the various plots and will begin to mature by late Fall.

These late plantings will add a beautiful display of varying shades of green to gardens that would otherwise be barren spaces lacking the beauty that we see in our Spring and Summer gardens.

One of the great advantages that we enjoy in our Fall gardens is the fact that we can repeat our Spring plantings with the added benefits of going gradually from the hot days of late Summer to the cooler days of the Fall season.

During the month of September, we sow seeds for lettuce, radishes, turnips, mustard greens and many other varieties, as well. As the Fall season progresses, and days and nights begin to turn cooler, we look forward to the first frosts which will give the Fall greens, especially collards, a sweeter flavor. Frost on the leaves causes the sugar content to be higher.

Our advice to beginners and fellow gardeners is this: When your Summer garden begins to fade away, it is not the end of the gardening season but a new beginning. The Fall gardens can last well into the early Winter months.

– John Coykendall, Blackberry Farm Master Gardener

Click here to learn more about the Garden at Blackberry Farm.