By Karen Parr-Moody
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – By this time of year, many gardeners are getting ready to wind down the season. They have been hard at work since February. They’ve canned, they’ve weeded. They’re over it.
But then there is the other kind of gardener, the “crazy gardeners,” as UT Montgomery County Extension agent Karla Kean puts it. They’re the ones who plan for their next garden – the cold-weather garden – from mid-July to mid-August. Kean counts herself among this subculture.
“I like to still be able to have the lettuce, spinach and other greens available during the winter,” she says. “It’s nice to have that available in your own back yard.”
The hardiest of the fall and winter vegetables are kale, spinach and collards, which can tolerate temperatures in the low 20s and high teens, according to the Bonnie Plants guide. Some other vegetables that are cold hardy are broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and turnips.
Then there is the group of semi-hardy vegetables that will tolerate the light frosts that accompany temperatures of 29 to 32 degrees Fahrenheit. These include beets, carrots, cauliflower, radicchio, endive, lettuces and gourmet salad greens.
Kean said that the first freeze in this area is traditionally around Oct. 15, but she notes that each year it can be little different. She says that gardeners who start their plants right now will find that the major challenge are the current drought conditions.
“You’re definitely going to have to apply water,” she says.
Kean usually puts out broccoli, onions and garlic to harvest, but she also plants greens as a cover crop. These help hold the soil in place during the winter, then about six weeks before Kean plants a summer vegetable garden, she simply tills those plants into the soil.
“It helps build up the soil structure and adds organic material naturally,” Kean says. “Also, if you have a really hard clay soil that needs to be busted up, you can plant turnips and carrots – root crops – and then till them under. They will help break up the soil and bring some natural organic matter back into the soil, also.”
Kean said that getting the soil ready in such ways is particularly important with a new garden spot that needs to be prepared for a spring vegetable garden.
The UT Montgomery County Extension provides a publication on fall vegetable gardening at https://utextension.tennessee.edu/publications. This publication can be found by typing in the words “fall vegetable gardens” in the search bar.
Karen Parr-Moody began a career as a New York journalist, working as a fashion reporter for Women’s Wear Daily, a beauty editor for Young Miss and a beauty and fashion writer for both In Style and People magazines. Regionally, she has been a writer at The Leaf-Chronicle newspaper and currently writes about arts and culture for Nashville Arts magazine each month.