Although Labor Day has come and gone, there’s no reason to put your vegetable garden to bed just yet. From late August through September, I make the most of the Chicago area growing season by planting cool-season edibles — the same ones that I grow in spring.
Right now, I’m sowing seeds of leafy greens — bok choy, lettuce, Swiss chard, ‘leaf’ broccoli and kale — as well as radishes, carrots and beets for my fall harvest. Seeds sown now germinate quickly because the soil is still warm and many edibles, such as radishes, can be harvested in as little as 28 days or so. And some greens, like kale, become sweeter as the temperatures drop.
Which Cool-Season Edibles to Grow in the Fall
Cool-season crops prefer sunshine and cooler air temperatures. When grown in the summer heat, cool-season veggies tend to become bitter. Some, like lettuce, will send up flowers and produce seeds instead of sweet-tasting leaves
For lettuce, chard, kale and beets which have shallow roots, I sow their seeds in pots filled with soil-less potting mix or in four raised beds. In our largest bed, a 20’ x 55’ vegetable garden, I pull out rows of spent beans, squash and tomatoes, cultivate the soil, add a granular fertilizer, and then rake the planting bed smooth. When sowing seeds in a bed, I use a bamboo stake or long straight stick positioned on the ground to keep the rows evenly spaced.
Use Days to Harvest to Govern Your Choice of Plants
Choose crops that will mature just as the weather turns cold. The “days to harvest” on a seed packet refers to how long it takes from the time the seed germinates and sprouts leaves to the time when it’s ready for harvest. Germination can be as little as a few days to two weeks from the time you sow the seeds. Fall germination often happens quickly in our garden because of the warm soil.
Radishes are one of the fastest cool-season crops we grow. Some can be harvested in just under four weeks. I pick them when the roots are still small and tender. Don’t wait until they’re the size of a golf ball, otherwise they’ll be woody and spicy-hot.
I also grow nutritious and tasty beet ‘greens’ that can be harvested in 32 days. The beet roots take a bit longer — up to 55 days — but they tolerate cold weather. I harvest them when the roots are small and tender — the size of a golf ball. The same goes for carrots. Because our soil is clay-based, I grow the smaller carrot varieties, like ‘Thumbelina,’ which is round, and Adelaide, which reaches just three inches long.
Rather than grow lettuce or kale in individual pots or in a seed flat, I often ‘broadcast’ the seeds over moistened soil-less potting mix, patting them gently into the surface. Soil-less potting mix is often peat-based and dries out quickly, so I lightly spray the surface with water to keep it moist while waiting for the seeds to germinate. Want to grow kale? Click here.
When the leaf lettuce and kale leaves are about 4 inches tall, I use kitchen scissors to harvest enough for a meal. This allows the plant to sprout more leaves so you have a continuous supply until there’s a hard freeze. If you’re lucky enough to have a well-stocked garden center nearby, you may be able to purchase transplants of kale, beets or lettuce. Transplants can give you a head start on the fall harvest.
Know Your Fall Frost Date
We garden in Zone 5 which is near to the southern tip of Lake Michigan. The average date for our first fall frost is October 15. In some years, the first frost has occurred much later, even into November. Click to learn more about hardiness zones.
To plan my fall harvest, I use a calendar and count backwards from November 1st. If lettuce seeds take a few days to germinate and 30 days to begin harvesting, that brings me back to October 1st. However, I take into consideration that the daylight grows shorter each day in the fall. So, I begin sowing seeds in early September. Simply count backward from your first average fall frost date to figure out when you should sow seeds for a harvest of fall crops.
Extend the Season by Protecting Against Frost
Keep an eye on the weather especially with regard to the predicted evening low temperatures in your area. When night time temperatures are predicted to fall into the 30’s, I make sure the plants are covered by dusk. When frost threatens, I cover edibles growing in the ground with a lightweight frost cloth. Frost cloth is made of spun polyester and keeps the air around plants about 3 to 5 degrees warmer than the surrounding air. That can keep lettuce and other tender leafy greens from freezing.
I’ve covered Swiss chard with frost cloth when the night time temperatures dipped into the upper 20’s. The next morning, I removed the cloth and the leaves perked right up in the sunshine. Edibles that are grown in pots I cover with an inverted plastic pot or I will slip a garbage bag over the entire pot. Cardboard boxes, or an old sheet, will provide similar protection. Remove the covers the next day when the sun is out, or the temperatures rises.
Ideas About What to Do with Your Cool-Season Edibles Harvest
Thanks to Renée Shepherd (reneesgarden.com) for sharing her bok choy and Swiss chard recipes from her cookbooks, ‘Recipes From a Kitchen Garden,’ and ‘More Recipes from a Kitchen Garden.’
Milanese-Style Chard
1 bunch (1 pound) Swiss chard
2 T olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
6 scallions, thinly sliced
2 T chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
Pinch of nutmeg
1/4 cup chopped prosciutto or ham
2 T freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Garnish: 2 T toasted pine nuts or chopped walnuts
Trim the chard, discard tough stems and coarsely chop. In a large, deep skillet, heat olive oil, add garlic and scallions and sauté until softened and fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes. Add chard, parsley, basil, nutmeg, prosciutto or ham, and mix well together. Cover the skillet and cook over medium heat until tender and wilted, 3 to 5 minutes. Mix in Parmesan cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with nuts. Serves 4 to 6.
Orzo, Chard and Squash Casserole
1 1/2 cups orzo (rice-shaped pasta)
1 T butter
1/4 cup chopped fresh green basil
1/2 cup grated Muenster cheese
Freshly ground pepper to taste
1 T olive oil
2 medium zucchinis, quartered lengthwise, cut into 1/4-inch slices
2 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms
10 large leaves of steamed chard, coarsely chopped and drained
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 T drained capers
Salt to taste
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add orzo and reduce heat, cooking until orzo is tender, about 10 to 12 minutes. Drain, add butter, basil, Muenster cheese and freshly ground pepper. Set aside. In a large skillet, heat oil, add zucchini and mushrooms and sauté until almost tender, stirring frequently for 3 to 5 minutes. Add chopped chard and garlic. Continue cooking, stirring frequently until zucchini is soft. Stir in capers. Toss vegetables with orzo and add salt to taste. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
Fall Cool-Season Edibles – A Few Final Words
Take advantage of these cooler autumn days by growing more edibles. You’ll discover that it’s super easy and kind to your food budget. Besides, there’s nothing fresher than a salad made from greens you grew and harvested yourself. Bon Appétit!
Pity the store-bought radish in winter. Often large, woody, cracked, it tastes like it could be made of bitter plywood. Not to worry. You can have fresh-tasting radishes if you grow your own this spring.
Radishes are cool-season root vegetables. Seeds can be sown as soon as the ground is workable. Radish seeds begin to germinate once the soil reaches about 52 degrees. They can be grown in the ground, in containers or even in a shallow window box. Best of all, many are ready to harvest in as little as 21 days.
A Rainbow of Radishes
I did a quick survey of the 2018 seed catalogs and found more than 40 radish varieties in an assortment of colors and shapes. When choosing radishes, I like to think about how I’m going to use them and how they’ll look in a dish. Many are round but others taper like carrots. There are plenty of red radishes, but you’ll also find varieties that are white, deep purple, magenta, near-black, green and even pink.
These colorful root crops range in flavor from deliciously mild and mellow to pungent and spicy. I used them steamed, creamed, stir-fried or microwaved. Grated, they offer color and texture to coleslaw. And, the young leaves can be sprinkled on cooked vegetables, soups or salads.
The Long and Short of It (Radishes That Is)
There are two basic types of radishes: short and long season. Short-season or “spring” radishes, such as Cherry Queen, Early Scarlet Globe, and Cherriette mature quickly. You can harvest them about 21 days after sowing the seeds. In fact, many radishes have the shortest seed-to-harvest time of any of the vegetables we grow, making them a great project for kids.
Short-season radishes are best planted in spring and again in late summer. Hot weather and increasing daylight in spring slows their growth, causing them to “bolt” (i.e., flower), which creates woody, spicy bulbs.
Long-season or “winter” radishes are much larger and take longer to develop— about 60 days or more from sowing seeds to harvest. We plant long-season varieties, such as the Asian Daikon, in mid-summer for a late harvest. Summer Cross is a white radish that can grow 18 inches long and weigh up to a pound! Daikon radishes tend to be larger and taste more spicy-hot than their European counterparts. They prefer cool weather and grow best when sown in late summer or early fall.
Misato Rose is another autumn-harvested beauty. The outside skin is white to light green and the center is a watermelon pink. The bulbs are 3- to 4-inches wide with a crisp texture and a mild to sweet peppery flavor.
Easter Egg radishes offer a unique mix of colors in white, rose, pink, lavender and scarlet, and as the name implies, they are shaped like eggs. Rat’s Tail radish is one of the more unusual varieties, grown for its 6-inch-long edible seed pods, not the bulb. Pods, harvested in about 50 days from sowing, may be used raw in salads or stir-fried, boiled or steamed.
Know and Grow (Radishes)
Like other root crops, radishes thrive in cool, moist soil where leaves get six or more hours of sun. Short-season radishes can be sown as soon as the soil is workable in spring. Plant them just about anywhere outdoors — in the ground or a in container. Make sure the post has drainage holes and loose, fertile soil.
A well-drained sandy-loam soil amended with compost or a lightweight potting mix gets the seeds off to a good start. Plant the seeds of small globe radishes about ½-inch deep and about one inch apart. Larger varieties should be planted about ¼-inch deep and about two inches apart. To avoid crowding, thin out (remove) some of the seedlings when the leaves are about 1½ inches tall.
The smaller globe or French Breakfast radishes should be grown about an inch or so apart to allow room for the bulbs to develop. Larger varieties can be thinned so the radishes are growing two inches apart.
In heavy clay soil, it’s difficult for some varieties to enlarge their roots below the soil surface. Some, such as ‘Shogoin’ and ‘Shiroagari’ push their roots up so that most of the radish is growing above ground.
Short-season radishes make good companion plants for slower-growing crops. You can sow radishes alongside a row of carrots. The radishes will be harvested first and pulling them out will help cultivate the soil around the carrots. Planting them together (called intercropping) will also help restrict weeds. For the best flavor, radishes need to mature quickly and they need regular watering to prevent them from cracking.
Radish seeds can again be sown in early September through October for a late harvest when the weather turns cool. Radishes are generally quite cold-tolerant, but if they freeze a few times they’ll become spongy
Radish Pests
Radishes are generally trouble-free, but flea beetles, aphids, snails, slugs and a few other pests may damage the leaves. Cabbage maggots sometimes nibble through the roots. Prevention is key. After sowing seeds, place a lightweight floating row cover over the seed bed and secure with stones or landscape staples. The row cover lets the light and water in but keeps flying pests from landing and laying eggs. You can also pick larger insects off the leaves and drop them into a bucket of soapy water.
Harvesting Radishes
Pick short-season radishes before hot weather sets in and when they are young — 3/4-inch or cherry size for the round ones and 1-inch across for the long, narrow varieties. They should be firm and crisp. If they become soft and blotchy, they should be thrown into the compost pile. If you don’t use them right away, trim away the leaves and keep them in the refrigerator. To keep radishes crisp, place them in a bowl of ice water before you prepare them for a dish.
Recipes for Radishes
Sliced thin and served raw, radishes pack a refreshing crunch with few calories. They create a crispy zing in our salads, but their versatility allows them a place in many side dishes. I sometimes use them in dips, and I substitute sliced radishes for cucumbers on a sandwich. They’re especially good sliced paper thin and placed on a chunky piece of buttered French bread. Yum!
Crunchy Radish Dip
This pinkish all-purpose dip can be used with chips, crackers, bread or vegetable strips.
8 ounces of low-fat cream cheese (at room temperature)
1 T fresh lemon juice
1 T chopped fresh dill (or 1 tsp dried)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup finely chopped radishes (with or without the skin)
Stir all the ingredients together. Refrigerate for several hours.
A Few of My Favorite Radish Varieties
April Cross: This Asian daikon radish grows almost 15 inches long in about 60 days and can weigh up to a pound.
Black Spanish: Conquistadors brought this radish to North America in the 16th century. Its turnip-shaped black roots and white flesh are ready to harvest in about 60 or more days. Plant in early to late summer to mature during cool fall weather.
China Rose: Jesuit missionaries from China introduced this radish to Europe about 1850. It grows 6- to 8-inches long and 2 inches wide. Sow in spring or fall.
Easter Egg: This crisp, mild globe-shaped radish produces roots in a variety of colors in 28 days.
French Breakfast: A French favorite since the 1880s, pick this one when small—about 2 inches long. Harvest in 20 to 30 days.
German Beer (Munchen Bier): A favorite around Munich, this is an old European radish with large white tapering roots. Harvest in 60 to 70 days.The oval white radishes grow up to 6 inches long and 3 inches wide. The interior is crisp with some pungency. To reduce the heat, peel off the outer layer of skin. Best planted in summer for fall harvest.
Fuego: Bred in the U.S. this crunchy, long barrel-shaped radish is a deep scarlet red. Harvest in 25 days.
Hailstone: This pure white-skinned radish has firm crunchy flesh. Harvest in 23 to 30 days.
Mantanghong: This long-season radish (75 days) is mild and sweet. The outer skin has a slightly pungent flavor.
Miyashige: This 14- to 16-inch long daikon prized in Japan offers a mild, crisp flavor. It is best sown in late summer for harvest in 55 to 65 days.
Minowase: A daikon radish that grows to 18 inches long. Matures in about 55 days. In mild areas, plant in fall for winter harvest. In colder climates, plant in early spring or mid-summer for fall harvest.
Plum Purple: The appealing purple color and its firm crispy texture and mild flavor are reasons enough to grow this interesting radish. You can harvest it in about 25 days.
Rebel: A red uniform globe-shaped radish, this one can be harvested in 25 to 30 days.
Round Red Core Shrinmei Daikon: This 4-inch ball-shaped radish hails from China where its name means “beauty heart.” It is white with a green top and red core. Sow seeds in late summer; 50 to 60 days to harvest.
White Icicle (also called Lady Finger): Gardeners in the U.S. were growing this prized radish before 1896. Grows 4 to 5 inches long. Harvest in 30 days.
Where to Buy Radish Seeds
Look for radish seeds at most garden centers. For a wide selection of heirloom and new varieties — I counted at least 40. Onnline sources:
* Park’s Seeds www.parkseed.com
* Seed Savers Exchange, www.seedsavers.org
* Seeds of Change Inc., www.seedsofchange.com
Growing From Seed
The winter winds are howling and a layer of snow blankets our garden, but I take comfort when I think about spring. Seed catalogs began arriving in our mail box (and email) in late November. Tempting photos of tantalizing tomatoes, colorful flowers and savory herbs make me yearn for one of everything, but I know I won’t have room in the house or my garden. So, I’ve started a list of must-haves and unusual flowers and vegetables that I can grow from seed.
Growing plants from seed gives me a feeling of accomplishment (and bragging rights), and it lets me grow more varieties than I can find at local garden centers. It also saves money. A one-gallon pot of purple coneflowers, for example, can cost $8 to $10 or more. A packet of coneflower seeds can provide dozens of the same plant for about $3.
Many plants can be grown from seed indoors in spring while others, such as beans and squash, are sown directly in the garden when warm weather arrives.
Getting Started
To grow seeds indoors, you’ll need a bag or two of seed-starting or soil-less potting mix. Don’t use heavy “garden soil.” It can contain diseases and does not provide good drainage for the roots of tender seedlings. You’ll also need a container—a seed-sowing flat with individual planting cells, plastic, ceramic, or clay pots (even a clean milk carton or yogurt container will work as long as it has drainage holes in the bottom) and a tray underneath to catch the water. I slip the seed packet into a plastic Ziploc bag and put it on a stake or tag in the pots so my seedlings don’t get mixed up.
Moisten the potting mix so it’s slightly damp and place it in the pots before sowing the seeds. Study the seed packet instructions for sowing depth. If the seeds are planted too deep, they won’t sprout.
Some very fine seeds need light to sprout. I tamp them gently on the top layer of soil and sprinkle them with a paper-thin layer of fine potting mix. Most seeds germinate best if the pots are covered loosely with a sheet of plastic wrap. This helps prevent the soil mix from drying. If you grow the seedlings in a sunny window, remove the plastic wrap during the day to prevent excess heat. After the seeds germinate, place the container in a cool, bright, well-ventilated area and remove the wrap altogether.
When there are too many seedlings in one pot, I use scissors to snip off the weakest growing plants at the soil level. Eventually, most seedlings will need to go into larger pots before heading outside. When transplanting, handle the plants by the leaves, not their delicate stems.
Timing is Everything
Seed packets and seed catalogs generally include information on whether the seeds can be started indoors as well as seed spacing, planting depth, days to germination (sprouting), and days to maturity (first flowers or fruits form).
You don’t want to sow seeds too early in spring and end up with spindly plants on your windowsills because it’s too cold to put them outside. Start by determining the last frost-free date in spring for your region. In the Chicago area, the date is usually about May 15, though it can arrive later. For example, if you want to get a head start growing ‘Little Firebirds’ nasturtiums, the Renee’s Garden seed packet states that the seeds should be sown indoors three weeks before the last average frost date. For the Chicago area, I count backwards from May 15, and will plant seeds indoors around April 23.
If you’re eager for spring and start the seeds too early, you can end up with leggy or diseased plants that won’t be as successful. Use the U.S. Departmen tof Agriculture’s map to find your region’s frost-free dates.
Supplies
Seedlings need light. Once the seeds germinate, you need the right amount of light, but not too much. A bright sunny window will often suffice, but placing the pots under grow lights (available at garden centers, home improvement stores and online) provides more consistent, even light. Winter sunlight is not as strong as in the summer and there’s always the chance of dull, cloudy days so supplemental light is helpful.
Some seeds, such as sweet peas, morning glories and nasturtiums have hard seed coats that slow germination. To speed things up, I scratch the seed’s hard surface with a nail file or sandpaper or I soak the seeds for an hour before sowing them.
By early May when the air temperature has warmed, I move the potted seedlings outdoors for a few hours each day until it’s time to transplant them in the garden. This is called “hardening off” and acclimates the still-tender seedlings to cooler temperatures and stronger sunlight. I put the pots in a spot that’s protected from wind and direct sunlight. I try to gradually increase the amount of time they are outdoors each day. Before long, my windowsill seedlings will fill my borders with colorful drifts. And that’s a pleasant thought on a winter day.
Seed sources
Look for seed packets at local garden centers and check out the following online.
Johnny’s Selected Seeds, 877-564-6697
John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds, 860-567-6086
Renee’s Garden, 888-880-7228
Territorial Seed Co., 800-626-0866
The Cook’s Garden, 800-457-9703
Seed Savers Exchange, 563-382-5990
Websites and videos on seed starting abound online. We liked the information offered by the University of Minnesota Extension, titled “Starting Seed Indoors.”