Fall ’s Final Harvest
Harvesting from your home garden and putting it to bed
Text and Photo By Eden Vardy

In the race against frost at our high altitude, it seems the growing season is over just as it is getting started. With merely 90-ish days of outdoor productive gardening time, we must be vigilant about our timing and resources. In this issue, I share harvesting techniques and provide instruction for putting your garden to bed with the goal of being prepared for a full growing season next year.  In edible ASPEN’s Summer 2010 issue, I offered strategies for building an ecological garden with simple ideas for extending the growing season. If you have not yet built a garden bed, the autumn is a great time to start. Building a garden bed now will provide for a more settled, healthy garden come next spring.

Harvesting

Harvesting should be a regular activity in the garden, a routine, human-grazing delight throughout the summer and into the fall.  Harvesting can be done similarly to pruning (of the outer leaves), which encourages the plant to continue growing. I have had kale and spinach produce through the fall, even under a blanket of snow! Kale, in particular, gets sweeter after the frost. Do note: If a flowering stalk emerges from the middle of your plant, the leaves will become bitter.  Unless you are ready to save seed from this crop, chop the stalk.

Bedtime for Garden

After your final harvest, your garden is ready for rest. Putting your garden to bed is as much about preparing nutrients for spring as it is about settling and insulating the garden for winter.

Five Steps:

1.   “Chop” all the remaining stalks, leaves and plant parts you won’t use anymore. Leaving the roots in the earth keeps the garden “till-free”; preserving the precious life under the soil.

2.   Lay down the plants you chopped directly on the bed.

3.   Add manure (most ranchers are happy to give it away), grass clippings, food scraps or other nitrogen-rich substances.

4.   Add a generous (three- to six-inch) layer of leaves that have fallen from neighborhood trees (landscape companies have truckloads) or purchase straw (seed-free is better).

5.   Plant garlic cloves and other seeds to sprout in the spring. I’ve had success with kale, arugula, spinach and lettuce.  Be sure to work with a child-like attitude! The most successful garden is one that you enjoy working on!

If you need additional support in putting your garden to bed, designing an edible landscape, or living a more sustainable lifestyle, contact Aspen TREE—Together Regenerating the Environment through Education at 970.379.2323 or visit www.regeneration.us .

Stay tuned to this gardening column this winter for indoor gardening ideas! In the mean time, get out there and “GROW YOUR OWN!”