Prepare soil in fall for spring Victory Gardens.

On this Veteran’s Day, think back to the Victory Gardens planted all over the United States during World War II. Gardeners and non-gardeners alike dug up their front yards and planted vegetables. By planting and growing their own vegetables, Americans were able to provide more fresh fruits and vegetables to the troops overseas.

The idea of saving money by growing some of your own produce has again become popular, thanks to the economy. And while most people aren’t digging up their front yards like their World War II era grandparents did, many are digging up a plot in their backyards and planting vegetables.

Fall is the time to dig up and prepare the ground for planting garden vegetables next spring. It’s also the best time to add soil amendments to your garden plot. Many additives, such as potassium and potash in the form of lime or sulfur are not immediately available for the plants to use. Adding them to the soil in autumn gives the soil time to incorporate them and change the composition of the soil. Seeds and transplants sown the following spring can immediately benefit from the soil improvements made the previous fall.

Contact your local County Agricultural Extension Office and request a kit to take soil samples. Follow the instructions and send in soil samples from different areas of your yard or garden. The Extension Office will test your soil and send you a report with the results. They will also offer recommendations for amendments that your soil needs to produce optimum growth of garden fruits and vegetables.

When adding the recommended amounts of potassium or sulfur to correct the pH of your soil, incorporate organic matter to improve the texture of your soil.

Add as much compost as you can get your hands on. Buy large bales of peat moss at the garden center. Incorporate one cubic yard of peat moss for every 50 to 100 square feet of garden bed.

Finally, plant a cover crop of clover or winter rye. Leave it until very early spring and then incorporate it into the soil with a rototiller or by turning the soil over with a garden spade. The remains of the cover crop will add more organic matter to your soil as it breaks down. By the time you’re ready to plant in mid to late spring, the cover crop will have turned into organic compost in your vegetable garden.

A blossom on a snow pea vine. Toss them into salads for color and flavor.

Late summer is the time to start planting for fall harvests. Now is the time to plant vegetables that prefer to mature during cool weather.

Plant Pisum sativum—the English garden type along with edible podded snow and snap varieties—in early to mid August for harvesting in mid to late September.

Plant peas in between the rows of corn in your garden. The corn will mature and be harvested long before the peas need the room. Another good place to plant fall peas is where lettuce or other greens were growing. These leafy crops deplete supplies of available nitrogen in the soil and the roots of peas “fix” nitrogen into the soil.

This is a complicated scientific process that I’m not qualified to explain. Suffice it to say that it works. Once the plants are finished producing, leave their roots in the ground and they will release the captured nitrogen into the soil where it can be used by other plants that you subsequently grow in the same area.

When planting peas for fall, plant them almost twice as deep as spring-planted peas. This will help keep the seeds cool and also from drying out before they germinate. In any case, keep them well-watered to avoid over stressing them and also mulch the soil to keep it cool.

Space the seeds about two inches apart and thin the seedlings to about four inches apart when they’re three inches high.

Snap peas and Oriental snow peas grow tall enough to require some type of support for them to climb upon. English garden peas only grow about 12 to 18 inches high and do not need such support.

The blossoms and new growth shoots of pea vines are also edible. In fact, the seedlings that you thin are completely edible. Simply pinch off the roots and toss them into a salad or stir-fry.

Check your pea vines daily once they start producing. Edible podded peas are best eaten when the peas inside are just starting to swell. English garden peas, traditionally eaten when plump and succulent, can quickly become tough and woody if left too long on the vines.

When freezing weather kills off the vines, leave the roots in the soil. By spring they will be nearly completely decomposed and ready to plant a crop that likes rich, well-fertilized soil, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, or melons.

Fingerling potatoes--a rare find at the farmer's market.

Fingerling potatoes are smaller than regular potatoes and are shaped like fat fingers.  But they pack a whole bunch of flavor into those chubby “fingers.”  Available in purple and red, but most often yellow—like Yukon Gold potatoes—fingerling potatoes have a buttery flavor and waxy texture that make them perfect for salads and hot dishes.

Members of the Solanaceae family, fingerling potatoes’ Latin name is Solanum tuberosum.  They are native to the Andes Mountains in Peru, as are the more familiar, regular sized potatoes.

Fingerling potatoes are grown just like regular potatoes with an exception.  Don’t try to harvest them for “new potatoes,” in mid-summer—they won’t be large enough.  Wait the full 90 to 120 days potatoes take to mature, or until the vines start to die down in early fall, then harvest as full-sized (for them), mature potatoes.

Cut pieces of “seed potatoes” for fingerlings smaller than you would for regular potatoes.  Cut into pieces weighing approximately one ounce and that contain at least two “eyes.”  A pound of fingerling seed pieces will produce about 20 pounds of fingerling potatoes.  That’s more than twice the yield of regular potatoes.

Plant pieces of “seed potatoes” 4 to 6 inches deep and 18 inches apart in rows 36 inches apart.  Fingerling potatoes need loose, deep, sandy soil that has been improved with additions of compost, organic matter, and/or manure.

About 3 to 4 weeks after the sprouts emerge, hill up the soil, leaving only the top third of the sprout above the soil line.  Hill up again two to three weeks later, and keep repeating until flowers appear.  At that time, mulch soil with 4 to 6 inches of straw or other organic mulch.

Provide consistent moisture; even a brief dry period will produce smaller, misshapen tubers.  To control disease and fungus, water potatoes with a soaker hose rather than a sprinkler or other overhead method.

Fingerling potatoes are just as easy to grow as regular potatoes and they taste better and produce more.  Considering their premium prices at the supermarket and farmer’s market, they’re well worth growing in the home garden.

Butternut squash

Butternut squash has the tastiest flesh of any type of winter squash.  It lasts the longest in storage, too.  In fact, most canned pumpkin in the United States is actually butternut squash.  I use the fresh version, pre-baked of course, to make my “pumpkin” pie.

Butternut squash, classified botanically as Cucurbita moshata, are native to South America but have been spread around the world by humans.  Butternut squash are grown everywhere except the far northern areas of Europe, Asia, and North America.  The summers are too short and not hot enough for the squashes to fully mature in these areas.

Butternut squash mature in 80 to 110 days and cannot be planted until after all danger of frost is past and the ground is thoroughly warmed up.  They grow best in hot weather and will stop growing if you plant them too early and a late cold spell hits.

Butternut squash need well-drained, rich, fertile soil.  They don’t like excessive amounts of water but need regular watering throughout the growing season.

Plant butternut squash seeds in hills spaced 5 to 6 feet apart in all directions.   Plant 4 to 5 seeds per hill and thin to the strongest 2 to 3 plants.  For semi-vining or bush varieties, decrease the spacing to 3 to 4 feet apart in each direction.

Cultivate shallowly to keep weeds down until the vines become more robust.  The large leaves of butternut squash vines will control weed growth once the season is well underway.

Harvest butternut squash when the stems dry out and the squash have a deep, rich color.  Leave a two inch piece of stem on each squash to prevent disease organisms from entering the interior of the squash and causing premature decay.

Harden off butternut squash for about two weeks at temperatures above 68 degrees F.  After that, store in a dry, airy place between 45 and 60 degrees F.  Stored under these conditions, butternut squash will keep for six months or more.

Ornamental cabbages sold in a bouquet of cut flowers at the farmer's market.

Ornamental cabbages are one of the last spots of fresh color in the landscape at this time of year.  Although they are edible, ornamental cabbages are grown for their colorful leaves.  They come in colors ranging from reds, to purples, to pinks, to whites, with ruffled foliage that is much fancier than regular cabbage.

Ornamental cabbages share the same botanical name as edible cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower—Brassica oleracea. The ornamental varieties are edible too, but they are not as tasty and tender as their “edible” counterparts.

Grow ornamental cabbages the same way you grow regular, edible cabbages.  Plant in full sun in rich, fertile soil.  While ornamental cabbages can be started in individual pots and transplanted to the garden, the plants will grow better and produce healthier and larger cabbages if direct seeded in the garden where they are to grow.  Plant seeds 6 to 10 weeks before your first anticipated fall frost.

Plant seeds 6 inches apart in rows 18 to 24 inches apart.  Because the seeds need light to germinate, barely cover them with less than 1/8 inch of soil and do not firm the soil down.  When the plants are 3 inches high, thin to stand 18 to 24 inches apart.  Ornamental cabbages reach 18 to 24 inches in diameter, and 18 to 24 inches high.

Ornamental cabbages don’t develop their characteristic colors until touched by frost.  Subsequent frosts will intensify the colors.  Ornamental cabbages can withstand temperatures down to 5 degrees F., but must be gradually acclimated.  A sudden cold snap will be fatal.  If you watch the weather and cover the plant if large changes in temperature are expected, your ornamental cabbages can last well into early winter in the north, and even all winter in milder climates.

One caveat about ornamental cabbages:  used as a cut flower, it starts to stink like cabbage after a few days.  Get around this by cutting the ornamental cabbages for arrangements early in the day you plan to use them and discard within a day or two.

Extend your garden’s growing season with ornamental cabbages.  They are one of the last purely “for show” plants left growing in the garden at season’s end.

Cranberries can be grown by home gardeners.

Cranberries grow on small, evergreen shrubs and are sometimes called the “Rubies of the Pines.” Vaccinium macrocarpon is what the botanists call them.  Native American Indians consider cranberries a symbol of peace.

Native to North America and grown only on this continent, cranberries can be found growing on the East Coast from Newfoundland south to North Carolina and west to Minnesota.  Cranberries grow best in Zones 2 to 5.

Cranberries are for the most part grown commercially, but by providing the right conditions, the home gardener can successfully grow them, too.  Cranberries spread by “runners” and make a good ground cover.

Plant one year old transplants in spring or fall.  Space the plants about two feet apart in each direction.  Cranberries like sandy, acidic soils with good drainage and with lots of peat moss added.  They like damp soil, but do not like to sit in water during the growing season, so good drainage is essential.

Add a 2 to 3 inch layer of sand to the top of the soil every other year.  This will increase the vigor of the cranberries and increase yield.  Cover cranberry bushes with a pine needle mulch in winter.  Uncover around April 1st, but continue to protect the tender shoots from frosts and freezes into mid May.

One year old plants will flower and produce fruit after three years in your garden.  Harvest berries by hand from late September to late October.  Berries will suffer damage if exposed to temperatures below 30 degrees F.  It is not necessary to flood your cranberry patch.  Commercial operations flood their fields for easy harvesting.

After three years of fruit production, prune your cranberry patch by cutting away shoots, trimming runners and generally straightening up the bed.  Your cranberry patch will reward you by producing more berries.

Cranberries produce their own preservative, benzoic acid, and will keep several months packed in water in barrels or other breathable containers.

And then of course, there’s Thanksgiving….