Green cabbage. Photo by Judith Canty Graves
“Half the interest of a garden is the constant exercise of the imagination. You are always living three, or indeed six, months hence.” — Alice Morse Earle, 1897
By Judith Canty Graves
By August, many gardeners feel that the growing season is coming to an end. For some, however, late summer is just the beginning of a whole new season. Cool-weather vegetables, such as broccoli, cabbage, rainbow chard, lettuce and Brussels sprouts, thrive in fall. August is the time to extend your gardening season and harvest an abundance of tasty vegetables well into fall, and even winter.
With so many plants finished by September, cool-weather vegetables can become the dominant plants. I enjoy seeing them on a cold morning with their vibrant green leaves. I am always surprised and delighted that these plants can endure a frosty night or even a snowfall. A period of cold weather makes them taste sweeter.
August is usually too late to start from seeds, but in late summer most garden centers offer seedlings for cool-weather vegetables. Last August, I experimented by planting some favorites such as cabbage, kale and Brussels sprouts.
I put row cover over them to protect the young plants from insects. In previous years, my early summer plantings of kale and cabbage failed because of insect damage. The benefit of fall planting is that cool evenings kill off harmful insects, giving plants a chance to mature. Not only that, but after summer vegetables finish their season, cool-weather plants display their handsome foliage!
The red cabbage, one of my favorites, produces large blue leaves with dark red veins. Green cabbages produce heads that look like roses. Even after several frosty nights last November, my cabbages were still going strong. Lacinato kale, with its dark green leaves, is also a striking fall plant. I even discovered that parsley, which I grow all summer, grows well into the fall.
Last year was my first time growing cold-hardy vegetables through an entire winter. There were several snowfalls and many freezing nights in Asheville. After each snowfall I would inspect my plants. The cabbages and Brussels sprouts would be covered with snow. One morning, after a particularly cold night, there were ice crystals on the leaves, which was a beautiful sight. Throughout the winter, my vegetables were fine.
In April, my winter plants still had surprises for me. When I removed the Brussels sprouts, the stalks contained many tiny round sprouts. The red cabbages had heads hidden in the leaves. The heads went into spring salads and the leaves went into the compost bin. I now had a clean garden bed for summer and a reward of Brussels sprouts and cabbage heads to eat.
This year, keep cool-weather vegetables in mind to extend your gardening season.
Judith Canty Graves is an Asheville gardener with a background in photojournalism. Follow @TheObservantGardener on Instagram.
