The Sun News

As much as I try to switch gears and start writing about issues that go beyond gardening, the abundance of vegetable patches & orchards at my farm and at friend’s places keeps me firmly rooted in the subject. As the season winds down and harvest of tender tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, corn and other delicacies is coming to an end, it is time to prepare for the cold, dark winter days ahead. It is nearly too late to plant a fall garden from seed, but one can still plant starts & seed mix for salads and leafy greens, such as kale, broccoli, mustard, chard, spinach, mizuna, bokchoy, tatsoy and many others. I am not too selective with my greens – for example I don’t really care if broccoli will make its florets – its leaves are tender and wonderful in stir fry or in omelets. I view it as a delicious mineral-rich leafy green, and don’t place my bets on the production of actual heads. Many plant nurseries offer fall garden starts at good prices, and I get as a diverse a mix as I can. The starts are small, easy to plant and they will take off in this warm gentle fall weather, especially if you build a cold frame or a small hoop house to shelter them from the elements.

Other pleasures of fall gardening include juicing apples, planting garlic, and dividing perennials for your orchard or a garden. To juice apples one is best invited to a sophisticated household in possession of both large quantities of apples and an apple press. Such people tend to feel overwhelmed with the bounty of fruit and its consequences and are happy to have eager help and share juice in exchange. Of course this would involve some networking and asking around, but it can be done and now is the time to start lining up your apple juicing weekend. I freeze all apple juice as it is unpasturized and will not store for long.

Garlic is best planted in mid to late October, for harvest the following summer. Seed garlic can be purchased at the Farmers’ Market – just find largest possible cloves and plant these. A 25’ row is said to be enough for a family of four for one year. I planted about that much and had enough for some major canning involving garlic, and to last for a whole year! I mix my garlic with other plants – tomatoes, eggplants, basil all seem to do well in its company.

After a good frost I will dig up some of my Jerusalem artichoke tubers – these are so good raw, fried or boiled like potatoes! And the plant grows well, it looks like a sunflower, is a perennial and takes no maintenance. It is good as a garden hedge, or an accent plant in your yard. Some farmers now sell Jerusalem artichoke tubers at the market – get enough to eat and to plant some too. It will spread some and make a large hedge, so plant accordingly where it is not in the way of smaller and more delicate things. My Jerusalem artichokes are planted on the perimeter of the garden, where they are surrounded by other perennials and herbs. Soon I will be taking my shovel and beginning to divide these into more plants to put under my new fruit trees where they will draw bees & native pollinators. Division is easy and is done by driving a sharp shovel through the middle of the plant to make two or four pieces; you can also just dig up the whole plant and break it into pieces. Clearly not all plants can be divided, and I will leave it to you to consult your books and intuition case by case. However, most can be split up and relocated where they are needed – so they can also grow roots all winter long for a good head start.

For my friend Mary Zemach from Los Alamos, fall also means the beginning of mulching season, as she gets all the leaves her neighbors dutifully clean up from their yards and deliver to her yard, where she incorporates them into her soil. Mary’s garden is so amazing that it is featured on the cover of a fantastic book called The Gaia’s Garden, by Toby Hemenway. It snows in Los Alamos more than in Santa Fe, so leaf mulch composts beautifully. At a lower elevation one is well advised to water mulch to encourage decomposition that provides all the benefits to soils and plants that incur.

Arina Pittman is a farmer, designer, gardener and sustainability practitioner. She lives in Jacona, NM among her chickens, goats and fruit trees, and runs “Lots of Life in One Place”, a permaculture demonstration farm with focus in Sustainable Living in Drylands. You can learn more about upcoming permaculture classes and applications on Arina’s website, www.permaculture.org , or read her blog on Farming & Permaculture at www.lotsoflifeinoneplace.blogspot.com