In the Vegetable Garden – September 2019

By Patty Leander
Photos by Bruce Leander

Fall is on the way and with it comes one of the best gardening seasons in Texas. Though sunny and hot is still the norm, nighttime temperatures will gradually begin to cool off, and that spells R-E-L-I-E-F for plants, and for gardeners too! Traditionally the spring season, with its promise of tomatoes, wildflowers and school vacation, gets most of the attention, but the fall garden season is full of promise as well: the promise of rain, milder temperatures, fewer insects and delicious, nutritious home-grown vegetables.

Vegetables that thrive in the fall include broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale, collards, Swiss chard, radishes, carrots, turnips, beets and peas. Many Asian greens, such as bok choy, tatsoi, Chinese cabbage and mustards do especially well here in Central Texas. Heading brassicas should go in the garden as transplants since they take longer to mature, but root crops and leafy greens can be seeded directly in the garden. Provide shade and regular moisture for new plantings and feed every two weeks with a liquid fertilizer. Stress caused by wilting, lack of moisture or insect damage on broccoli and cauliflower may cause small, misshapen heads. If your garden space allows, try to stagger your plantings 7-10 days apart so that they do not all mature at the same time. The same advice goes for carrots, beets, kohlrabi and radishes.

Here is the vegetable gardener’s checklist for September:

• Grow your own transplants indoors under grow lights or outdoors under partial shade. Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, mustard and other greens will be transplant size in just 4-6 weeks. Sow seeds at weekly intervals to keep a ready supply of baby plants on hand to tuck into the landscape, into a container, or to replace mature plants that are harvested for the kitchen.
• Seed root crops in moist soil; thin to the proper spacing soon after they emerge.
• Gradually expose vegetable transplants to outdoor conditions and move them to their final growing location in the garden the latter half of this month. Be sure to provide shade as needed during the first few weeks of establishment.
• Plant sugar snap peas and snow peas during the last two weeks of September.
• Allow Southern peas to dry on the vine then shell and store in a cool, dry spot for winter consumption. Save a few seeds for planting next year.
• Brighten the garden with cool-season flowering plants like snapdragons, dianthus, alyssum, pansies and nasturtium. These bloomers like cool growing conditions so don’t plant until later in the month.
• Inspect brassica plants regularly for small, green worms and remove them or dust plants with Bt.
• Expect growth to slow down a bit as the days grow shorter and milder. Add an extra week or two to your expected harvest date to account for what we call the “fall factor.”