Your Fall Garden - What to Plant?

What Are The Benefits of a Fall Garden?
Most experienced local gardeners will tell you their favorite gardening season is in the fall. It's so nice to be outside in the cool weather after being locked inside all summer, and pests will be minimal as they are preparing to over winter.


Where Should I Get My Seeds?
Your seeds can come from a number of sources: nursery, on line retailers, seed catalogues, even the grocery store check out line. My favorite place is Plant World Nursery. They have three times the selection as Star and will have many unique varieties that are typically only found in a catalog or on line. The people there are way more experienced and knowledgeable than other retailers and they have a mindset more in line with an organic gardener than any other place.

How Long Will It Take To Harvest My Vegetables?
The days from seedling to harvest for each vegetable is shown in brackets ( ). For example you can expect to begin harvesting carrots in 60 days and radishes in 20. Always plant radishes, they are the sprinters of the garden. They are fast and rewarding to grow. Herbs are ready to pick when you think your ready to use them. They are weed like and will give you more growth after cutting. Greens like lettuce are similar and will respond well to the cut / grow / cut cycle.

What Are The Best Varieties?

Ask 5 gardeners get 6 answers. The store might have 4 varieties of spinach, the seed catalog might have 10 and no one will agree which is the best to grow here? My advise is plant what you like to eat, and don't be afraid to experiment. Staple all your empty seed packages together, record the year you planted them and save them. Try a different variety of something next year if you feel like you didn't have as much success as you had hoped. Seed producers are constantly developing new varieties and hybridizing existing varieties. If your goal is to have a salad garden, then plant all the varieties you can get your hands on and see how it goes. Keep a page of note paper somewhere to record what your impressions are with different ones. My suggestion is don't get too hung up over varieties and experiment.

GREENS
Lettuce (45)
Spinach (35)
Swiss Chard (60)
Mustard (50)

ROOTS
Beets (50)
Carrots (60)
Radishes (20!)
Turnips (30)
Parsnips (90)
Chives (50)
COLES
Cabbage (60)
Broccoli (60)
Cauliflower (60)

Brussell sprout (60)
Kohlrabi (60)
Collard (60)
Kale (50)
Rutabaga (90)

BULBS
Onions (100)
Garlic (100)
Shallots (90)
POD / STEM
Peas (60)
Beans (70)
HERBS
Mint
Parsley
Basil
Cilantro
Rosemary
Thyme
Parsley

Build A Raised Bed Garden

Why Build A Raised Bed?
Most experienced local gardeners will tell you that the preferred way to begin a garden here is to construct a raised bed planter. You should be gardening in imported soil, and the easiest way to get into farming is to build a raised bed.

Where Should It Go In My Yard?
Your going to want a spot that gives you 4-6 hours of sunlight each day. Besides the soil, the placement of your raised bed will be your most important item of preparation. Look at your yard at different times during the day and see where your sunny and shady spots are. Remember that the sun fall angle is different in the summer than the winter. You might consider removing some non productive ornamentals to put your garden in the ideal spot of your yard. Those shrubs in the best part of your yard sure look nice, but you can't eat them.

What Should I Build It Out Of?
The two things to consider are materials and size.
Materials - pine boards are the most economical option. They will last about 7-10 years and are just fine for lots of people. Red wood boards are more costly but will last half again as long as pine. Bricks will not deteriorate, are more expensive and will have a nice finished look. PVC lumber is a material growing in popularity. It comes in white or wood grain, lasts forever and insulates the soil better than the others.
Size - Your bed should be narrow enough to reach into the middle from both sides, the typical width is 4 feet, and as long as you think is appropriate for your space. Avoid a square bed that requires you to walk on the soil to get to the center. How high you build it depends on the soil that you use. The better the soil the shorter the walls. If you are going to use the tomato soil profiled above, then you only need 6-8 inches of soil. You will need 16" for any other type of soil.

Lets Look At Three Options.
A simplest and quick method of building your bed is to order a bracket kit. You'll assemble the walls with your own boards, screw everything together and your done. The mail order brackets are

$85.00 + shipping, and the pine for a 4'x8' bed should be about $125.00


The plans for this bed are easy to follow. For a 4'x8' bed 10" high expect to spend $15.00 for the hardware, $150.00 for pine, or $250.00 for redwood.

This last one is vinyl lumber. The material can be white or wood grain. I can build you one of these and have it delivered with the irrigation system installed in the bed. A 4'x8' 10" is about $180.00

Other Ideas

A Few Videos On Building A Raised Bed
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPrMvItUIuQ
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGcGNa5LnZo

Resources For Gardeners

Radio
Don Davis's 20-year-old gardening radio show. The Davis family has been involved in horticulture in Southern Nevada for two generations, and Don's highly regarded radio program is on Saturday morning from 9 to 11 a.m. on KDOX-AM, 1280. His question line is 395-1280. He also has a web site. www.outwestgardening.com

Desert Bloom Radio Program plays on KNPR, 88.9 FM Tuesdays 5:33 a.m. & 7:33 a.m., Saturdays 8:35 a.m.It's one of the best and shortest gardening radio programs. www.knpr.org/dbloom/listNEW.cfm


Cooperative Extension Office

The extension office is the field research and teaching program of UNR and is staffed by master gardeners and professors in the field of horticulture. They a great resource for information on gardening in Southern Nevada.
Cooperative Extension's ask a 'Master Gardener'

Dr. Angela O`Callaghan, Horticulture Specialist
ocallaghana@unce.unr.edu
222-3130
Robert Morris, Horticulture Specialist
morrisr@unce.unr.edu
257-5509

Vegetable Gardening in Moapa and Virgin Valleys
This is a 60 page book written by Dr. Sylvan Wittwer, the definitive document of gardening in Southern Nevada. It's a multi-year study of methods and techniques proven to work locally.

Home Vegetable Production in Southern Nevada
A PDF of a 4 page booklet written by Angela O`Callaghan

Linn Mills

Linn is the voice of gardening in Las Vegas. He works for the Springs Preserve and writes the weekly horticulture column in the RJ.
www.lvrj.com/columnists/Linn_Mills.html
His book is called Nevada Gardener's Guide
linn.mills@springspreserve.org
822-7713

Plant Sales
Numerous are held in the spring around the valley, the best way to find out about them is in Linn Mills column.

Springs Preserve

They present classes and seminars on landscaping and gardening. In the spring, they also host a very good plant sale. Linn Mills always does a column announcing it in the early spring.
www.springspreserve.org/html/educ_adult.html
www.youtube.com/user/SpringsPreserve