Fall Planting Guide for the NC Piedmont Region

Have the summer heat and insects already got you dreaming about growing cool season Brassica family crops like Brussels sprouts and broccoli? Remember that while these and other popular ‘Fall’ cultivars like collard greens, kohlrabi, cabbage and kale do thrive in cooler weather, they must be planted in mid to late summer here in the NC piedmont, in order to successfully yield in the autumn months.

Brussels sprouts, for example, need 100-120 days to fully develop, and must be started mid-summer in order to be ready to harvest in late October or November.

Much of the reason for starting these varieties (as well as root vegetables and even some leafy green varieties)  in some of the hottest months of the year has less to do with temperature, and more about daylight. Cultivars that need several months to develop, like cabbage and cauliflower, must be established when the days are long In order  to achieve the necessary amount of vegetative growth before the cooler nights, and shorter days ahead where growth slows down significantly.

But a broccoli or Brussels sprout planted in September would still grow, right? Sure, they would grow some in size, but actual yields of broccoli florets or Brussels sprouts would be disappointing because the shorter days in November and December would prevent the plant from fully developing until next spring, if at all.

The planting guides below are specific to North Carolina, but note that unless where specified on the Wyatt Quarles guide, the recommended planting dates in the Wyatt Quarles and NC State Extension office are for direct sowing seed. Many of the suggested cultivars in the Wyatt Quarles and NC State guides are not open pollinated or heirrloom varieties, and if you're interested in saving seed, or simply want to grow heirloom varieties, check out the seed catalogs at Southern Exposure Seed Exchange or Sow True Seed - both of which have heirloom cultivars that are well adapted to the mid atlantic region.

The dates in our own fall planting guide, shown at the top of the list, are for transplants, unless specified as direct seed.

July 15 - August 15

Broccoli
Brussels sprouts
Cauliflower
Cabbage

August 1 – Sept 1

Kale
Kohlrabi
Collard Greens
Chinese cabbage
Beets
Leeks
Lettuces
Onion Sets
Radish (seed)
Rutabaga (seed)
Carrot (seed)
Turnip (seed)

Sept 1 - Oct 1

Beets
Lettuces
Spinach
Kale
Mustard Greens

Oct 1 - Nov 1

Lettuces
Spinach

Function Meets Curb Appeal : The Leoni Family's Organic Garden

For several years the The Leoni family’s landscape has been evolving almost as fast as their appetite for locally grown organic produce.  They’re plans for a completely revamped backyard included an organic garden, but strict community regulations meant that, in addition to growing  organic produce, their backyard garden also had to meet  the neighborhood’s  high standard for aesthetic appeal.

The design we made for the Leoni family features a large, L shaped raised bed for growing vegetable varieties, with a smaller, square shaped bed perfect  for culinary herbs.

 The Leoni family’s raised beds were made using  five layers of Western Red Cedar 4”x4” timbers, which gave them a depth of about 18 inches.  The beds were filled with a blend of pine bark fines, mushroom compost, and Stalite PermaTill, and amended with Microfarm Mix ; a blend of Dried Blood Meal, Bone Meal, Kelp Meal, Green Sand, Rock Phosphate, and Dolomite Lime.

To create attractive, functional pathways around the beds, we installed heavy gauge steel landscape edging in a perimeter around the beds. In order to control weeks in the walkways, we first pinned down premium grade professional landscape fabric, then covered it with two cubic yards of small glacier pebbles.

By the end of the day, the beds were planted and glacier pebbles raked smooth…and the Leoni family finally had  an attractive and functional organic garden that the neighbors will enjoy almost as much as they do.

Meet the Indian Neem Tree... "The Village Pharmacy"

While relatively new in the Western world, all parts of the neem tree – referred to as the ‘Village Pharmacy’- have been used in India for thousands of years.  We use neem oil in horticultural applications to control insect pests, but it is also increasingly used worldwide as an insect repellent, skin care ingredient, contraceptive, and medicine with hundreds of uses.

There’s lots of buzz about neem oil, and other products from the exotic Indian tree, but less so about the tree itself. So what's the scoop on the Neem tree?

Azadirachta indica  is the botanical name for the neem tree, and translates as "The Free Tree Of India"

The neem tree belongs to the botanical family Meliaceae; the same family as the mahogany tree.

It’s an attractive, fast growing shade tree that can with spreading branches with dark green leaves that form a dense, round canopy, up to 60’ wide. The neem tree can grow to 100’ tall but typically tops out around 30’-40’

The neem tree has large clusters of aromatic flowers made up of up to 250 individual white blooms that can be smelled miles away.

The olive like, fruit is oval to round and thin skinned, and while edible, is not especially tasty. Every neem fruit contains one, and sometimes two or three, seeds.

The Neem tree is easy to grow in a wide range of temperatures and conditions, and can live for 150+ years.

Mycorrhizae : The Friendly Fungus

Imagine a sprawling underground network-invisible to the human eye- that would allow your neighbor’s apple tree across the street to share nutrients with the tomato plants growing in your backyard. It’s real, and made possible by a beneficial soil fungi call mycorrhizae.

Scientists believe that mycorrhizae are one of the main reasons plants were able to make the transition from sea to land millions of years ago – helping plants make the drastic transition from nutrient rich ocean life to a harsh, salty land environment.

Mycorrhizae work by creating an extensive network of microscopic filaments that allows nutrient transfer among plants.  They penetrate growing plant root tissues, surround the root mass, and extend far into the surrounding soil, encompassing a much larger volume of soil than is occupied by the plant’s own root system. The fungi’s long threadlike mycelia take in nitrogen, phosphorous, and other nutrients from the soil, consuming some but also generously sharing these nutrients with the host plant.  In return, the plant provides the mycorrhizal fungi with photosynthesized nutrients like sucrose, fructose, and glucose.

While helping plant roots absorb more nutrients, mycorrhizae also improve drought tolerance, and help create ideal soil structure ; aerated soil with good drainage that maintains optimum moisture levels.  The much sought after crumbly, black loam soil texture is the result, in part, of the presence of long term mycorrizal activity. Their long hair like  filaments called hyphae accumulate in the soil over time, and bind larger, sand sized,  soil particles together, helping create friable, high quality soil.

5 Ways to Preserve and Store Fresh Eggs

Refrigeration  (5 weeks)
Store eggs in a closed carton on the lowest shelf of the refrigerator.

Freezing  (1 year)
Only freeze raw eggs with the shells removed.  Break whole eggs into a bowl, blend the yolks and the whites, and press through a sieve. Add ½ teaspoon of salt to each cup of eggs for a main dish, or ½ tablespoon of honey or sugar for a dessert, and freeze in containers. Ideal  storage temperature is 0 degrees F.

Pickling  (6 months)
Pickle small and medium sized eggs in a wide mouth jar. Either use solution from prepared cucumber pickles or pickled beets, or mix up a solution of vinegar and spices like salt, pepper, cinnamon, dry mustard or cloves. Place cooked and hard peeled eggs in a jar, and our boiling solution over them. Refrigerate the eggs, and season eggs for at least 4 weeks.

Oiling (7 months)
Wait 24 hours after eggs have been laid before oiling. Heat white mineral oil to 180 degrees for 20 minutes, then pour into a small bowl and allow to cool to 70 degrees. Dip the eggs into the oil one at a time with tongs or a slotted spoon, and place each egg on a rack so that excess oil can drain. Ideal storage temperature is  31 degrees F.

Water Glass (6 months)
‘Water Glass’ is a sodium silicate solution that can be purchased at drugstores.  Mix one part water glass to ten parts boiling water, and let cool. Place eggs in a jar, filling it so that they are covered by at least 2” of solution. Screw the lid onto the jar and store in a cool place like the refrigerator or basement.  Ideal storage temperature is 34 degrees F.