Time to plant a second crop for fall vegetables
ROMANESCO: A veritable, edible work of art, the light-green, mild-flavored, spiraled head of this broccoli can grow as large as 3 feet by 2 feet and weigh up to 4 pounds. Sow indoors and grow outdoors as you would ordinary broccoli. Credit: Fotolia
Your spring-planted greens are fading but that's no reason to resort to store-bought. Sowing new seeds now (or buying more starter plants) can set you up for a wonderful fall harvest.
Lots of plants not only can handle cooler temperatures, but actually prefer them. Lettuces, for example, wither in the heat of summer. But start them again now and you'll be enjoying garden-fresh salads well into October.
Arugula, mustard greens, Asian greens, radishes and spinach planted now will be ready to harvest by mid-September. The flavor of cole crops, including Brussels sprouts cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, collards, kale and kohlrabi, actually benefit from a light frost.
So plant them now, mulch, and fertilize at the end of the month. You just might be bringing fresh-picked produce to your Thanksgiving table.
