Fall Foliage, Fruits, and Fertilizers

By O’Brian Gunn

The Denver summer season is slowly warming down for its swan song, heralding in the fall season and the time of pumpkin-flavored everything. As you’re planning your final swimming and patio dining sessions, you should also break out your gardening tools. Fall is actually a great time to make things grow before the winter season arrives in all of its frigid glory.

The Fall Time Is the Right Time

To get your soil ready for fall planting, fortify your garden with a layer of winterizer lawn food. What’s unique about this particular type of lawn food is that it has more potassium than regular lawn food so your soil can withstand the fall and early winter chill. It’s also a good idea to keep your garden area free of leaves and debris since they can carry disease and unwanted pests.

What to Plant?

Before you start plantin’ fresh beets on the topsoil ones and twos, you’ll first want to make sure you’re planting the proper seeds of success, otherwise your garden might bear some strange fruits and veggies.

The cool autumn weather is a great time to grow, among other things:

·  Broccoli

·  Brussels sprouts

·  Spinach

·  Swiss chard

·  Kale

Anything that has a brief maturity life, such as greens, should be planted later on in the season beneath cold frames or floating row covers so that they are well-insulated against frost. As you’re testing out your green thumb, bear in mind that root crops usually taste sweeter once they’re harvested after the frost.

To add a touch more color to the fall foliage, you can grow spring bulbs, pansies, and peonies in your garden. One of the reasons autumn is the best season to plant spring bulbs is that they need time to marinate in the cold before they can bloom. Pansies enjoy the still-warm fall soil for putting down their roots.

Tending to Your Buds

Mulch your plants when the soil starts freezing later on in the fall season so that your garden isn’t uprooted by the alternating thawing and freezing cycle. For your perennials, water them with care until the first ground freeze in order to maintain their healthy roots. It’s recommended that your plants get at least a full inch of water once
every week.

Check Out Grocery Stores & Farmers’ Markets This Fall

Fall is a great time to explore your local farmers’ market and grocery store for a bounty of fall fruits. It’s not all about the traditional pumpkins, squash, and acorns if you know where to look. While scoping out the scene, keep your eyes open for:

·  Asian pear

·  Crabapple

·  Cape gooseberry

·  Guava

·  Huckleberry

·  Quince

Look up some fall recipes you can try out if you often find yourself in the mood to cook and bake when the leaves start shifting colors and piling up in the yard.

Rather than sigh at the changing of the seasons, get ready for a second period of growth and a second chance to plant that garden you never got around to during the spring. Now you’ll have something to do while sipping on your pumpkin spice latte. l

Learn more at: DenverFarmersMarket.com.