Your October Texas Garden
Texas summers are unrelenting, and October marks the first full month of (mostly) relief! If you have not planted cold season crops yet, you should do so will full confidence in October. Here in central Texas, “fall season” is fully underway and we can be planting…
As seed…
All root crops should be planted as seed, including carrots, beets, radish, and turnips. Dill and cilantro does well planted as seed also. Onions should also be planted as seeds and salad/leafy greens as well! Garlic is another wonderful fall/winter crop to grow in your kitchen garden and they should be planted as bulbs. Sometimes store bought bulbs are treated so they will not sprout, but you can definitely find wonderful garlic cloves for planting at any independent nursery. When you are ready to plant (and not before) you should separate the cloves and plant them pointy side up about 1 inch into the soil.
As a transplant…
Cole crops (broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale), leafy greens (lettuce, spinach, mustards, arugula) and perennial and cool-loving herbs such as thyme, oregano, dill, fennel, rosemary, sage, cilantro, parsley, and more!
And let’s not forget the flowers! There are so many beautiful flowers in your local, independent nurseries right now. From snap dragons to pansies, many flower varieties are not only happy in the cold, but they can survive and thrive in below freezing temps! Please grab some, add them all over your landscape for fall color and especially in your veggie garden. Violas with their cute little faces are actually edible! You can freeze them into ice cubes for a fun addition to a drink, add color to your ice cream or salad and much more. Have fun with it!
Other things to do in your Texas Kitchen Garden in October:
If you still have fruiting, warm-season plants, know that we will get a freeze that will kill them most likely within the next 4-6 weeks. This is for all those peppers, tomatoes, eggplant and more. This means time is ticking for flowers to turn into fruit and for fruit to mature and ripen. Any flowers that haven’t formed in October will likely not have enough time to bloom, pollinate, transform into baby fruit and grow and mature from baby fruit to ripe fruit. So what we want to do is encourage the plant to stop producing more flowers and put all it’s energy into ripening the fruit that it currently has. To do this, we should consider “topping off” the plants at this time of year. This is especially true for peppers and tomatoes. Use sharp, clean sheers and cut off the very tops of the main stem. This tells the plant to stop growing more and send energy where we want it. This doesn’t have to be done in October, but if you want to plant a fall garden (and you totally should!) you will need the space in the next month or so.
Mulch if you haven’t already and add a 2-3 inch layer of compost to the top of your garden to revive it from the summer heat and prepare it for the coming cold.
Many people do not plant onions, but I think you should! There is a common, favorite variety of large white onion called the 1015. The reason it’s called this is because it’s advised you plant seeds for this onion on the date, 10/15! Onions take a very long time to germinate, grow and mature, so doing this in October will give you mature onions early next year!
We hope you enjoy this wonderful weather and your fall Texas raised bed kitchen garden! If you need personalized help, remember you can always book a virtual consultation with me to give you the confidence and clarity you need to grow better!