Fall Harvest: the Bad and the Good

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I say this every year: I’ll have a fantastic and overflowing fall harvest in the vegetable garden. I’ll be awash in cabbages, kale, chard, spinach, and lettuce.

And it has yet to happen.

This year was going to be different. In August and early September, I made two plantings of different lettuces—romaine and a mix of arugula and other greens. My cabbage-farmer brother even gave me a whole handful of different varieties of cabbage to plant in my small community garden plot. I was ready to go.

Infested cabbage

Things didn”t quite go as I had planned, though. The cabbages became infested with a mealy cabbage aphid. Their feeding on young leaves caused stunting and slowed growth. The plants didn’t die, but they haven’t lived very productive lives.

I could have fixed the problem by removing the first signs of infestation, blasting them with a jet of water, or spraying with insecticidal soap.

Flea beetles on my arugula

The lettuce mix, starring the popular but bitter-tasting arugula, was attacked by flea beetles as soon as its little greenery emerged above ground.

Rumor has it that flea beetles prefer bitter tastes; hence, the arugula is a favorite of theirs, as is my neighbor’s broccoli. Flea beetles eat into the leaves, causing tiny, tiny holes. It really does look like the leaves have been hit by miniature buckshot. It’s still edible if the plants ever recover from the flea beetles chomping. The remedy? I should have used row covers to protect the tender seedlings. Plus, apparently flea beetles prefer full sun. The row cover could have acted as a shade.

And the kale, chard, and spinach. Well, that’s totally my fault. I didnt stop to pick up any seeds. Next spring, remind me to stock up on the seeds I’ll need for the entire year.

Fall Harvest success: Healthy romaine

There is some good news, however. Apparently the romaine is not bitter enough for those pesky flea beetles, and they haven’t touched an inch of it.

At nearly two months old, the first planting is doing quite well. The cooler weather and lower light levels have put romaine’s growth behind what a spring planting of romaine would be, but I can live with that. I may harvest some of the larger leaves now, in fact.

The second planting, just over a month old, is still quite small. Now that my raised carrot bed is empty, I might transplant the young plants into that box. The soil in the box should be a bit warmer. Plus, with a covering like plexiglass or something similar, I can protect the romaine from soon-to-come frosty nights.

Definitely, next fall will be different. That’s the challenge I’m putting to myself for next year.

Meet Ellen Wells

When you’re raised on a farm, you can’t help but know a thing or two about gardening. Ellen Wells is our expert on edible gardening.…

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