Fall gardening

Now's the time to plant for some fall crops. Many of the same cool weather, early spring crops will grow quite well in the late summer and fall.  Lettuces, spinach, and baby bok choi are our favorite so long as TPP remembers to buy the bok choi seeds in the spring for later; they usually have to be mail ordered as they are seldom for sale in garden shops.  Some varieties can grow very fast and all of the Asian cabbage family vegetables can stay in the garden well into the fall.  Chinese cabbages covered with leaves or straw can handle several degrees below freezing, and have stayed in out garden until the end of November regularly. The biggest problem is to keep the tree rats from digging up new planted seeds or young plants. Since our parsley has sort of pooped out, more of that can be planted too. Rather late for other fall crops, but green beans planted in mid-July are now beginning to produce.  Row covers are a necessity to keep them from getting savaged by beetles.