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Garden in the City: Is August Too Late To Start Thinking Fall Crops?

By Patty Wetli | August 21, 2015 3:01pm | Updated on August 24, 2015 9:33am

ALBANY PARK — I have finally realized my dream of putting the local produce market out of business.

Or at least I imagine that's the result of me not shopping there the past couple of weeks because everything I need — besides apples and avocados ... and watermelon ... and corn — I've managed to grow myself.

Look, I grew dinner! [DNAinfo/Patty Wetli]

Three times this week I harvested dinner from my own vegetable plot. One night I made tomato-basil-onion sandwiches with a side of green beans. Twice I added sauteed chard and a passel of cherry tomatoes to a bowl of rice. I'll probably have this for dinner at least a dozen more times in a row because I am a champ at repetitive eating.

Sigh. All this homegrown bounty is giving me the sads.

Because it's about to come to an end.

It is somehow mid-to-late August despite yesterday being the Fourth of July. Lots of gardens are just now hitting their peak, but don't kid yourself — in the same way that 70 is really not the new 50, the decline is coming.

My beans, far and away this year's MVP (see video), have already slowed production. I've got about three more carrots to harvest and then that's all folks. The basil really, really wants to go to seed and call it a day. And all those tomato blossoms? Well, I admire their optimism, but I'm not sure there's enough sunshine or decent temperatures left in the weeks ahead to see them bear fruit.

Based on the amount of veggies I've seen hanging, unpicked, on the vine, I'd say a lot of gardeners are ready to hang up their trowels too. The symptoms of "gardening fatigue" are vague and differ from one individual to the next, but the condition is generally characterized by the realization that while the occasional zucchini is a delight, nobody craves a thrice daily dose of the stuff.

Radishes are one crop that's well-suited for fall. [DNAinfo/Patty Wetli]

But for intrepid growers whose green thumbs are ready and willing to keep on digging, weeding, watering and harvesting, now is the time to think about fall crops.

And by now, I mean stop reading this column, head to the nearest garden center (or www.seedsavers.org) and get your seeds or plants in the ground. Today.

At least this was the advice I received from a master gardener when I asked about fall.

She recommended peas as a crop that will sprout in short order and do well in cooler weather. Lettuce and arugula will also germinate quickly, an important consideration in the race to beat the first frost.

And if you like radishes, she said, they'll like you back.

Just think, come October or November, you could be enjoying radish butter, pickled radishes, roasted radishes, radish slaw, radish soup and 101 variations on the radish salad. At which point you'll almost start to miss your zucchini.

Almost.

Vegetable plot, week 14. [DNAinfo/Patty Wetli]

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