Hi, this is Ben Scow with Utah State University Extension in Washington County. I'm the county agriculture and horticulture agent, and I have a gardening tip for you as we go throughout the months of August and September.
This tip is to do a fall garden. Washington County has the longest growing season in the state of Utah. Because of that, we're able to take advantage of having two growing periods. The traditional growing period, which most people are familiar with, is going to be in the spring.
We usually plant and, depending on the crop, between March and May, and we harvest a lot of our crops through June and July. So our gardens are typically done by the time August gets here. Fall garden goes in late August, and we're usually harvesting crops usually by the end of October and into November, depending on the crop for this gardening system.
We do a lot more of our greens and a lot of our root crops, so we will plant spinach, lettuce, chard does really well, and kale.
A lot of those greens will taste better when it's cool. Cabbage does really well, also a lot of our root crops like beets, carrots and radishes.
They will do a little bit better in the cold, and we can plant those now when it's warm and harvest them when it's cool and crisp — and the vegetables actually have a better flavor.
So that is the tip is look into doing the fall garden. It's a lot of fun. We're able to double crop and get more out of your garden.
