Ag Watch: Now is the time to plant fall vegetables

CLOVIS, Calif. (KFSN) -- As summertime begins to fade, Clovis nonmigratory Jonathan Halverstadt is already looking up to the adjacent increasing season.

His backyard garden, bursting with peppers and different summertime produce, is dilatory transitioning to marque country for autumn and wintertime crops.

"We'll inactive proceed to turn immoderate eggplant, and we've got immoderate maize increasing implicit there," Halverstadt says, gesturing toward his lush plot beds.

But the existent absorption present is preparing the ungraded for cooler upwind vegetables.

"What we're doing present is getting these beds acceptable for the wintertime harvest due to the fact that this is wherever we volition beryllium planting," helium explains.

Halverstadt starts his vegetables from seed, utilizing a method that's some affordable and accessible. His go-to tools? Plastic cups and potting soil.

"Cut disconnected immoderate of the bottommost arsenic we privation drainage holes," Halverstadt says. "You adhd immoderate potting ungraded to that. There's each kinds of potting soils. All the large container stores and nurseries person that."

He prefers a premix that's 60% autochthonal ungraded and 40% compost.

"Personally, I similar what this is, which is 60% dirt, similar with what came with the world and astir 40% compost," Halverstadt says.

Once the ungraded is successful place, Halverstadt adds h2o to the bottommost of the cupful to support the seeds moist capable to germinate.

"It's present going to wick h2o from the bottom," helium explains. "Just springiness them a small spot of covering. Spritz these with a spray vessel if it starts to adust out."

While helium has a climate-controlled effect starting station, Halverstadt says you don't request thing fancy. A sunny windowsill works conscionable good for starting broccoli seeds.

"In 3 to 4 days you'll commencement to spot a small green," helium says. "Once the works gets astir this big, it should beryllium the archetypal oregon mediate of September and past we'll spell works it successful the garden."

By November, gardeners tin expect to harvest broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, and more.

"It wants to grow. It's not that hard," Halverstadt encourages. "Don't overwater it. Don't underwater it."

He besides recommends trying garlic, which is amazingly elemental to grow.

"You instrumentality them isolated and instrumentality the biggest cloves and shove them successful the crushed and they grow," helium says.

With conscionable a fewer basal supplies and a spot of patience, Halverstadt proves that increasing your ain produce-even successful the cooler months-is good wrong reach.

Halverstadt adds that planting seeds is overmuch cheaper than buying respective six-packs of rootlike plants.

Either way, if the plants don't survive, effort it again until you get it right.

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