The Cool-Season Crunch: October Gardening
By Kymisha Montgomery, CGC Urban Agriculture Coordinator
October in Cincinnati is a chaotic month. When else do you get to experience all four seasons in a single week? While you're busy debating whether it's shorts weather or sweatshirt weather, your garden is facing a hard truth: October 20 is our average first frost date.
Here are some tips to help ensure your garden survives the transition without you losing your mind:
The Don’ts
DON’T leave your soil naked. Bare soil in a Cincinnati winter is a tragedy. Cover your beds with a cover crop or chopped leaves. Think of it as a cozy winter sweater for your soil!
DON’T put diseased plants in your compost pile. If your squash vines looked like they were covered in powdered sugar (powdery mildew) or your tomatoes looked like a zombie movie extra (blight), do NOT compost them. Your home compost pile isn't hot enough to kill the germs that cause those issues, and your community garden compost system may not be, either.
DON’T leave your tools out to rust. Leaving your favorite trowel or tomato cages out in the autumn drizzle is a surefire way to have to buy replacements next year. Instead, clean them, wipe them down, and hide them away before they turn into rusty artifacts.
DON’T forget your sweet potatoes. Unlike regular potatoes, sweet potatoes hate the cold. Dig those deep treasures up before the ground gets chilly or you’ll end up unearthing a bunch of sad sweet-potato mush.
The Dos
DO plant your garlic now. Think of garlic cloves as the ultimate low-maintenance tenants. Shove them into the dirt two inches deep with the pointy side up, tuck them in with a thick layer of leaves or straw, and ignore them until late June or early July.
DO launch a tomato rescue mission. If it’s mid-October and your tomatoes are still green, stop begging them to ripen on the vine. Instead, pick them and line them up on your kitchen counter. They’ll ripen indoors—or you can make fried green tomatoes and pretend it was your plan all along.
DO tuck your leafy greens in at night. Add a row cover or have an upside-down bucket on standby. Even a sheet will do the trick! When the local weather forecast starts looking like it will cause a bit of discomfort for your plants, run outside and cover your kale, collards, and bok choy. They love a cozy blanket, and a light frost actually makes them taste sweeter.
DO feed your soil like it's Thanksgiving. Slap a thick layer of compost, manure, or shredded leaves over your beds. Let the winter freezing and thawing do the heavy lifting of mixing it all together for you.
Wishing you good luck and a bountiful garden as the season winds down!