OK, we hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it’s time to start thinking about the end-game of the northern garden. Part of that is prepping any late season sows you might want to put in!
In subarctic climates, the end of season is a lot more restrictive given how fast our cold temperatures roll in. While you might see, “This is what we’re planting in July!” type of posts out there, many of those are not viable options for the far northern gardener. But, there still are quite a few things the gardener can sow and take into the upcoming cold temperatures!
What we’re primarily looking for here are fast growers, things that will mature in 60 days or less. Ideally, these things also will feature cold hardiness so they can survive the frosts that might occur once we get into September. Many “popular” late season veggies suffer up here as we just don’t get the heat in the late season to help them fully mature.
Almost all leafy greens will be a good fit, so spinach, leaf lettuce, mustards, arugula and even baby kale. You might want to avoid head lettuce, though, as these often take a bit longer to flush out. Also on the list are radish, bok/pak choy, Swiss chard and green onions.
If you’re willing to pursue some “specialized” genetics, you have even more options. You can find 60-day varieties of snap peas, beets, carrots and turnips. You’ve also got “rarer” veggies like komatsuna, tatsoi and several others. These are all relatively cold hardy and can coast into our first frosts with few difficulties. But, you do have to make sure these will produce in 60 days or there’s a good chance you’ll run out of luck.
If you have a greenhouse, it’s very helpful to germinate many of these seeds within it, aside from those root veggies. This really will help you speed things up quite a bit. When you direct sow, sometimes you’re subject to weather conditions and you also have to regularly top water, which is a practice you might not be performing this late in the season.
The good news here is that we’re not (yet) playing the end-game with our gardens. We’re just side-eying the future. We’ve still got some time left, but it’s good to be thinking about the future to make sure your timing works out. If you start planning this stuff in August, often times it’s too late.
It still stuns us sometimes just how fast our season rolls through. It seems we’re barely getting some crops coming in and yet, we’re all ready giving thought to those final tasks. But, it definitely keeps us on our toes and if anything else, it’s exciting!
