By Mike Donahue

Moapa Valley Progress

Preparing Gardens For Cooler Weather

Autumn landed in Moapa Valley last week with a crash of thunder, a splash of rain and a dash of cold – it was wonderful.

That we noticed its arrival at all is quite marvelous since we in Southern Nevada are too often stuck with only two times of the year, summer and not summer, and the change from one to the other is usually so gradual it often takes weeks before we realize just exactly which season we’re in at any given time.

This year, however, our summer came to an abrupt end just after the Autumnal Equinox on Sept. 22 – the exact time Mother Nature prescribed –and it was suddenly fall.

For Moapa Valley gardeners, fall is a fantastic time of year. Not only is it time to clean up vegetable and flower beds and complete the same maintenance chores gardeners everywhere are doing, it’s also time to get a host of new cool season crops into the ground.

The University of Nevada Cooperative Extension (UNCE) advises that for those beds that will remain fallow until next spring, it’s time to remove all spring/summer crops and weeds. Spread a couple of inches of compost or mulch over the garden area and start a new compost pile.

Shut off or change all the automatic irrigation and drip watering systems to reflect the change in season.

Fertilize the lawn with a regular all-purpose lawn, the mixure of N-P-K dependent on whether your lawn is a cool season grass or warm season grass. (Read the label on the fertilizer bag!) For example, Bermuda grass is warm season and goes dormant (brown) in the winter. Kentucky bluegrass, perennial rye and fescues can be considered cool season grasses and stay green all year.

Clean and mulch around apricot and peach trees. Prune dead wood from shrubs and prune roses.

Although mid-October is a little late for new veggies, Dr. Sylvan Witter, well-known professor of horticulture, wrote in his book “Vegetable Gardening in Moapa and Virgin Valleys,” there are plants gardeners can still get in and enjoy success.

Vegetable gardeners can plant beets for the rest of the year. Broccoli seeds can go in, but you’ll have better luck with transplants. Cabbage and cauliflower transplants can be planted, as can garlic, kohlrabi, kale, lettuce, onion seed, spinach/Swiss chard and turnips.

There are others, but gardeners should read the seed packet labels.

To get a good stand of vegetables in the fall/winter:

• Soak larger seeds overnight before planting.

• Plant small seeds ¼ inch deeper and large seeds ½ inch deeper than in a spring planting.

• Keep soil moist by watering lightly three to four times a day.

• Mulch the garden with organic mulch such as straw.

• Remove mulch materials as the seedlings emerge. (Your goal is allow the sun to keep the earth warm in the cooler months.)