3 Reasons Why We Shouldn’t “Wait ‘Til Spring”
This morning, I spoke to my preferred landscape installer about bidding a few projects for me. He’s been hard to pin down because he already has a full load of late-summer, early fall projects, with no end in sight. This conversation got me thinking about everyone I’ve spoken to about gardens this year who has said, “I think we’ll just wait till the spring … “ Here are my top three reasons why you shouldn’t “wait ‘til the spring” to make your next phase of garden plans (with pictures to prove it!)
# 1 We still have another season of planting to do
Our local farmers have recently planted their fall crop of broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower, with kale, lettuce and more onions soon to be sown. If your goal for the garden is to grow your own greens, then installing a kitchen garden as soon as possible should be high on your priority list. The best part of early fall greens is that there’s less pressure from pests, and we can overwinter a ton of greens without much infrastructure. That means you’ll be eating salad this winter and into the spring before anyone else can even get their gloves on transplants.
I planted these greens in October and picked them weekly in March before any transplants were even available!#2 A garden installed in the fall grows better in the spring
We get most of our precipitation in Boise in the fall and winter. This means having a raised bed kitchen garden installed before the end of the year will create the best possible drainage in your garden come spring. A season of consistent rain creates channels in your beds for plants better than any irrigation. This way, plants can easily find spaces to root, aerate the soil and the bed will hold onto moisture well.
See this photographic evidence. The gardens in this gallery were installed in January and February, and this is how they looked in June and July.
#3 Springtime is too late
Early this spring, I had a ton of new garden consults, but my schedule quickly got backed up so that I couldn’t install the last garden until the last week of June. With labor and materials in short supply, installations are taking longer to complete. Booking a consult this summer and fall will result in your garden being completed well in time for spring planting, plus there will be less of a delay on materials and labor than in the high season.
The gallery below shows some gardens I installed in May and June after April consults because of delays in materials and labor, along with images of how they look in June and July. You can see they are growing slower but still on their way!
Transplants became available this year at the end of March, and it’s hard to tell if the ground will be soft enough to excavate in January and February. That means if you want spring greens, this summer is the time to book a consult for a fall installation. Your installation will include a planting of fall greens and brassicas for you to enjoy before anyone else in the spring!
Installing gardens in the fall truly is my favorite time of year. I get to spend extra time with my clients learning about their hopes for the garden and we can really make headway in time for plenty of harvests. If you’ve been on the fence on going from in-ground gardening to raised beds this year, let’s chat. Click here to submit an inquiry form for a discovery call.