We could start fresh and plant a fall salad garden right this very minute. According to the University of Kentucky Department of Horticulture publication, Home Vegetable Gardening in Kentucky (large PDF file — but useful!), even without any season extenders like row covers or hoop houses, we can expect a decent harvest if we plant fall salad ingredients through September: spinach, radishes, and leaf lettuces.
Planting a new garden may sound like a lot of work, with the days still dry and warm, especially if you do not have a garden patch already started in a sunny spot in your yard. Here’s a way around some of that hard work: lay down some newspapers, layer on some compost, and garden on the turf you already have. No digging, no turning, no endless fishing out of the unwanted grass roots. New York Times gardening writer Ann Raver describes the method more carefully than I have, and reports on her experiences with it, in Fending Off the Weeds With Newsprint. (Please try not to suspect the NYT of having an ulterior motive for publishing an article that offers a new use of old newspapers.)
Seeds? Try Fayette Seed locally (859-255-3334), or check out the many options Local Harvest offers online. Your reward: your very own vitally fresh salad greens and radishes in fall and early winter.
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The world is coming to visit central Kentucky this year for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. To help our visitors know more about Kentucky’s food and food ways, Savoring Kentucky is rolling out 116 Savory Kentucky Bites, one for each of the 100 days before WEG begins, and 16 for the days during WEG, September 25 – October 10. Today’s Savory Bite is number 85.
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