Believe it or not, what you do matters for the quantity or quality of fall harvest. Now is the time to not only start thinking about it but actually doing something about it.
Like what you may ask. For instance, it is time to start pruning, spraying (if you are into that), and seed starting for minimum cost and optimum diversity.
The grape vine I have pictured above I am training to cover the fence. It makes a great screen when it starts growing. Grapes need to be pruned to a bearing nodule. All fruiting will happen on new growth.
For fruit trees like apples, all water shoots (last years growth), damaged and diseased branches should be removed. This tree was neglected for several years before we moved in and the water shoots got multiple years growth. That creates exposure to heart wood which will eventually rot if not covered, so stay on top of it. This tree also has a fungus problem, but I don’t spray, I just cut out the bad parts of the apple. Now would be the time to treat. It takes several applications of dormant spray throughout the winter.
Lest we forget our flowery friends, Roses should be pruned to one or two main stems as well. Grafted roses can and will start shoots from the root stock causing an errant red rose belonging to the root stock to appear with your desired variety. Conventional wisdom in this part of the world is to prune around Presidents day, but I usually do it when I am pruning other things.
Seed starting is probably a whole additional topic. Suffice to say for this post, start calculating days back from your annual frost date to determine when seeds need to get started for your garden. Consider things that are difficult, expensive or exotic to grow because even at $1.99/lb for organic celery there isn’t a lot of return on investment unless you are going to do some specific preserving.
Have a great weekend and good luck with your harvest.
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