Annual Re-post
With the cold weather around the corner, many of us are getting ready to shut the garden down for the season. If you grew them this year, you know that peppers and eggplant took a little longer to fruit this year. With the extended cool spring rains we had, the warm weather plants seemed to be growing in slow motion. And when the heat of the summer kicked in, the plants took off.
No matter where you live in the winter's cold country, you can keep your Peppers and Eggplant alive during the long winter months, and more importantly, get a head start on the growing season and fruit production for next year by over-wintering your plants.
Over-wintering these two warm weather plants will eliminate the need to start your seeds early, or buying small plants next spring, and going through the short growing season where production levels won't be at their best. By using this method, you're starting with mature root system that will jump start your plants and they are able to grow quicker and produce a lot more vegetables when the warm weather returns again!
When to plant fall garlic
Garlic is typically planted in the fall because it requires a chilling period to break dormancy and produce big bulbs. The exact timing for planting garlic in the fall varies depending on the USDA hardiness zone. Here’s a general guideline for when to plant fall garlic in the Northeast based on USDA zones:
Zone 4: Plant in early to mid-September. You want to plant early enough to allow the garlic to establish roots before the ground freezes.
Zone 5: Plant in mid to late September. There’s a bit more leeway in this zone, but it’s still essential to ensure that garlic has enough time to develop roots before winter.
Zone 6: Plant in late September to early October. With milder winters, garlic has a longer window to get established.