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| LIFE IN SOLERA | OCTOBER 2023 | 17 By Richard Crowe Winter Vegetables At the beginning of this series of articles, I noted you can grow vegetables year-round in Solera. We are now at the end of the summer garden and it is time to plant the winter garden. Do not wait until February; your winter garden will produce better and longer if you plant in fall. If your summer veggies are still doing well in October, you might keep some and plant winter plants amongst them. While Beaumont's climate is good for vegetable gardening, it is not as good as coastal California. Our winters are colder such that winter plants will grow, but slowly. On freezing nights, crops wilt a bit but they bounce right back by mid-morning. Sunny (warm) spring days can make winter garden plants bolt (go to flower) sooner than you like. Increasing your watering in spring can retard bolting. Warm springs can also bring on aphids. They especially like broccoli and cauliflower. On the internet, you can search "cool season vegetables" to obtain a complete list of them and decide which ones you might like to plant. You will also need to decide whether to plant seeds or plant sets. Personally, except for peas and root crops (e.g., carrots, beets, turnips), I find planting from seed to be a bit dicey as insects and slugs can gobble up new sprouts as quick as you can blink. They even attack new sets but I can fight them off better with snail bait. Beverly and I grow various lettuce types, snow peas, arugula, broccoli, cauliflower, green onions, root crops, parsley, cilantro, asparagus (a perennial), and celery. Cabbage and bulb onions in the store are so good and large that I feel it is not worth the room in my garden. We also grow horseradish but have found it sends underground runners all over the vegetable garden. If you plant bulb onions and garlic, note that the plants will "cure" (tops flop over, turn yellow, and die to ground) later in the summer. As curing begins, you want to cut the water off to these plants so be sure your watering system allows for that. You can harvest onions as curing occurs. Green beans, in-between on temperature requirement, are best grown in spring and fall. Seeds will not germinate if the soil temperature is below 55°. We planted celery 20 years ago and have never planted it since as each year I allow a few plants to go to flower and throw seed for the next spring. As noted above, when spring days turns warm, the leaves on some veggies turn yellow (peas) and the rest bolt. Bolting plants turn bitter or woody and it is then that you should remove them and begin planning your summer garden. Gardening never ends; life is good. Asparagus Patch 45° is too cold for green beans Broccoli with aphids Snow peas do very well in Solera when planted in the fall

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