Have you considered planting fall crops? Several vegetables can be planted now and harvested before our first usual frost of mid- November. Beets, turnips, spinach, collards, mustard, radishes, lettuce, and carrots will mature in 50 to 60 days.

The beets, turnips, spinach, collards, mustards, and carrots will require a deep, loose organic soil. If you have a clay soil, add sand and humus. Also, feed with a complete garden fertilizer and if your greens seem a bit pale, add nitrogen to achieve the desired deep green color.

Give your plants plenty of room since most have extensive under-ground root systems. If you use rows, create mounds about 8" high, 8" wide, and about 24" between rows. Mulch with a dark material which will absorb the fall sun. The mulch will also retain moisture around the plant, help control weeds, and keep your greens from getting dirt splattered when it rains.

When you plant, stagger the days you place the seed in the soil so the vegetables won't mature all at one time. Harvest the lower leaves first when they are about palm-size. Keep them picked as they will "bolt" and go to seed quickly in warm weather. Cole crops (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and Brussels sprouts) also require cool weather and are usually purchased and placed in the soil as transplants. The maturing time for the cole crops is quite long - 50 to 80 days - so refer to the growing instructions before planting.

The greens of spinach, turnip, beet, and collards are high in Vitamin A and calcium. If you cook them in a pressure cooker with a small amount of water, more of the nutrients will be retained. Boiling them away on top of the stove in a big pot of water is not recommended as the resulting steam dissipates the beneficial vitamins and minerals.

Please keep a journal of your cool weather plantings and harvest dates as we are organizing data on high desert growing to share with others.