Sowing and planting in summer is a great way to get the most out of your garden space. I just sowed beets and broccoli in early August and will be able to squeeze in another crop of vegetables before winter snow and hard freezes put an end to my growing season. The plants mature in fall and provide a nice second harvest. This fall crop allows a garden to produce a full second season.

My lettuce and spinach beds were pretty well spent after the plants bolted and went to seed. Many gardeners would clean up those beds and let them lie fallow until spring, but I used that space to plant another crop. That essentially doubles my garden output without increasing its overall size.

The key is understanding the difference between cool season and warm season garden plants. Cool season plants are the ones we usually plant in spring. They include cabbage, lettuce, spinach, kale, peas, radish, beets, and chard. These plants can handle an occasional bout with cold temperatures. Warm season plants are the ones we plant after the last frost date. They include tomatoes, peppers, vine squash, and melons. When those plants experience frost they shrivel and die.

We can sow cool season plant seeds in early spring because the young plants aren't killed by late frost. Many gardeners know that it takes awhile for many of those seeds to germinate because of cold soil temperatures. When they do begin to grow, their productive season can be short because the heat of summer tends to affect them adversely and they flower, go to seed, and fade quickly.

Sowing these same seeds in late summer results in quick germination in the warm soil. There is no cold threat to the young plants and they grow quickly. As they mature and begin to fruit an occasional early frost may threaten, but the larger plants can shrug it off easily. There is absolutely no threat of high temperatures causing the plant to bolt so they produce fruit until they die.

That's one of the greatest advantages to planting a fall crop:  the production of fruit is often longer and greater than spring crops. These plants often relish the cool temperatures and rather than respond poorly to hot days they respond richly to cold days. Many people think these plants produce tastier produce after they've been exposed to cold.

Treat your second season garden just as you would a spring one. Before planting, amend the soil and prepare the bed. A good dose of compost or aged manure is a nice boost to soil that has already been used for a recent crop. You usually have plenty of time to do this from when the plants fade in mid summer to when you plant in late summer.

Mulch becomes an important factor in the success of a fall crop. Mulch moderates soil temperature. In a spring planting for summer harvest, the mulch helps keep the soil from getting too warm. In a summer planting for fall harvest, the mulch helps keep the soil from getting too cool.

Be aware of different irrigation needs than you may be used to. The seedlings and young plants are beginning to grow when it's still hot out. A new spring bed may need watering twice a day to keep the soil moist. A new summer bed may need watering four or five times a day to stay moist. To help keep the soil from drying out quickly, I drape fabric over the bed to shade the soil until the plants establish themselves and the days begin to cool. Row covers and shade cloth are ideal.

Once the plants mature, their water needs will be less than the same plants in early summer. In the cooler days of fall, there is less evaporation and water loss due to transpiration. Mulch can mask the true level of soil moisture so be sure to physically check the soil before you water. Over watering and drowning roots is common in second season gardens.

Be ready for different growing characteristics. When I sowed beet seeds in spring it took almost two weeks for the first sprouts to appear; even cool season plants need the soil temperature to be warm enough to effectively germinate. The beet seeds I sowed in summer germinated after four days.

Many root crops are well suited as second season crops. Carrots, turnips, parsnips, beets, and radishes do well when planted up to two months before the first frost. For me that's early August, but for many gardeners that time extends into September or October. A thick mulch helps keep the ground from freezing early and affecting the growth and harvest of the roots.

Cabbage, green onions, spinach, cauliflower, snap and snow peas, should be planted a little earlier to ensure they complete their growth before cold sets in. For me that was mid July, but for many gardeners that time is now.

Tough greens like endive, mustard, chard, spinach can handle cold well. Chard, in particular, grows in snow and has a nice sweet flavor as a result.

Second season gardens offer advantages that are easy to overlook. The cooler temperatures affect weeds and garden pests too. Less weeding and pest management chores are definitely welcomed by most gardeners. Often, it isn't until you're reviewing the success of your growing season with the snows falling that you realize how easy the fall crop was to maintain.

When you use a method for extending your growing season you may be able to harvest vegetables well into December and winter. (Check out my March 2, 2011, article "Extending Your Growing Season With Mini Greenhouses").

Some of these cool season plants will continue to survive even in the harshest winters. I left my leeks, onions, shallots, beets, and parsnips in the ground through the winter. They all came back and began greening again when the spring warmth returned. The leeks and parsnips that had a winter to rest were twice the size of ones harvested before the ground froze hard.

If you're interested in a second fall crop but don't want extra effort, just let your spring crops go to seed. My spinach, arugala, radish, and lettuce plants flowered, went to seed, browned, and faded. I collected some of the seeds and pulled the plants. Many of the seeds that scattered on the ground have sprouted and are ready to give me a second harvest. It helped that I amended and turned over the soil in those spots for the beets and broccoli, and I'm willing to let the volunteers share the same bed.

Whether planned or by accident, take advantage of the growth characteristics of cool season plants and enjoy a second season. Grow a fall crop.

Biochar is a great amendment for any garden soil. I wrote about the wonder product a month ago (May 9, 2012, "What is Biochar?"), and have incorporated it in a few of my garden beds for testing. Biochar research is in its infancy so information on how to use it in gardens is still being developed by researchers and gardeners like me. While I encourage you to add biochar to your garden soil based on present data, be aware that my methods are one option developed only by me; there are other options and other undiscovered processes for using it.

Biochar acts as a repository and delivery system of beneficial soil bacteria. These microorganisms are an important component in soil that make nutrients available to plants by converting elements to the ionic form that roots absorb. Without an encouraging environment, bacteria and other microorganisms exist in soil but not at a level that can support sustained plant growth.

Compost is another repository and delivery system of beneficial soil bacteria and is the most common soil amendment used by home gardeners. Both biochar and compost enrich soil and provide similar structural, textural, and fertility improvement, but compost needs to be added regularly due to its steady decomposition while biochar remains relatively intact for decades.

To begin, biochar must be acquired and that is currently a major limiting factor. There aren't many biochar manufacturers or distributors. I bought my biochar from Soil Reef Biochar through their website. Until wholesale manufacturing and processing becomes competitive you can expect the cost for biochar to remain relatively expensive, but you need to consider the long-term benefits. One application of biochar can save you the cost of multiple applications of compost over many years.

That being said, I'm pursuing a joint approach to soil improvement. My working hypothesis is that if compost is good for soil and if biochar is good for soil, then compost and biochar together should be really good for soil. My garden test beds are amended with both.

To be most effective, biochar should be prepared before adding it to your soil. Biochar provides a positive environment for beneficial bacteria but if just mixed with soil its effectiveness is minimized. It's a "build it and they will come" approach that can be compared to building free housing in Europe for customers in the Americas; there is a big ocean that needs to be crossed before it can be occupied. Bacteria have difficulty transiting wide spaces.

Inoculating biochar overcomes this obstacle. Inoculation incorporates the bacteria directly into the biochar before you amend your soil. One method to inoculate it, and the one recommended by Soil Reef Biochar, is to mix biochar with an equal amount of compost and let them meld for two weeks. The bacteria in the moist compost gradually multiply and migrate to their new home.

I developed a speedier, and in my opinion more effective, method for inoculating biochar. Using a method analogous to the way we inoculate against disease, I essentially inject raw biochar with bacteria-rich fluid.

To begin I take equal quantities of compost tea and worm tea. Compost tea is made by soaking or steeping compost in water for two or three days; the resulting liquid is swimming with the bacteria that populated the compost. Worm tea is made in a similar process but using worm castings (manure) instead of compost; it has similar multitudes of beneficial bacteria.

About one gallon of compost tea and one gallon of worm tea are mixed and combined with one cup of dark molasses in a four-gallon bucket. This sugary concoction becomes an incubator for bacteria growth as the tiny creatures feed and multiply.
 
Oxygen is a critical component for the growth of beneficial bacteria; the "bad" anaerobic bacteria don't need oxygen. To ensure adequate oxygen in the developing inoculant you can insert a fish aquarium pump with plastic tubing into the liquid to provide air bubbles. As an alternative I covered the bucket and physically twisted, bounced, and shook it multiple times during the day.

After three days the inoculant is a little foamy on top and ready to use. If left alone for a longer period the sugar in the molasses will eventually be totally consumed by the bacteria and the liquid will ferment, turning into alcohol. The lack of food and the presence of alcohol can kill the bacteria, which defeats the whole purpose of creating a bacterial incubator. Use the inoculant before it goes bad.

Two gallons of this concoction is enough for five gallons of biochar. Starting with small batches, I poured the liquid inoculant into the dry biochar using a rough one to two ratio.

I stirred it with a garden trowel and let it soak for about five minutes. Then I mixed and stirred it again because some of the liquid drained to the bottom. After the second mixing and another five minutes, the biochar was evenly moist.

Liquid inoculant achieves two important steps in biochar preparation.

First, it incorporates the bacteria directly into the microscopic crevices and holes that constitute biochar. While contact with moist compost can take two weeks for this crossover to be accomplished, inoculating with a liquid achieves the same results in minutes.

Second, it moistens the biochar so it can immediately provide the moist environment that bacteria need. Pure 100 percent biochar from the distributor is very dry with a large portion of it very powdery. It needs to be wet before adding to soil to be most effective, both to benefit bacteria and to keep the dry powder from blowing away.

The inoculated biochar can be added to soil immediately or covered and stored for later use. However, it should be used within a day or two of inoculating for best results because the bacteria will go dormant or die if the biochar dries out or if their food source is diminished.

There is no universal standard developed yet for biochar distribution in garden soil. The Soil Reef Biochar 5-gallon bucket says it will cover 36 square feet when distributed one-half inch thick. The Soil Reef Biochar website says the same bucket will cover 18 square feet at one-half inch thick. A biochar handbook developed by EcoTechnologies Group recommends a maximum of one pound per square foot; biochar is very lightweight so at this rate the five-gallon bucket would only cover about five or six square feet.

I spread my inoculated five-gallons of biochar over about 48 square feet. The addition of the liquid increased the mass slightly. I added the biochar to one half of two separate 32 square-feet beds and into one 16 square-feet bed. The spread depth of the biochar varied between one quarter and one half inch thick.

Using a garden spade I turned the biochar into the soil to incorporate it about five to six inches deep. Biochar works its magic with the bacteria that provide nutrients to roots. To be most successful it should be resting at root level. A garden tiller can also be effective in distributing it evenly in soil.

An alternative to adding 100 percent inoculated biochar to soil as I did is to combine it with compost at the time of application. If inoculated as Soil Reef Biochar recommends, it is already mixed with an equal amount of compost. If inoculated as I recommend, it can be mixed with compost for easy soil amending.

The amount or organic material present in your garden soil will determine whether you need to add compost at the same time as biochar. I add compost at the beginning or end of the growing season based on the quantity available. One of the nice things about biochar is that once it's amended to soil it never needs to be replenished.

Another option is to add biochar to your compost pile. Biochar can shorten the time it takes for compost to develop and is already incorporated in the mix when you amend your soil. You'll get the benefits of biochar but it may be difficult to determine how much of the mass is biochar and how much is compost. For accurate distribution and for testing, I suggest adding biochar as a measured amount directly to the beds you want amended.

Once added and turned in or tilled, water the garden bed right away. You want the inoculated biochar to stay moist for best effectiveness. Moist soil also gives the bacteria a new potential environment. Think of the biochar as an urban center and the surrounding soil as the suburbs. Eventually the bacteria will inhabit all of it. Because biochar retains moisture better than basic soil, it will continue to propagate the beneficial bacteria even when the soil dries out between waterings.

To date there is no definitive research that recommends the ideal amount of biochar for home gardens. One test by EcoTechnologies Group showed no difference between plants grown in a 10 percent biochar application rate and that of a 20 percent rate. My distribution is much less than that, but I still anticipate positive results.

Already my test bed is showing benefits of using biochar. Cucumber seeds on the biochar side germinated a full two days earlier than those on the unamended side. I'll continue documenting its effectiveness and report on it in the future.

Consider biochar in your garden and let me know how you do it.