Applestar and me the only ones doing a fall garden or what?

[Diane]

Charlete, the green part above ground froze just like a tomato plant freezes.

[somegal]

We are also doing a fall garden. We have planted various lettuces, bush beans, tomatoes and by the way some of which are cuttings from last seasons tomatoes so we have a little bit of a jump start and onions. We are also planning on cauliflower, broccolli, sweet potatoes and winter squash. Yum, Yum nothing like fresh garden veges.

[gixxerific]

The plants freeze when it gets too cold. My last pot last year did.

This from a master gardener it has a lot of good info on fall\winter potatoes as far north as zone 6. https://www.emmitsburg.net/gardens/articles/adams/2005/fall_potato.htm

Diane not a 100% on this but maybe they didn't do well because they were in a pot. When in a pot they are more exposed to the elements than when in the ground. Like how bridges freeze before regular roads because the cold air goes underneath as well as on top. I have never tried fall...... anything but am trying to figure it out, this site has been super good helping me out.

Thanks all, try them in the ground if you can.

[crobi13]

Very interesting
I have not decided where I'm going to plant them (in buckets in the basement? or outside?) but I am going to try.

Thanks everyone!

[gixxerific]

Very interesting
I have not decided where I'm going to plant them (in buckets in the basement? or outside?) but I am going to try.

Thanks everyone!

Try a few methods or try them all. I will just plant outside and see how that goes. I think potatoes need a lot of room though I may be wrong.

[Diane]

From that article, if you time it just right you might be able to hill them before the ground freezes.

[Jewell]

Am off to pick up some composted manure for reviving some "blank" spaces in my garden beds from harvested vegies. With the fine rain today will seed spinach, beetberry, mesclun-sweet salad mix, and plant out my over-wintering cauliflower starts. Have a hunkering for radicchio but don't know if I can find the seed without mail order and may be too late to start. Will look today while out. Love, love the fine misty rain

Winter garden is beginning to look real good. Nero Di Toscan kale is with-standing the leaf miners better than the Siberian kale or mixed blend I tried last winter. Brussel sprouts are huge, but I have no idea what variety since I boutght them on sale last month. Hopefully they won't start forming spouts until fall .

Broad beans (3 varieties) are on order, but not sure if they will get here in time for planting . First time to try them in years and found some pretty red flowering varieties. Need them for replenishing the soil and will try them again for eating.

Happy gardening.

[tedln]

Jewell,

The broad bean or fava bean is a common plant in gardens in the United Kingdom. They do have a pest called the black fly which will devastate the broad bean crops if the gardener fails to pinch off the terminal buds in a certain part of the season. Apparently the black fly has a specific season when it is prevalent. Do you know if we have the same pest of the broad bean in North America? I don't think many U.S. gardeners grow them. Many people simply don't like them. In the U.K. they seem to eat them as a snack food.

Ted

[NaeMo]

You all have me fired up to plant a little more. We've had a mild summer so far, and I planted my spring starts very late (late June/early July). Nothing to harvest yet, but beautiful, lush plants with lots of flowers or little fruit.

Anyway, I have various lettuces to plant, peas and snow peas... I have a few brussels sprouts plants that are in pots and haven't done much growing that I will stick in the ground and hope for the best. I have broccoli and cauliflower seed, I wonder if I can direct seed it and get some actual food from it.

[Jewell]

Tedln - the black fly in the UK is actually what we call aphids (the black variety). They need to be kept hosed/sprayed off if they are a really bad, but I have lots of lady bugs and their larva in the garden so don't really have a problem. Oh yeh, I live in the Puget Sound, Washington state, so the amount of rain here is a natural spritzer (usually). How would they affect you in Texas?

[Jewell]

NaeMo, I don't know your first frost date or how hard they are, but you can always give it a try. There is a varieties of cauliflower and broccoli that will winter over and produce a very early head in spring (the cauliflower is the only variety that I am successful with because of our crazy summers). You can always use the leaves like kale/greens if it looks like the weather is going to get really cold or set a cold frame over them.

[tedln]

Jewell,

I have very few problems with aphids. I did get a small infestation in my yellow squash, but the natural predators quickly tooks care of them. I also have a lot of lady bugs.

Ted

[gixxerific]

This is great 5 pages so far, to tell the truth I had no idea this many people planted stuff so late. I never really did till this year. Every newcomer makes me fell that much better I started this thread.

All your ideas and suggestions are great, they give me new ideas. Can't wait to see what happens this winter when it is COLD, what will survive what will not.

I've been busy working on my truck the last two day's, and cutting my super extra growing grass to get in the garden but tomorrow is the day. Thing seems to be doing good though. I think a plant or two will be sacrificed and the thinning will begin.

As always have fun and keep this thing going.

[earthenwings]

This is my first time planting, so we'll see how it goes (please, no more torrential rains!). I'm planning on starting some spinach, carrots, endive, onions, strawberries, cherry tomatoes, and garlic. All within 70 square feet of screened in porch. Heh? Maybe I'm a bit too optimistic, but it should be fun!

[Tinybu88les8]

Ive been wanting to plant my fall garden but I'm afraid its still too soon yet for me being in so cali and all. Its supposed to be 90 something today. But when I do start planting I have blue cabbage, red brussels sprouts, purple spinach, russian truffle tomatoes, tiger melons, lemon cucumbers, soy beans, heirloom beans, romanisco (sp) broccoli, granex onions (grown in vadalia georgia) and leeks!

[tedln]

Hey bu88les8,

Sounds like a good plan. I'm in the same boat. I am just waiting for the temps to moderate a little. I think we are pretty close to 100 degrees today. Supposedly we will receive a cool front this weekend which will moderate the temps into the mid 60's at night and the high 80's in the daytime. Guess I will need a warm jacket while planting my fall garden. I already have my fall tomatoes planted. Will probably buy seed for the other stuff tomorrow.

I am curious about the onions you are planting. The granex is the parent onion of all the super sweets including the Vidalia, Noonday, and Maui sweet. The variety I plant is the Texas A&M 1015, but I can't plant them until February because we do have a few hard freezes here in the winter. If the fall planted onions are exposed to two freezes before spring, they will bolt quickly in the spring to produce seed and probably not produce a bulb. Did you obtain your seed / seedlings from Vidalia, or were you just referencing the similarity between what you are planting and the Vidalia? Most onion varieties are grown for seed or seedlings for specific areas or zones. If you received yours from Vidalia, Georgia; they may not do well in Southern California.

Just curious.

Ted

[Jewell]

Tinybu - you'll have to let us know how your different vegies do. It is interesting to see what will grow best in each of the different regions at different times/seasons of the year.

My broadbeans are up in their pots and the late season corn is tasseled. Won't be long before the beans go in there. The midsummer planted cauliflower got way too big??? don't understand why. Hopefully it will wait until spring to head up. Got too many vegies right now to eat. All the last seeded greens are coming up. Brussel sprouts are just beginning to form. I don't like them until after a frost and they sweeten so hopefully they will slow down too. It's all a guessing/trial-and-error hobby for me.

[Tinybu88les8]

tedln

I honestly don't know much about the onion. I ordered all of my seeds from amazon.com. The company is called Hirts Gardens I believe. Ive been a little confused about them myself. Says they are called Granex and come from Vadalia Georgia? I'm gonna give them a shot...they sounded so delicious! Ive been dying to make roasted onions with fresh herbs in a cream sauce! Ive been holding onto the recipe. YUM!

[tedln]

That does sound delicious. The sweet onion should be perfect. I grew a lot of them this past spring and everyone who ate them commented on how sweet they are. The herb sauce sounds great. Will you make a bechamel white sauce with butter? Which herbs will you use?

Ted

[gixxerific]

Cool still going.

The Vadalia is an awesome onion. I have never grown them but if just right they can be eaten like an apple, if your are into onions that is.

To some of the new comers is it trial and error for me as well. With the dramatic changes in weather. I have started seed that went bad. Started seed again with cooler temps, much better this time. I already have stuff in the ground. Broccoli, Cauliflower, Arugula, Swiss Chard, Blue Lake Beans, Snow Peas, Sugar Daddy Peas, Snowbird Peas, Brussels Sprouts, and Mustard Greens.

As seedling many of the same as well as Mustard, Onions(some Utah strain?) and carrots. The carrots are just today starting to sprout after about 2 weeks.

So Ted be patient with that lettuce as mentioned in your lettuce thread. Take care of them and they will come.

I will be planting more when the tomatoes have been removed, kinda waiting for them to go so I can renew what space I have.

Got Tea, it will be done thur, can't wait. Check this out https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17097

[Earl K]

Gixx,Cool to already be 6 pages into this huh,Well my scallions,snap peas,more cukes,more pole beans,more radish all are sprouting.Waiting on some tom seeds to get them goin.Also have heatwave tom plant 2 weeks and almost 2 feet tall with 6-8 blossoms starting to open(can see yellow in 3 of them) .Keep it up

[Tinybu88les8]

Tedln

This is the link to the recipe. Check it out! YUMMMMM!

https://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Onions-Baked-with-Rosemary-and-Cream/Detail.aspx

[racerttx]

I too have a fall garden. I have poinsetta cuke plants, big beef tomato plants, jalapeno plants, a few cherry tomato plants and a couple sweet potato tubers. The cukes and jalapenos are in the process of producing so we will see how that goes. Its too hot for the tomato plants to produce right now as I am in north Texas. I have broccoli, carrots, burpless cukes and sweet corn seeds ready to plant for the fall crop but I'm afraid most of them will die due to the heat we are having. With all of this planned I will have only used up about 50% of my total area so I am looking for more ideas. I have gathered up a Texas type variety of seeds in hopes of trading some eventually. This is my first attempt at gardening.

[ChefMatt]

Just starting a garden for the first time, I've ripped uo the area I want it to be in, and turned the soil, and started a compost pile, the garden is going to be fairly small, so I'm hoping it won't take too long to get going. What are my next steps/timeframe if I want to get some vegetables growing by say, mid September? And what should I look to grow that will do ok in the ever changing Connecticut climate, and won't be too tough for a first timer? Thanks for the help!

[sweet thunder]

I planted peas, chard and spinach yesterday. I'll do some more carrots and maybe lettuce as space frees up.

I'd like to grow some garlic, but I have no idea where to put it! I don't have much space in the ground (I do lots of containers) but if I get my act together and prep some new beds in time, I may do it.

[racerttx]

I had a very late start on my garden but I have been checking it daily and have noticed 1 to 2 inch cukes growing all over my plants. this morning I checked and found a surprise, it must have been avoiding me!

[img]https://offinit.com/cuke.JPG[/img]

[gixxerific]

The surprise ones are the best. Mine were so full of foliage I would have to search trough the plant by moving stems around. Even then you might miss 1 or 6. Than all of the sudden you have all these 8 inch cukes. Don't forget about the ones you didn't know were there until your neighbor tells you about them cause they are on the other side of the fence. All good with the neighbor cuz they love my cukes.

[applestar]

I noticed today that the determinate Pricipe Borghese tomatoes are winding down. I'm ready to throw the towel at Lynn's Mahogany Garnets -- not only do these tomatoes not taste that great, they easily crack or bruise then attract fruit flies, slugs, and other unsavory characters I may give up on the LMG's and clear them away when I pull the plug on PB's -- Just in time to plant some spinach and maybe fast growing Asian turnips... and I'll have some place to plant the garlic and the shipment of Egyptian and Potato onions I'm expecting this fall.

[gixxerific]

I'm in the same boat as you Apple. All my mators are going down slowly but surely. But it just can't seem to do it. They still have red and greens on them. They went through a state of denial for 2-3 weeks than all of sudden I have more mators than I know what to do with. But I do have a bunch of starters that are doing fairly well. Plus I was going to start some seed I just want to fill up the space that is half wasted with these half productive mators.

Talk about slugs I have seen several 4-6 inch motherblankybalnks around here lately. And something, probably them, is tearing the junk out of my broccoli and cauliflower arugula etc, which I may have to replant.

Not to mention the yellow finches that think I planted Swiss chard for them.

One more thing did I mention my mustard greens went to seed? I pulled them today. It was all a little early I think but I was going by the local ext. advice on when to plant.

[tedln]

I had a very late start on my garden but I have been checking it daily and have noticed 1 to 2 inch cukes growing all over my plants. this morning I checked and found a surprise, it must have been avoiding me!

[img]https://offinit.com/cuke.JPG[/img]

I looked at the picture of the cuke you posted and the fact that you are also in Texas. I am about 60 miles north of Dallas and my cuke plants are just about worn out from the heat. Half are dead, but the other half are hanging on and producing a few cukes. I will be planting fall cukes next week. Your plant still looks fresh and green and unstressed. What part of Texas are you in, panhandle, east, central?

Ted

[racerttx]

tedln, you sound pretty close to me. I'm in denton right at the 35 split basically. I think a reason mine are doing so well is that they are partially shaded until 11am and then again in the afternoon for a very short period when a small tree shadow passes over. I have built a directional trellis but I'm not happy with the type of material I have used. I have noticed a little heat stress but this cold front that came through helped out a lot but again this is my first vegetable attempt. with that said this is my very first vegetable I will get to harvest so I'm very excited. what condition is your soil in? what kind of cukes have you tried and plan on trying? I too plan on planting another type of cuke for part of my fall crop so we will have to share setup tips and what not. how big is your garden?

[tedln]

racerttx,

We are close. We live on the north side of Lake Ray Roberts. Our address is in Valley View.

I've had a great garden this year. You can see photos of it at the following photobucket web page.
https://s291.photobucket.com/albums/ll308/tedln/?start=0

My cukes started producing in May and some plants survived the July/August, 100 degrees plus weather. I'm waiting for the sun to start setting this evening and I will plant some fall plants including cukes. Our temps are only in the high 80's for the next few days, but if you are working in the sun, it feels a lot higher.

We actually live in a very good area for gardening because we can grow early in the year and late in the year.

Enjoy the photos. If you have any questions about my garden, feel free to ask.

Ted

[gixxerific]

I was thinking the same thing, my plants looked like death warmed over and those looked very vibrant. Mine are gone now. Good luck with yours everybody.

[tedln]

Dono,

Are you not planting anything for the fall garden?

racerttx,

Our daughter and her family also live in Denton. Their back yard is a large courtyard surrounded by structure and shaded by large trees. She doesn't grow veggies, but she does grow a lot of flowers and plants in pots and in the ground. Because the courtyard is protected, her plants like geraniums and other tender plants live through the winter and nothing dies from the intense heat and sun. Her courtyard probably stays 15 degrees below what my garden sees out in the sun without shade. The cool shade like you have and my daughter has make a huge difference.

Ted

[Diane]

Great pictures Ted. I love the flowers. I was surprised by the winter scene. I know it snows on rare occasions in Texas but that looks more like ...here.
My neighbor has a Slippery Elm tree that has grown so much over the years that my yard which was 90% sun is now only 50%.

[racerttx]

impressive tedln,

looks like a very nice setup, I'm so jealous at how much room you have. I would like to make my trellis system similar to how you have yours next time. we fish Ray Bob all the time since its so close. are bugs a problem for you out there? doing any heirloom tomatoes? what do you add to the soil to get it the way you like it? what about ferts (if any) and pest control?

[gixxerific]

Dono,

Are you not planting anything for the fall garden?

I have a bunch of stuff planted and am planning more. Though Some of my stuff is getting tore up by birds and slugs. Those may have to be replanted.

[tedln]

impressive tedln,

looks like a very nice setup, I'm so jealous at how much room you have. I would like to make my trellis system similar to how you have yours next time. we fish Ray Bob all the time since its so close. are bugs a problem for you out there? doing any heirloom tomatoes? what do you add to the soil to get it the way you like it? what about ferts (if any) and pest control?

I think my bugs are probably similar to most gardeners. I have plenty of predatory bugs to control them though. Lots of lady bugs and assassin bugs do the job for me.

I hate to tell this, but since I don't want to dig holes in other places for soil, I buy those cheap bags of dirt at Home depot and then amend it with composted sawdust/horse manure. Since the area around here is "horse" country, there is a good supply of compost available. Most people hate the Home Depot soil, but I've used it with success for many years in raised beds and containers. With the compost, I rarely need additional fertilizer. If I do, I have used commercial 10-10-10 in the past. Next spring and possibly this winter, I will start using aereated compost tea instead of commercial fertilizer.

I've just finished building a 30' X 4' raised bed for spring onions. I have seeded the bed for fall veggies, but will plant 400 onions in it in February. I will leave room for my regular tomato plantings plus an equal number of heirloom tomatoes. We are fortunate to have D&L farm and ranch supply in our area. I went there last week and talked with their nursery manager who gave me a list of the heirloom seedlings they will have available. They also have all the organic products available if you wish to grow organically or make organic teas. They also have a good bulk seed selection. They plan on reworking their seed area this winter and adding varieties people have been asking for. I went to the D&L in Aubrey, you have a D&L close to you on 377.

Ted

[tedln]

Great pictures Ted. I love the flowers. I was surprised by the winter scene. I know it snows on rare occasions in Texas but that looks more like ...here.
My neighbor has a Slippery Elm tree that has grown so much over the years that my yard which was 90% sun is now only 50%.

Your pretty close to correct Diane. We don't get much snow here, but we get some. The photo was taken early in the morning on our property. You can see the blue sky in the background. By late afternoon the snow was all melted. That's the difference between Texas snow and Mass. snow. We only get to admire it rarely and quickly. When you get it, it stays around for awhile. I took a few photos which I use as my desktop background in July and August. It just reminds me that the numbing heat doesn't last all year and better weather will return.

Ted

[racerttx]

here are a couple pictures just to illustrate the area I am working with. I will have to show you the up to date pictures once I am finished being embarrassed bout my trellis

[img]https://offinit.com/a.JPG[/img]
[img]https://offinit.com/b.JPG[/img]

just your average backyard vegetable garden!