Latest you've ever started a garden
I'm in northeast AL, close to alot of the recent storm damage. Very thankful my family didn't have any major damage. Just getting power back on and trying to get back to normal. Because of the weather I have yet to plant my garden. I know that it will just come in late but I've never waited this long in the season to plant before. Usually, it's in the ground by the middle of April. Just wondering what is the latest any of you have planted and what were the results?
I'm pleased that gardening continues to be a priority to you, Wil_low. Sorry, you folks had to go thru so many difficulties.wil_low wrote:. . . Just wondering what is the latest any of you have planted and what were the results?
Well, since you say "any of you" . . . I will put it in terms of frost date since this area has a very different climate:
I once started a garden 1 month after average last frost. That's not very late but a little late for cool-season crops -- which I did not plant. The warm-season veggies did just fine!
Another time - and this is really late - I got on a piece of ground 2 months after last frost. I planted green beans and an ill-advised bed of beets. The beets did nothing. I had a HUGE crop of beans. In fact, I spent 10 hours one day out there picking
!My late choices at the start of the hot weather each year are green beans and summer squash. Perhaps, sweet corn would be a good choice for you but our season runs out with fall frosts if corn is planted that late. Then, don't forget salad greens when the weather cools!
Here is Wishing You the Best of Luck!
Steve
edited to add: Just checked. Huntsville (in NE Alabama) has an average last frost date of March 30.
Although I start most of my outside garden by the middle of jun I expand it all summer . I like to plan mixed beds of things so as they come up I transplant them to other areas. I like to start plants in a shady area in the middle of summer so as to get healthy new plants not effected by the hot sun while they are young! broccoli and cabbage I plant for months and always have new plants growing! Vine crops thatmature in 90 dasys I start all the time like Zucc. We can grow things here in Pa. till late oct and the cole crops till dec! Radish with a 28 day maturity can be planted even in Aug!
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I use alot of finished veg.. in my compost even weeds I pull!
I am constantly growing new sun flowers all summer. I started a tomato bed las year ion July and had great success.. I like to transplant after a few rainy days to give the lants a good start. I often plant a crowded crop of lettuce or a mix of stuff and transplant it before it gets to weak from the crowedness! I put a few small raised beds in a shady area to start plants all summer! works great especially for cukes ,zucc & sunflowers! So to me its never too late till you see the snow them I move tothe greenhouse!
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I use alot of finished veg.. in my compost even weeds I pull!
I am constantly growing new sun flowers all summer. I started a tomato bed las year ion July and had great success.. I like to transplant after a few rainy days to give the lants a good start. I often plant a crowded crop of lettuce or a mix of stuff and transplant it before it gets to weak from the crowedness! I put a few small raised beds in a shady area to start plants all summer! works great especially for cukes ,zucc & sunflowers! So to me its never too late till you see the snow them I move tothe greenhouse!
"I'm pleased that gardening continues to be a priority to you, Wil_low. Sorry, you folks had to go thru so many difficulties."
Please don't get me wrong, helping in the community is of great priority. My husband has been cutting trees and clearing driveways for friends that were affected. Also, we've been delivering food and supplies. I must say that the response we've seen has been wonderful from other communities and neighboring states. The clean-up will be a long process and alot of people won't have a garden this year so it will be good to help out our neighbors in the following months by being able to give them fresh produce (hopefully if I get this stuff in the ground)
Steve it's encouraging to hear that you planted two months after frost and had such a good crop of beans.
And Bobberman, tomatoes in July, that makes me smile
We love our tomatoes. We planted over 80 plants last year!
I guess I knew that it was okay to plant late, just wanted a little reassurance.
We hope to plant tomatoes, bell pepper, squash, zucc, greeen beans, corn, okra and some sunflowers for my daughter. maybe a few watermelons even though we didn't have good luck with them last year.
Please don't get me wrong, helping in the community is of great priority. My husband has been cutting trees and clearing driveways for friends that were affected. Also, we've been delivering food and supplies. I must say that the response we've seen has been wonderful from other communities and neighboring states. The clean-up will be a long process and alot of people won't have a garden this year so it will be good to help out our neighbors in the following months by being able to give them fresh produce (hopefully if I get this stuff in the ground)
Steve it's encouraging to hear that you planted two months after frost and had such a good crop of beans.
And Bobberman, tomatoes in July, that makes me smile
We love our tomatoes. We planted over 80 plants last year!
I guess I knew that it was okay to plant late, just wanted a little reassurance.
We hope to plant tomatoes, bell pepper, squash, zucc, greeen beans, corn, okra and some sunflowers for my daughter. maybe a few watermelons even though we didn't have good luck with them last year.
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applestar
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I don't think you can really be too late to start a garden, just what you can plant. Out of your list, most of them probably would have no trouble planted now.
Possible exceptions are bell peppers, tomatoes and green beans since you live in an area that gets extra hot in the summer. From reading reports from other members here, I gather these crops can be affected by the heat and stop setting fruits, or even get too stressed and die. However, you should be able to get fall harvest of these crops either from the same plants after summer dormancy or from new plants.
I suspect for beans, you would be better off choosing heat tolerant species that are good eaten as young edible podded beans like Asparagus or yard long beans and southern peas. Some of these are also dual purpose and can be harvested as fresh mature beans and dried beans.
Good luck!
Possible exceptions are bell peppers, tomatoes and green beans since you live in an area that gets extra hot in the summer. From reading reports from other members here, I gather these crops can be affected by the heat and stop setting fruits, or even get too stressed and die. However, you should be able to get fall harvest of these crops either from the same plants after summer dormancy or from new plants.
I suspect for beans, you would be better off choosing heat tolerant species that are good eaten as young edible podded beans like Asparagus or yard long beans and southern peas. Some of these are also dual purpose and can be harvested as fresh mature beans and dried beans.
Good luck!
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Gary350
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One year I planted my garden the first week of July. Crops were all late but the garden did ok. Many of us are all in the same boat I usually have my tomatoes planted by April 20 and I plant beans and corn about the May 10 if I can. I love having tomatoes first week of July but this year it will be first week of August. When my corn crop is gone first week of August I plant beans again where the corn was.
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hit or miss
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Well, my climate is different than yours and every vegetable is different.
With an avg. last frost of about mid-Oct. I've planted summer squash in the end of June, Tomato seedlings in July, and bush beans in August all with acceptable results. I got a later harvest, but I still got a harvest
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Now, things like radishes, lettuce, and, to a lesser degree, beets, I've planted even later for a late-fall harvest.
With an avg. last frost of about mid-Oct. I've planted summer squash in the end of June, Tomato seedlings in July, and bush beans in August all with acceptable results. I got a later harvest, but I still got a harvest
.Now, things like radishes, lettuce, and, to a lesser degree, beets, I've planted even later for a late-fall harvest.
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hendi_alex
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Though I've never planted a really late garden, past the usual April planting time for summer veggies, we do use a lot of succession planting, and we do plant for a late fall garden. So no matter what time of the summer it is, something can always be started, especially as far south as you are. Green beans only take about two months to produce. Cucumbers and squash come off pretty quickly, but in the heat of the summer, they need to be planted on the east side of something that will give some shade or either planted under a structure covered with shade cloth or perhaps shading vines or lattice. We start our late tomatoes in June or early July. Kale and collards are started in September. Garlic gets planted in October. Late salad greens get planted in September. Guess you get the idea. There isn't any reason to leave the ground idle for a single month out of the year, and planting time is continuous from February through November here in central SC.