People in zones 9 and 10

[PunkRotten]

Hi,


I have some questions for you. What is your growing schedule for things like tomatoes, peppers, melon, cucumber, basil, dill, lettuce, beets, carrots, cilantro, parsley, and garlic?

I am not a very experienced gardener. I planted some tomatoes in Spring and let them grow up until a week ago and then ripped them out. Not much more fruits on them or flowers. Do you usually plant in Spring and another for fall? How about Peppers? I planted some Peppers in Spring, and they are still growing strong, tons of flowers and fruits coming in. In fact, I think I am gonna leave them and see if they continue growing as a perennial since I think it does not get cold enough to kill them.

And Basil, I have some growing but not sure when to wrap it up. In other words when should I collect the seeds and harvest the whole plants?

What is the best time to plant garlic?

If you have experience with the other stuff throw it out there. I also want to know do you grow year round or do you have a rest period to prepare your soil for Spring?

Thanks

[gumbo2176]

Hi,


I have some questions for you. What is your growing schedule for things like tomatoes, peppers, melon, cucumber, basil, dill, lettuce, beets, carrots, cilantro, parsley, and garlic?

I am not a very experienced gardener. I planted some tomatoes in Spring and let them grow up until a week ago and then ripped them out. Not much more fruits on them or flowers. Do you usually plant in Spring and another for fall? How about Peppers? I planted some Peppers in Spring, and they are still growing strong, tons of flowers and fruits coming in. In fact, I think I am gonna leave them and see if they continue growing as a perennial since I think it does not get cold enough to kill them.

And Basil, I have some growing but not sure when to wrap it up. In other words when should I collect the seeds and harvest the whole plants?

What is the best time to plant garlic?

If you have experience with the other stuff throw it out there. I also want to know do you grow year round or do you have a rest period to prepare your soil for Spring?

Thanks

I"m in zone 9 in New Orleans. This is what I now have started for the fall. Tomatoes, bell peppers, sugar snap peas, bush beans, Japanese Yard Long Beans, cucumbers, Brussels Sprouts, Broccoli and Collard Greens. These plants are up and growing in my rows.

I have some seed in the ground for beets, Swiss Chard and winter squash that are just popping out of the soil. I'm also going to put in several varieties of leaf lettuce, spinach, carrots, onions, garlic, arugula and some bitter salad greens in a Mesculin mix when the temperatures cool a lot more. Likely won't put much of the above until late September.

I still have 30 okra plants and a few hot and bell pepper plants carried over from my spring planting. The okra is going to come out by early next week since I have more than enough of it already.

Hope this is of some help.

P.S. Forgot to mention, basil likes warm to hot weather. Parsley, cilantro, dill, rosemary and several mints do well for me in the cooler weather.

[PunkRotten]

Cool man it helps a lot. I have lettuce, mesclun salad mix, arugula, kale, beets, carrots, garlic, dill, parsley, and cilantro planned. My peppers are still going pretty strong so I won't plant anymore. I am not sure about planting tomatoes. I am almost tempted to do 1 plant to see how it goes.

[gumbo2176]

Cool man it helps a lot. I have lettuce, mesclun salad mix, arugula, kale, beets, carrots, garlic, dill, parsley, and cilantro planned. My peppers are still going pretty strong so I won't plant anymore. I am not sure about planting tomatoes. I am almost tempted to do 1 plant to see how it goes.

Tomatoes are a crap shoot in my area. Almost every year we do get some frost, some years earlier than others. Year before last and last fall we got fairly early below freezing temps. that froze my tomato plants that were loaded with fruit-----all green. So I picked those, made fried green tomatoes, pickled green tomatoes and Salsa Verde(green salsa). I picked 7 gallons of green tomatoes to put to use.

Three years ago our weather held off and I had a fine crop of nice red garden grown tomatoes. The thing with tomatoes in the fall is they generally do better in the cooler growing conditions. Less disease, many fewer pests to deal with and not as much need to water since heat is not taking them out.

Give them a shot and see what they do if you have the room. I only put in 8 plants for the fall where I generally have 2 dozen or so in the spring.

[PunkRotten]

I am gonna try some black cherry tomatoes. They mature around 65 days I think. Thing is I don't even have a starter plant it is all gonna come from seed. So I hope I can get a plant up fast enough and get fruit before it gets too cold.

I never tried green/unripe tomatoes. I usually make green salsa with Tomatillos. How does an unripe/green tomato usually taste? How does brussel sprouts work out? I was almost tempted to get some seeds but I just was doubtful it would go well.

[rainbowgardener]

Brussels sprouts are a cold weather crop that doesn't really taste good until it has been through a couple frosts. I don't know if you have cold enough weather for it. It is also pretty slow from seed-- something like four months.

[PunkRotten]

Yeah it gets like in the 40s, and sometimes in the upper 30s. That is about it. I don't know if that is cold enough. I was looking at a variety that says 85 days to maturity. Still, I was doubtful to try it.

[gumbo2176]

I am gonna try some black cherry tomatoes. They mature around 65 days I think. Thing is I don't even have a starter plant it is all gonna come from seed. So I hope I can get a plant up fast enough and get fruit before it gets too cold.

I never tried green/unripe tomatoes. I usually make green salsa with Tomatillos. How does an unripe/green tomato usually taste? How does brussel sprouts work out? I was almost tempted to get some seeds but I just was doubtful it would go well.

Unripe green tomatoes are very firm, very little liquid and not too many seeds have started to form. They are fairly bitter and in my opinion, not a good choice to eat unless pickled or cooked in some way.

Brussels sprouts grow and produce well in my area. I'll have about 8-12 plants and they are pretty slow to mature. I'll let most of the sprouts form along the stem and will only pick a few close to the base as they form and mature from the bottom up. I used the sprouts from the size of my thumb and larger to steam or braise and eat them that way. The upper, smaller sprouts I pickle in a Bread & Butter type brine and they are killer. I wound up canning about 6 pints like that and have been eating them sparingly since early spring. But, like others have mentioned, they do seem to do better and get a good taste after a few frosts.

[john gault]

I've read some things that say I'm in zone 9, but other things that say I'm in zone 8. With the last few winters I'm going with zone 8.

[PunkRotten]

When do you start garlic in zone 9? Do you grow parsley and cilantro both seasons?

[gumbo2176]

When do you start garlic in zone 9? Do you grow parsley and cilantro both seasons?

I started my garlic in late November last year and picked it around June. Cilantro and Parsley will do nicely in cool/cold weather unless it freezes and does well into the late spring for me. It dies back when the temps. hit in the upper 80's-90's near summertime.

I do have some Parsley that survived this summer, but it was in a pot that I kept out the sun during the hottest part of the day. It did not grow very vigorously though and stayed pretty much the same size all summer. In cooler weather parsley really takes off for me and grows quite large.

[thanrose]

I've read some things that say I'm in zone 9, but other things that say I'm in zone 8. With the last few winters I'm going with zone 8.

Then there's the microclimates... My sister is in Mandarin, 30 years +. She calls it The Banana Belt due to nearly always pleasant weather. But She's in horse farm and long leaf pine country with that deep white sugar sand.

You being more coastal, I'd say you are probably pushing Zone 9, and should think of your area as Zone 8b.

What the zones mean for me when I bother to think of them at all, is if someone says a tulip will make it in Zone 9, my zone, I don't waste a second even considering it. For me to grow something that isn't particularly indigenous, I'd choose something that goes to Zone 10 and keep it in a more sheltered part of the property.

We are all getting deeper longer cold snaps, and longer hot doldrums so the Zones are not all that reliable. Just remember that ocean coasts will be more moderate than ten miles inland.

I've just rooted some lemon grass stems and some turmeric rhizomes that I expect to shelter this winter and probably leave to chance the following year. Winter is not even a glimmer for me yet.

[Tilde]

Heat can affect your tomatoes, too. I did them on the porch all summer - got an early burst of pickables until the heat hit. Then nothing. As the heat died off, they've become more vigorous.

Herbs went wild all summer.

Starting carrots and loose leaf salad greens and beans soon.

[PunkRotten]

I started carrots already and lettuce. I also started beets, carrots, radish, cilantro, parsley, kale, and green onions. The lettuce sprouted but got burned. I may need to replant some. Also one of the rows of radish got burned too. The temps are still in the 90s here.


I think I am gonna start some things in pots and then transplant them when it is cooler.