Fall Garden 2014 on the Brain

[mattie g]

I planted my second carrot planter yesterday. The ones I planted a couple weeks ago were Yayas, while these were the same Nelsons that grew this spring/summer.

Fairly big weekend coming up this weekend - big section of beets and my fall-harvest spinach will go in. My daughter helped me clear the space for the spinach by pulling up all the small spring/summer beets, but I won't have my little helper clear the beans for the beet bed. And while I'll miss having her around while I'm in the garden, it might be kind of nice not having to worry about her tearing leaves of all my other plants or trying to eat habaneros fresh off the plant hile I'm otherwise occupied! She and my wife will be living it up at the beach though, so don't feel too sorry for them!

[meshmouse]

mattie g -

I don't feel sorry for them, rather for you, that you're not at the beach with them. I'm sure there are reasons, but none good enough. We all need the beach now and then. Just kidding, I'm sure you miss them and they, you.

I only have (readily available) some 5 gal buckets that I'm thinking this week I will convert into planters with a few drain holes. I googled 'yayas' and they sound great. I will try them next spring, but for now I will plant the various seeds I have left over (standard stuff).

I've experimented with this this past late spring and while the carrots continue to grow, here I am 3 months later and the thinnings are all barely fingerlings (which are great, but..,) Are carrots very dependant on 'full sun'? That might be what mine lack. The tops look great.

[mattie g]

meshmouse...

My carrots get at least as much sun as anything else in my garden. It's not necessarily by choice, but by necessity, as that particular location isn't big enough to fit anything except those skinny planters. God luck on using the buckets for you carrots!

As for the family being at the beach without me, the dog and I will be meeting up with them this weekend and vacationing for over a week, so all's not lost!

[mattie g]

OK...second set of beets and first batch of spinach went in yesterday. The first beet seedlings aren't doing so hot - they've been getting nibbled at by something (maybe slugs) and some day-long downpours the other day put a real beating on them. I decided to sow a whole lot of seeds yesterday, so I should have plenty of seedlings to transplant into that first plot once yesterday's planting starts coming in.

[catgrass]

I have learned in years past that my spinach and lettuce do better in containers. I bought 2 pots that are about 1/2 size of a 1/2 whiskey barrel (got them at the dollar store). I just scatter the seeds in them and clip what I want out and they produce almost all winter. Of course, I'm in zone 9, so freezing is rarely a problem. I've also grown radish and carrots this way

[applestar]

How are your Fall gardens coming along?

I sowed some peas yesterday -- it's probably too late, but I cleared the last of the cuke and melon vines and wanted to sow something that would use the trellis. I sowed red orach along the edge.
I also sowed some Gigante spinach and planted the dime-nickel sized intermediate onion bulbs that didn't bulb up well at summer harvest. Rather than frustrating myself trying to peel them and use them or letting them dry up in storage, I thought I'll see if they will grow into green onions before frost/freeze kills them.

I cleared two more spots today and sowed some lettuce/salad mix and transplanted golden beet seedlings, and sowed kale/kohlrabi mix in the 2nd area.

Also sowed some cabbage and tatsoi seeds under the protective tunnel used for squash during the summer. I decided to just keep using this tunnel and put a plastic sheeting over the spun bonded fabric later on and see how long they can keep going. I sowed some other seeds here before and some of those seem to have come up. I've been lax about keeping records, so whatever grows will be more of a happy surprise.

also cleared the remaining lettuce with seed heads from the patio windowbox and sowed some lettuce mix, arugula and Egyptian onion topsets.

Spinach, carrot, Swiss chard, lettuce, and radish mix I sowed at the end of August are up and growing true leaves.

[rainbowgardener]

A little late, but in the past week, I have planted (in the ground) seeds for spinach, kale, broccoli, a couple kinds of lettuces, and onions. In October I will plant garlic and some more broccoli and spinach for over wintering.

[catgrass]

This past weekend I planted spinach and lettuce in those long window box type planters. Got radish in the ground. Have broccoli plants to put in the ground, but it isn't prepped yet. Have sugar snaps soaking and ready to plant, too. This weekend I'll buy some cabbage plants at the Ag Center Fall sale and I'll be good for the fall/winter season, except for my fall flower planting.

[lakngulf]

I have several summer crops going strong into our early Fall: Peppers, eggplant, some tomatoes and a replanting of okra and rattlesnake beans. Also, I have planted some mustard greens and Georgia collards.

Each year at my hunting land I plant 10 lbs of purple top turnips for the deer. They are in the ground (or rather "on the ground") and got some rain on Monday. Always difficult to plan them thin enough for the roots to form.

[applestar]

Having grown through the summer, Swiss chard, leeks, kale and celery are loving the cooler weather and growing fresh tender leaves and fat thick stalks. Pulling carrots as needed. Cutting down finished plants to let the roots die and break down.

I've been sowing seeds as space opens up -- lettuce, peas, spinach, beets, radish, daikon, carrots, parsnips, Swiss chard, broccoli, kohlrabi, and onions. Multiple varieties of each with at lease one variety for each crop like Walla Walla onion that are supposed to be good for fall sowing and possibly wintering over, though I might have been a little late. I'm hoping to compensate by putting up low and high tunnels to extend the fall season if I can.