mattie g
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Fall Garden 2014 on the Brain

Since (as I've mentioned a few times before) I don't have much space in my garden, I have to be pretty cagey when it comes to planning out my garden. As a personal rule, I don't like a lot of clutter, but I'm not opposed to crowding my garden a bit if it's in the best interest of getting a good harvest. I've been thinking a bit about my fall garden this year, and have come to realize that my thoughts are pointing me into the direction of not doing anything overly crazy. Basically, I'm going to give fall beets a second shot (after a failure last year), and I'm going to try growing fall spinach and overwintered spinach (the former was a failure last year...which led to a success for the latter). I'm also going to plant some carrots in my very reliable "carrot planters" in order to have some carrots to harvest late in the year.

The idea is to sow as follows:

July 26: First planting of Boro and Boldor (golden) beets in NE corner of the garden
August 2: Nelson carrots in planters in S section
August 16: Sow second planting of beets in WSW corner and fall-harvest spinach (Butterflay and Olympia) in NNW sector
September 13: Sow overwintering spinach in the ESE corner

I had good success with overwintered spinach last year, although it was a mistake that turned out well. I thought I'd plant spinach for fall harvest, but I ended up planting a few weeks too late for that (mid-September or so), so I left the spinach in the ground and it took off like mad in the spring. I'm going to see if I can replicate that this coming fall/winter, while actually getting a fall harvest as well. My only problem is getting a decent germination rate for my spinach. Any pointers on helping that along?

I planted Merlin beets this spring, and while I've harvested a couple of them that got to about 1", the rest are puny roots with nice leaves. I didn't fertilize with nitrogen (just a broad fertilizer), but I did crowd them a bit, so they probably just didn't like how I went about it. I plan to space them out better this fall, and want to see if a good fertilizer will help. Any suggestions on a good organic fertilizer for beets?

I'm going to post a layout of my fall garden a little later. Once the tomatoes and basil in the SW area are done, I'll pull them and plant garlic there. And I'm sure I'll find a spot or two for some extra carrots or herbs or something. I always do!

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rainbowgardener
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I've never been very good at doing a fall garden, because at the time I should be planting things all the summer stuff is still going strong. But currently I'm filling in open spaces with various beans. I do have one bed that had a row of cabbage and broccoli down the middle which is gone now. I planted beans along one edge (the other edge has carrots), but that still leaves space in the middle. I may try planting more broccoli seed there. I think maybe I could get away with planting it mid to late August, although my planting guide says more like mid to late Sept.

Otherwise I just do overwintering gardens, full of garlic, onions, spinach and broccoli to over winter.

mattie g
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Here's the layout of my garden. It's not all to scale, but it's fairly close. Once I pull the tomatoes in the SW corner, the garlic will go there. The purple circle in the middle is our Zwetschgen (Italian plum) tree. It shades the back a bit, but it's not too bad.
image.jpg
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mattie g
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rainbowgardener wrote:I've never been very good at doing a fall garden, because at the time I should be planting things all the summer stuff is still going strong. But currently I'm filling in open spaces with various beans. I do have one bed that had a row of cabbage and broccoli down the middle which is gone now. I planted beans along one edge (the other edge has carrots), but that still leaves space in the middle. I may try planting more broccoli seed there. I think maybe I could get away with planting it mid to late August, although my planting guide says more like mid to late Sept.

Otherwise I just do overwintering gardens, full of garlic, onions, spinach and broccoli to over winter.
I've been careful about planning things out this year so that I have space for my fall stuff. The beets and spinach are going where the onions and garlic have already been pulled (east and north sections), and where carrots and beans are going to be coming out in a few weeks (west-southwest section). This is the first year I've really planned it out, and if it works well, I'll try to go with that succession "lineup" next year.

erins327
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I'm planning too! I can't wait!

My biggest mistake is here in Texas, we get that nice cool front sometime in mid-late September, and I go crazy and start planting seed. Then a week later, its high 90s again and everything is sad and doesn't get started right.

Last Fall I held off until October to plant, and I still don't think that was sufficient cooling. My snowpeas and broccoli just turned out sad (I think bc of the still hot weather!)

I just ordered more seeds:
Beets
carrots
all sorts of lettuce
broccoli


I'm going to plant now: papalo, dragon beans, and more green beans for hopefully a fall harvest. I'm hoping these can withstand the higher temps!

My tomatoes, eggplant, okra and peppers are still going strong and will probably continue to until November. But so far I will have plenty of space to start a Fall garden and keep the old summer stuff in until the first freeze!

mattie g
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Yeah...it's tough not to think you need a head start once those first cool fronts come through in late summer/early fall. We can cool down quite nicely by late August here, but it's also very easy to get into the 90s in September. Nonetheless, I have about three months until my first frost, so I really should start getting some things in the ground in the next couple weeks if I want to have a succession of harvests in the fall.

So...can anyone provide some feedback on the couple questions I had above re: better spinach germination rate and organic fertilizer for beets?

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applestar
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I think I posted this before somewhere -- I think the fall planting calculator is an excellent tool
Recommended Summer Planting for Fall Harvest

Mid to late summer is an excellent time to plant for a late harvest. The cool weather of fall improves the flavor of many vegetables. A number of flower and herb varieties can also thrive as temperatures cool and daylight hours diminish. Johnny's recommends the best varieties for planting in mid to late summer to extend your fall market season well beyond your last frost date.

To help you determine when to direct-sow seeds or transplant for a fall harvest, try our Fall-Harvest Planting Calculator.
https://www.johnnyseeds.com/v-45-recomme ... rvest.aspx

I might be a bit late for some things, but I'm working on planting them. I started some seeds for ornamental cabbage and kale as well as Red Russian Kale and gift seeds of Serbian Cabbage, Golden Beets, violas and pansies. I'm going to sow bush beans and I've decided to try sowing peas under the tomatoes in the SFH since they are very quickly losing their lower leaves to septoria and early blight as I clip them off and it seems like more room has opened up down below. The edamame I planted between those tomatoes are plumping up and almost ready to harvest. I'm going to try peas as well as direct sowing broccoli/cauliflower in one other location, too, since I've thought of a clear row that could be set up with protective cover.

I want to sow different varieties of spinach in a little while, along with lettuce, and also try the overwintering spinach and broccoli technique later on once more space opens up.

I'm probably going to try pre-germinating a lot of the stuff like I did in spring. Spinach and peas definitely.

Beets -- I've been thinking I need to raise pH. I have dolomitic lime, but I want to fire up the firepit and make some ash. That should provide a lot of potassium as well.

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applestar
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This looks interesting:
Fertilizer and pH -- The optimum soil pH for beets is 6.0 to 6.8, but pH up to 7.6 can be tolerated. Lime should be applied according to soil test recommendations at least 30 days before planting.

Fertilizers also should be applied according to test recommendations. If no test was taken, an application of 500 to 600 lb of 10-20-20 fertilizer is recommended. Fertilizers should be broadcast at least 7 days before planting. If a band application is preferred, bands should be 5 inches deep and 3 inches to the side of the seed row or between rows on a bed. Depending on growth rate and amount of rainfall, 1 to 3 sidedressings may be necessary. Apply 20 to 30 lb of nitrogen per acre at each application.

Beets will develop internal black spot if soil boron is not adequate. One lb of boron (or 10 lb of borax) per acre should be included in the initial fertilizer application. If boron was not included in preplant fertilizer, apply 2 to 4 lb of Solubor or 2 to 4 qt of N-Boron.
https://www.ces.ncsu.edu/hil/hil-4.html

I'm using alfalfa pellets and wheat bran for natural organic fertilizers. There are many good sources of analysis for alfalfa pellets because it's used for animal feed, but it's hard to find reliable analysis for wheat bran. But my impression is the N and P would be covered. For years, I've used rock phosphate and green sand every year, so I'm hoping there are enough residual that are still being released. I have clay subsoil so theoretically there are nutrients locked up in there. Of course I'm using compost and AACT to boost the microbial activity.

mattie g
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That fall calculator fits in pretty well with the dates I was thinking about for my planting. It's a great tool. Thanks for that, apple!

It sounds like you've got a lot going on for your own fall garden! I'm just taking it slow and planting stuff I really want to grow where I know I'll have room. I'd like to try broccoli, cappage, etc., but I just don't have the room for it, so I have to make tough choices on what we really want to eat...and spinach and beets are at the top of the list. Perhaps as I gain more experience I can figure out a better system for rotation and succession planting, but for now all I need is a little success to help get my confidence up!

mattie g
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applestar wrote:This looks interesting:
Fertilizer and pH -- The optimum soil pH for beets is 6.0 to 6.8, but pH up to 7.6 can be tolerated. Lime should be applied according to soil test recommendations at least 30 days before planting.

Fertilizers also should be applied according to test recommendations. If no test was taken, an application of 500 to 600 lb of 10-20-20 fertilizer is recommended. Fertilizers should be broadcast at least 7 days before planting. If a band application is preferred, bands should be 5 inches deep and 3 inches to the side of the seed row or between rows on a bed. Depending on growth rate and amount of rainfall, 1 to 3 sidedressings may be necessary. Apply 20 to 30 lb of nitrogen per acre at each application.

Beets will develop internal black spot if soil boron is not adequate. One lb of boron (or 10 lb of borax) per acre should be included in the initial fertilizer application. If boron was not included in preplant fertilizer, apply 2 to 4 lb of Solubor or 2 to 4 qt of N-Boron.
https://www.ces.ncsu.edu/hil/hil-4.html

I'm using alfalfa pellets and wheat bran for natural organic fertilizers. There are many good sources of analysis for alfalfa pellets because it's used for animal feed, but it's hard to find reliable analysis for wheat bran. But my impression is the N and P would be covered. For years, I've used rock phosphate and green sand every year, so I'm hoping there are enough residual that are still being released. I have clay subsoil so theoretically there are nutrients locked up in there. Of course I'm using compost and AACT to boost the microbial activity.
Thanks!

I have a few different organic fertilizers of varying ratios, and I also have some lime available, along with a soil testing kit. I'll check on the soil pH and apply lime if it seems like it could use it, but I won't mess around too much if I have the slightest doubt. I was also thinking it might be useful to pick up some bone meal for phosphorus - at the very least it would handy to have around.

Now...for the problem I have with spinach germination of <50%!

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How about some kale for the fall garden. Kale likes cooler weather and actually tastes sweeter after it gets a little frost.

I try to plan out my garden for the year, but sometimes I get the timing off and I plant the replacements and the garden is full. August is a weeding month for me because it is usually too hot to do anything else. Already everything is wilting in the afternoon by the time I get to watering it even though it rains early in the morning. My corn is tasseling now, when that is done, I will be amending it and hopefully plant it in September with broccoli, daikon, and pak choi. Peas will replace the beans, but tomatoes and cucumbers will pretty much stay where they are, but I will probably replace the plants. Eggplant and peppers are long lived here and will produce until about October then won't have much fruit until the day length increases again. In October or November I can plant my onion and garlic bulbs.

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imafan26 wrote:How about some kale for the fall garden. Kale likes cooler weather and actually tastes sweeter after it gets a little frost.

I try to plan out my garden for the year, but sometimes I get the timing off and I plant the replacements and the garden is full. August is a weeding month for me because it is usually too hot to do anything else. Already everything is wilting in the afternoon by the time I get to watering it even though it rains early in the morning. My corn is tasseling now, when that is done, I will be amending it and hopefully plant it in September with broccoli, daikon, and pak choi. Peas will replace the beans, but tomatoes and cucumbers will pretty much stay where they are, but I will probably replace the plants. Eggplant and peppers are long lived here and will produce until about October then won't have much fruit until the day length increases again. In October or November I can plant my onion and garlic bulbs.
Don't give me any ideas on planting additional stuff! :wink: But kale is an interesting idea...

Believe me...if I had the room I'd plant all kinds of things. Unfortunately, my space is quite limited, and most of my garden space is still being utilized by my summer crops. If I were to plant more in the way of various fall crops, I'd be spreading things pretty thin and wouldn't get much of a harvest of any of them.

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I usually only grow one kale plant. I like the dinasaur kale (Toscano) because it is sweeter and frankly I like the way it looks. I grow it in a large pot and it got up to six feet tall once. I get multiple harvests of the leaves so it really is a very space efficient plant.

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applestar
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Is Toscana same as Lacinato? I have seeds for that one -- maybe I should start it for this fall.

mattie g
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I asked my wife last night if she'd be interested in my growing kale this fall. She gave me a resounding "Yes!"

Soooo...I'm going to plant some kale. I've been doing some reading, and I'd pretty much settled on the Nero di Toscana (aka Lacinato), so now that both of you have mentioned it, I'm going to give that a whirl. Now...where do I plant it? :-?

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I went out in the garden yesterday evening looking for places to sow the Nero di Toscana kale* (seeds for which I ordered yesterday morning). I think I have a few candidate locations spread around the garden, though I may have to sacrifce a few beets and spinach plants to try to ensure I get enough successful germination to make harvesting worthwhile. I'm excited - if a little trepidatious - about adding something new!

* I was accompanied by my 18-month-old daughter, who promptly grabbed a half-ripe Rose de Berne tomato and sunk her litte rat teeth into it! :lol:

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applestar
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I wanna hear more about this Rose de Berne tomato! 8)

mattie g
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applestar wrote:I wanna hear more about this Rose de Berne tomato! 8)
I got my tomatoes from a different nursery this year because of a massive increase in price from where I've gotten them the last two years. One of the varieties which did really well last year was Eva Purple Ball, and since the new place didn't have that I tried finding something that was close. From my reading, both the Eva Purple Ball and Rose de Berne were very similar, so I went with that. Turns out they are quite close in shape, size, and color. I'm pretty sure the flavor is similar too, but I honestly can't recall exactly. I can confidently say, though, that my daughter loved it. There were lots of "MMMMMmmmmms!" to be had! :lol:

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Sounds good! I'm going to look into this. 8)

mattie g
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Scratch one fall planting off the list. The July 26 bed prep and sowing of the first batch of beets in the NE section was completed over the weekend! I took the time to then cut big sections of bird netting that would cover each of the three beds I have inside the marble-chip landscaping (I.e. those three arc-shaped beds in the picture), then draped it over the short bamboo posts that border the newly planted beet sections. This is absolutely necessary because squirrels (and chipmunks?) do a real number on any ground that is newly turned over. I've had my fair share of seeds, seedlings, and garlic bulbs ripped up over the last couple years, so I refuse to let it happen again!

My kale seeds came in the mail on Saturday, so those will be going in this coming weekend, along with the fall carrots. Either this weekend or next weekend, I'll pull most of the remaining carrots and would like to turn over the bean bed (this is where that second bed of beets will go); however, those beans (which were planted in early May) are still producing like mad, so I may have to wait.

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applestar
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Sounds like you've been busy!

It's hard to think about new planting a for fall when the summer produce are starting to come in "like mad" as you said. :lol: I need a morning when I'm not so busy harvesting and pruning diseased foliage :roll:

I asked my Swiss SIL about that tomato, and she said:
yes, I do know this tomato. It's heirloom from Switzerland and tastes great. "Berner Rose".

https://biogartenversand.de/product_info ... ucts_id=67
The link she sent me needs to be translated (I used Google Chrome). She also went on to ask me if I wanted her to get some seeds.... Do you need three guesses for what my answer was :()

mattie g
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applestar wrote:Sounds like you've been busy!

It's hard to think about new planting a for fall when the summer produce are starting to come in "like mad" as you said. :lol: I need a morning when I'm not so busy harvesting and pruning diseased foliage :roll:

I asked my Swiss SIL about that tomato, and she said:
yes, I do know this tomato. It's heirloom from Switzerland and tastes great. "Berner Rose".

https://biogartenversand.de/product_info ... ucts_id=67
The link she sent me needs to be translated (I used Google Chrome). She also went on to ask me if I wanted her to get some seeds.... Do you need three guesses for what my answer was :()
It was a great morning out in the garden with the little one! A little muggy, but a lot of fun. I kept her busy by plopping her down in a currently unused bed and letting her dig around. She both loved and feared the worms - she would put dirt on them and say "Night night!" :lol: My wife was happy to have the free time to just veg on the couch!

Yup - same tomato. "Rose de Berne" and "Berner Rose" mean the same thing, except the former is French and the latter is German. I can speak and read some German, so by the looks of that page the description is pretty spot on...although my plants are already well over 2m tall. 8)

I can imagine that, for those with bigger gardens than I have, it would be tough to think much about fall planting right now. I'm just coming into the peak of harvesting my summer crops, so it'd be hard to enjoy that if I were worried about putting in a big fall garden, too. That's one silver lining in having a small garden - it's easy to harvest a bunch of stuff, do some pruning, and then fully prep and plant a bed for the fall all in just couple hours. Spread that out over a few weeks, and it's easy as pie.

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Yaya carrots went in one planter yesterday, and I amended the "new" bed I'm going to use for about half my kale, as well. It's not a very big spot, but I figure I can fit about five or six plants in there. I'll sow the seeds tomorrow.

Beets planted last weekend have started to poke through...

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applestar
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Sounds good! I sowed sweet yellow Spanish and Parma onion seeds just to see if that would work in one bed that I can hope to keep mostly weed free. My golden beets are sprouting in the seed flat, and I HAVE to separate/cull/thin one of the cabbage family seedlings -- I couldn't tell which because the soil covered the marker writing along the rim of the container... and I didn't want to stay out any longer because mosquitoes were attacking me as I stood.
:roll: so much for reducing waste and not using plant labels :roll:

Seed starting is fun, but also very demanding! It's going to be tough because even though temps have cooled down (60's at night), rain is as scarce as ever.

I saw that my beans (top crop or Taylor) are up and I sowed the pre-germinated peas under the cucumber trellis yesterday.

mattie g
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applestar wrote:Sounds good! I sowed sweet yellow Spanish and Parma onion seeds just to see if that would work in one bed that I can hope to keep mostly weed free. My golden beets are sprouting in the seed flat, and I HAVE to separate/cull/thin one of the cabbage family seedlings -- I couldn't tell which because the soil covered the marker writing along the rim of the container... and I didn't want to stay out any longer because mosquitoes were attacking me as I stood.
:roll: so much for reducing waste and not using plant labels :roll:

Seed starting is fun, but also very demanding! It's going to be tough because even though temps have cooled down (60's at night), rain is as scarce as ever.

I saw that my beans (top crop or Taylor) are up and I sowed the pre-germinated peas under the cucumber trellis yesterday.
I'm really looking forward to the golden beets. I've never had them, but it would be pretty cool to taste a beet in something that...well...doesn't look like a beet!

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I have enjoyed reading this whole conversation as I am going to try fall gardening this year. I definitely want to do beets, spinach, kale, chinese cabbage and maybe broccoli. Honestly I need to go through my seeds and see what I still have. LOL. I have spot in our new circle garden (that really turned into bigger round garden and two smaller one so I guess like Micky head and ears lol) that just didn't grow what we wanted. I think I'll till in some newer soil and start that as the fall garden.
Best of luck though!!

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gardeningwithe wrote:I have enjoyed reading this whole conversation as I am going to try fall gardening this year. I definitely want to do beets, spinach, kale, chinese cabbage and maybe broccoli. Honestly I need to go through my seeds and see what I still have. LOL. I have spot in our new circle garden (that really turned into bigger round garden and two smaller one so I guess like Micky head and ears lol) that just didn't grow what we wanted. I think I'll till in some newer soil and start that as the fall garden.
Best of luck though!!
Awesome!

I'm really excited for this fall. It's something I've never done before (at least not haphazardly), so I really hope I can get some good production at least until we start to freeze up pretty regularly. That's not until mid- to late-November or so here, so if I've planned things out well and planted at the right times, I may just extend my season for quite a bit longer than ever before.

Good luck on your own fall garden. Feel free to keep us up to date in here!

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applestar
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Make sure you try the summer planting schedule for fall harvest tool link I posted on the first page.

gardeningwithe
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I used to calculator and was pleased to see that there are some things I can definitely plant - guess today will be my fall garden prep day. Thanks so much applestar!!

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Mattie - your lay out is beautiful. Both attractive and functional. I skimmed through the post so I may have missed this. What about leaf lettuce, mustard greens and turnips? I plant Tokyo turnips. They are snow white and very mild - almost sweet. The greens are much milder than the purple turnips. I hope you use your beet greens as well as the beets.

Even though you are not doing traditional square foot gardening if you space your seeds and starts using SFG guidelines you will have a lot of produce in a small amount of space and will never have to thin.

Just a thought.

God luck

mattie g
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Thanks for the kind words, Elizabeth! I credit my wife with the layout plans - I just fit my garden in where I can! We designed it with kids in mind, as my wife remembered her neighbors' gardens where she grew up, and how it was kind of fairytale-esque wandering through them and picking fruits and vegetables right off the plants and eating them there. It's great because our little one does just that now!

I've thought about planting leaf lettuce, but we're really big fans of spinach, so that'll be our main leafy green (at least for this fall). We do use the beet greens, both in salads and sautéed along with spinach. Our main problem is the limited space we have, so adding in another crop would *really* be pushing it. I had to amend a new section of the garden/landscape just to get most of the kale in, and I think I'm now plum out of space to put in a new bed. I'm curious about the square foot gardening idea, and I might try it sometime...just not yet!

mattie g
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Oh...as for the kale bed, I planted my kale today in that bed and in a "secondary bed." The secondary bed gets a ton of winter sun, but it sits under a section of our second story that hangs out about 8' or so, so it gets very little rain and snow on it. It does stay just a tad warmer there in the winter since it's nestled in like it is up against the house and gets plenty of sun during the day, so it's a decent wintertime bed. I just need to make sure to water it from time to time and to maybe throw some snow up there to insulate the kale if it's needed and/or possible.

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Lol...I still haven't "thought" about the fall garden yet, but I did start pretty much all of it in trays today. 18 cells each with lettuce ( 6 each roman delight, red romaine, and red salad mix), red Russian kale, regular kale (blue scotch I think), and collards. I'll start a little more collards and kale in a few weeks...

meshmouse
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Hey guys, I'm really enjoying this thread.

This fall, winter is going to be my first 'intentional' attempt at extending this season and jump starting next season.

I have a few questions. When you refer to 'overwintering' does that mean you are letting the plants grow a bit, knowing that they will not reach maturity but will have developed some roots, so that in spring they have a head start? Or does that mean planting seeds to germinate in spring at their earliest liking?

I suspect it's the former, in which case my question is, do you give them a protective mulch at some point before the dead of winter and remove it early spring? Also, any advice on pre-planting seeds for spring?

Also - mattie g - what are your 'reliable carrot planters'. Inquiering minds want to know. Well, I do anyway.

Thanks,

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rainbowgardener
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When you refer to 'overwintering' does that mean you are letting the plants grow a bit, knowing that they will not reach maturity but will have developed some roots, so that in spring they have a head start? YES

Yes, I mulch them. I don't cover them (e.g. with plastic), but I do mulch. By spring a lot of the mulch has broken down, so I don't have to do too much uncovering, just let them grow.

Not quite sure what you meant about pre-planting seeds. If you mean in the ground, my only experience with that is some cold hardy perennials. Many of those need to go through a cold winter in the ground (or some cold stratification process that simulates that) in order to germinate. They are fall planted to sprout in spring.

meshmouse
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Thanks RGB,

Yes to overwintering. I'm gonna give it a go.

Good to know about the mulch. That's what I'll do.

And, yes about pre-planting seeds. I'm gonna give that a try as well. I'll plant them just before the first real snow here in zone 7a (probably late Dec, early Jan).

Thanks again.

imafan26
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Since kale is a big plant and for me can last a couple of years, I plant it in a big pot so I can save garden space for other things. It likes nitrogen and calcium and I usually do not put calcium in my garden bed.

I like toscano because it is sweeter than curly kale. The leaves are tougher than curly kale, but if you use just the youngest leaves and slice them very thin, it works in salads. A lot of people make kale smoothies adding bananas, papaya, pinepples, grapes, strawberries, passion fruit juice, grapes and whatever else is available

Mostly I like them sauteed in olive oil, butter, salt, pepper and garlic or cooked with beans and salt pork.

I started to plant my fall garden today with seeds of DeCicco Broccoli, Toscano Kale, swiss chard, Won Bok (Michili), Early Wonder (tall top) beets. My corn is tasseling now so it should be done in time for planting as long as those darn snails and birds stop eating the tops off my seedlings.

mattie g
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meshmouse wrote:Also - mattie g - what are your 'reliable carrot planters'. Inquiering minds want to know. Well, I do anyway.
They're just simple planting boxes - about 30" long, 10" or so deep, and about 8" wide (not exact measurements, by any stretch). It's nice because I can put in two rows of carrots in it, and they have reliably produced for me. It's more about feeling comfortable with them and knowing what I have to do to get production out of what I plant in them. For me, being confident in what I'm doing is an incredibly important aspect of being successful in the garden, and with these planters, I don't have to wonder how to go about prepping and planting carrots in them. I'm very much a mind-over-matter-type person, so if I can conquer mental challenges, the physical comes pretty easily to me!

meshmouse
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mattie g - sorry to take so long getting back to you. I've been out on the water this past week.

In terms of fall crop/over wintering carrots in your containers - are these up against the sun wall outside?

I've heard that planting in containers gives you one to two zones warmer in summer and one or two colder in winter. Any experience with that?

Also, do you swap out soil each crop or amend, if so how.

Thanks again - meshmouse

mattie g
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meshmouse wrote:mattie g - sorry to take so long getting back to you. I've been out on the water this past week.

In terms of fall crop/over wintering carrots in your containers - are these up against the sun wall outside?

I've heard that planting in containers gives you one to two zones warmer in summer and one or two colder in winter. Any experience with that?

Also, do you swap out soil each crop or amend, if so how.

Thanks again - meshmouse
I might put them up against the house if we get some cool weather in late-September or October, but otherwise they should do just fine where they are. If I want to try to keep them going into November, then I'll almost certainly have to move them nearer to a wall. I can certainly see how soil in a pot would heat up and cool down more quickly than ground soil, which is one reason why I use plenty of mulch (cut grass) in my pots - it helps to regulate the temperature a bit, as well as limit evaporation from the soil.

At the beginning of each year, I take about half the soil out and add new potting soil, along with some all-purpose fertilizer to help give it a kick. For my fall planting, I just took a couple inches of soil off the top and mixed in an equal amount of new potting soil and fertilizer. I'm sure there are folks to put brand new soil in each year, but that could get a little pricey, and so far this way seems to do OK for me!



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