ZONES 8-9 FALL/WINTER 2010

Oh! I forgot that we'll also plant more peas and maybe some spinach. Off to edit my post.

Linda wow forgot you already started this thread, I am trying to catch up LOL.
O.K here's my list of things to plant for this Fall.

First tomatoes about 8 plants, will place them out around 2 week of July, they are already big enough to transplant though. Peppers will also go out but they are taking a little longer for nice transplant size, will probably repot them today in a bigger pot, since they are in the small 6 cell packs right now, started some nice cucumbers as well thanks to Kelly.

Begining of July. I will sow my broccoli, cabbage, Kolrabi( I have some white's left from Twiggy) and just purchased some of the purple kind from Johny's, Kale, etc... Will transplant them in the garden Begining of September.

Begining of August will place some of my potato seeds on the containers, I saved some of my yucon golds and also have the banana fingerlings, will see if I am able to get anything or not. ( Thinking about buying another smart pot since the last one worked so well)

Mid August, will direct sow the carrots, don't have them just yet but will get them soon hopefully.

Sep 10th or so will start my onion seeds ( let just cross or fingers here), will direct sow the turnip, Lettuce ( I bought some nice seeds from Johny's and will make my own mesclum mix in pots and maybe in the raise beds if Ihave the space).

I think that is it, I do need to build my last 2 raise beds if I am planning to place so many veggies in the garden this year, hopefully I can get them in the ground by Sep which is when everything has to go in the ground.

As an experiment I started some lettuces mix yesterday in 2 containers I had, I am thinking that even though is is extremely hot the fact that they are in containers could help a little since I can move them around my garden to the shady spots or even put them inside if it gets extremely hot etc... hoepfully the experiment will be succesful and I'll have a nice salad mix in a month or so.

PS: I planted some nice mustard in a pot and is growing great, I had a little tiny leave yesterday just to try it and OMG I had no idea it would taste so hot, my tongue was on fire, but then the heat did not linger which was kind of cool.

Ok,
Looks like ya'll are getting the hang of posting your plans/progress to this thread, for our fall/winter garden documentary! Don't forget pics when the time comes, too!

And let's keep an eye out for any beginners who may be joining us. I posted this link on their thread and invited them along for our journey.

Each one, reach one -- each one, teach one! I'll volunteer to be the chief learner unless someone else wants that position!

Hugs!

Oh yes! I forgot that we had our first eggplant seed sprout yesterday! LOL

Yay for the eggplant sprouts!!!!!!!!

Ok. going to work now. Back on my lunch break.

Ciao!

This message was edited Jun 29, 2010 8:10 AM

YIKES!!!!

I JUST GOT MY RONNIGER'S SEED POTATO ORDER WITHIN THE LAST 10 MINUTES!!!!

I ordered 2 lbs. each of the Yukon Golds, Pink Pearls, Purple Vikings, and 3 lbs of the Shephody

The YGs and PVs are full of sprouts already!

Here's a pic!

This message was edited Jun 29, 2010 2:24 PM

Here's the full order. MUCH larger pieces than the first order.

I'm such a slacker. I've not even ordered yet. LOL

Stephanie just checked Ronnigers and they are completely sold out.

Well, I see somebody's gonna be staging a raid on their local Organic food supplier! LOL!

Ya'll know we have newbies lurking here, right? No more wire...er... SLACKING off!

I'm doing the usual - carrots, broc, etc and staying away from anything not cold hardy. At least not HERE cold hardy. I already have the compost decomposing over the areas where I'm growing all of this. I think I'll be able to nurse some of my tomatoes through the hot weather and they'll be good to go until December. But I will not do the sheets and the christmas lights this year.

TODAY, 06/29/10, I WSowed 50 Premium Late Flat Dutch cabbage seeds in coco coir...

I think I'll use the format above to keep track of myself for the spreadsheet....

I started sowing some of my winter veggies seeds today as well but ran out of compost so I guess I have to get more if I want to sow more seeds.

I don't start my cole crops until August. That's when my seeding guide form TAMU says to do for my region. There is no chance it will cool down until Oct. ?

I have some red potatoes I saved from my spring harvest. Guess I'll plant those! If you can believe it, we don't have an organic food store near us.

Stephanie, some "regular" groceries carry a certain amount of organic produce, might be worth checking? Mine doesn't carry organic potatoes, but said they could order some for me.

Hey, 1Lisac!
You're absolutely right on the TAMU guide.

The only reason I'm starting seeds now is cause I can in this freezing cold office! They fixed our generator, and the A/C is working waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to well.

Also, these seedlings are for giveaways to other growers, so I wanna get them going nice and strong for plantout in, yep, you guessed it, AUGUST!

Hugs!

Linda

I have at least 5 eggplant seedlings! The straw we put down wasn't exactly seed-free, so I've got tons of hay seedlings as well. :(

Same here Lisa - I usually start brassicas in August and plan to set out early October, depending on the weather. I also start direct seeding some in September. You know - last year the ones I direct seeded did just as well as the ones I set out as transplants - go figure - lol...

TODAY, 06/30/10, I WSowed:
50 Brunswick cabbage seeds in coco coir
10 Premium Dutch Flat Cabbage seeds in coco coir

Wow Linda are you going to open up a fresh market for cabbages, LOL.

What do you do with all that cabbage when it's harvested? You can only make so much kraut (which I detest).

Ok. Let's break it down....

That's only 100 Premium and 50 Brunswick cabbage seeds sown = 150 seeds.
100% germination will give me 150 seedlings
80% germination will give me 120 seedlings
50% germination will give me 75 seedlings

If I give seedlings to 10 people, that's only 15, 12 or 7 cabbages per person.

Yeah, they do look like a lot of seedlings til you start giving them away...

I think that's why 1LisaC grows seedlings 3000-4000 at a time....

Who really NEEDS 15 cabbages, though? LOL That would last me for 2 years, if they kept that long!

Grow some Asian cabbages! I like to make eggrolls and freeze them. Easy peasy - lol...

Time to go home now - you all are making me hungry - lol. I love sauerkraut but have no idea how to make it!

I found a great sauerkraut recipe online.

I blanch and freeze my cabbages for use during the year. Already cut up and ready to go into the pot with some seasoning ham!

Kelly you definetely have to post your assian eggroll recipe for us I love eggrolls.

I did not like sourcrout when I was a child and my mom practically had to force me to eat it, now I like it but not in excess.
Between cabage and broccoli I like broccoli more but I did grow one single cabbage plant before the heat started and decided to make some coleslaw with it and it really was delicious better than the store brand.

I think I could like cabbage cooked if it didn't smell so bad.

Do you plant potatoes in the fall?

Just hold your nose and open wide! I'm retrying cabbages for the fall, but since I don't have an Artic office, I'm going to wait for a bit.

Evelyn according to my gardening calendar I can start sowing potatoes after sep 15th, it does mention to only expect new potatoes though. I think you can get away with planting potaotes as long as they are the early producing kind.

sapphire I am the same I do not like the smell of cooked cabage but there are many other ways to prepare cabbage that does not require you to cook it.

Last year I started the cabbages and broccoli a little later but they took forever to form the head, unfortunately I was running out of space to plant other things so I ended up pulling all my cabbages but one, this time I just started sowing them yesterday, this way I can get them nice and big before transplanting and they can start producing a little earlier in the season, according to my calendar I can start sowing broccoli, cabbages and brussels begining of July til the end of July for transplant in the begining of Sep.

I like cabbage sliced thin and put on top of tacos (fish or beef). Lots of extra nutrition, no cooking required. But I like it cooked too.

Hello All!
Checking in from the Arctic Circle this morning! All is well on the northern front. Wonder what running the space heater in here is going to do for the seedlings? I might end up with a hurricane when the warm air and the cold air collide!

What Carmen said above is why I'm starting seedlings earlier. I spent some time reading yesterday, and the literature had me HARVESTING cabbages before December! Well, they obviously haven't spent time in Houston, cause my cabbages grow from the cool of the cool, to the day it reaches a consistent 70 degrees and they bolt. I have a LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG window for growing brassicas.

I'm thinking the trick is to get large enough seedlings transplanted at the BEGINNING of the cool, so they CAN take off when the cool hits. Then, I should be harvesting earlier (by late Nov-Dec), and more harvesting from then on, if I stagger plant the transplants.

When you cook your cabbage, there are two ways to keep the "smell" in check:

1. Drop a coupla splashes of white vinegar into the pot (don't make it too vinegar-y...)
2. Cook the cabbage OUTSIDE on your gas stove...

Hugs!

I'm perpetually planting lettuce! So lettuce for fall.

Also radishes, spinach, broc, more tomatoes, I'll try the eggplant as mentioned above (good idea--thanks!), I'm going to put in more sweet corn and see what happens, the fall planted garlic and onions turned out very well. Let's see, that was a run on sentence so the next one will be short. Peas (english).

Oh, and I'm going to try potatoes again. Didn't work out for me this spring. They got caught by late freeze and the tops turned black/dark brown. Don't know what that was about, but I'll try again. And I want to grow a Michilli cabbage. Haven't decided which one yet.

I have pumpkins seeds planted already.

Wish I could claim the recipe as my own, but it's a Martha Stewart recipe...

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/pork-egg-rolls

It's very good.

She also has a good one for Bok Choy & Broccoli that has become a winter staple in our house.
MMMMM MMMMMMM Good!

Kelly thank you so much for the recipe, I am wondering if you can substitute the napa cabbage for regular cabbage, I would imagine you could right?
Yes you did give me the bock Choy and Broccoli recipe this past winter and it really was delicious, I remember asking you how I could cook the Bock choi. Will be making lots hopefully with my broccoli and bockchoi that I will be planting this fall.

Linda yes that is why I started my seedling earlier as well, I would imagine by the time they are big enough I will have at least 2 of my raise beds empty to plant or maybe even 3. I do have to put 2 more raise beds but my DH has been sick for a while so I really hate to ask him to build them right now expecially with this horrible heat. He is also going to build me a composter as well, a simple one. The one that I have and love is not beign made anymore and so I really need at least one more composter.

I would think you could use regular cabbage. I actually think I added some regular red cabbage one time;o)

Well, after all of that, I had better find my cabbage seeds! Yeah! We love cabbage, cooked or raw. Nice cole slaw, DH likes to make Borscht...and I like it just plain steamed with butter on it!

I could not believe how tender our home grown broccoli was...way different from any market kind!

Kelly i will be making some eggrolls tomorrow, I'll let you know how they turn out. Thanks.

I just got this info on growing brassicas from cooks garden and thought it was interesting about the best temps to grow this vetetables in. http://www.cooksgarden.com/brassica?cid=2010_07_01_SecondSeasonVegetablesforaFallHarvest&