Fall Garden

When will you plant your fall garden? Have you tried broccoli, cabbage or collards by direct sowing seeds?

It is time right now to plant your fall garden. I will set a few fall tomatoes, cabbage and collards. I buy plants for these. I'll plant lettuce, radishs and carrots a little later if this heat will ever break. I am also going to plant some swiss chard as well as some mustard and turnips. These things I start from seed.

This message was edited Aug 29, 2010 10:05 PM

Like Jim41, I like to start my fall garden right about now. Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, onions and all types of greens actually do better for me in the fall than in the spring since insects are less of a problem and the temps are better for such crops. I would be starting some tomatoes right now if I weren't in a cast :-{ Lettuce also does very well in the fall down here.

I have a few broccoli and swiss chard seedlings ready to be planted out. Major fall planting will take place in the next couple of weeks. I'm going to try my hand at the colored cauliflowers and romanescos. In the tomato category, I'll have Chocolate Stripe, Momotaro, assorted cherries, and whatever is left from spring. I bought a variety of lettuce seeds and Asian green seeds so I'll give those a go. And, I will have Fortex beans. My first time with those so we'll see if/how they do as a fall crop. Oh, can't forget about the beets, carrots, and onions.

Yes, lots and lots of things to try since this is the first year that I have an actual in-the-ground garden to play in. Spring plantings went pretty well for me so I am looking forward to more deliciousness from my little plot this fall.

Fall romaine and fall leaf lettuces have emerged in my zone 5. I coaxed the seed in our 80 deg. days with a drink once a day!! Also transplanted my 6 week old broccoli transplants about 2 weeks ago. Got very poor germination of my broccoli in this heat and only had about 8 plants to set. But how much do two people need!! Still getting brocolli from latest spring planting.

We are not planting a fall garden this year. Hubby and I plan to redesign the area now that all the Burmuda grass is gone by shrinking the raised beds from 48" to 36" wide and adding an irrigation system.

Well so far, I have radishs up and Chinese cabbage coming up. Kolhrabi, onion sets, squash, cucumbers, chard and beets in the ground. I'll try to get mustard greens and lettuce planted sometime this week. I'm still waiting to plant cabbage. Oh yeah, I've got four really pretty young tomatoes growing. They are about a foot high.

Jim,
Please post this on our "Zones 8-9 Fall/Winter 2010 IS UNDERWAY" thread on the Vegetable Gardens forum, so others will be aware. Look for the empty veggie bed for quick reference.

Thanks!

Just what do you want me to post?

About the middle of August I direct-seeded Broccoli, brussel sprouts, and celery. Swiss chard is still producing from my May planting, and as I continually harvest that, I plan on that continuing through the fall as well. Same for Endive and raddichio, they still seem to be going well. I had hoped my second planting of carrots and radishes would go well, but it seems something got to the carrot seedlings while I was away and decimated them. :(

It's a small fall crop for sure, but I'm very excited for it! I've never had a fall garden before and looking forward to garden chores in cooler weather and with less mosquitoes.

Here in Texas, I am also waiting for the heat to diminish. I will be sowing radishes, mustard greens, pole beans, brocolli, . I think I will wait a little on the onion,beets,lettace.

I am new veggie gardener. I live in Spruce Pine, NC but not originally. I am learning to be a mountain girl instead of city. I started small this past season and did container huge pots w/-peppers, cayenne, green peppers, and little tomatoes. They are still producing and doing well. Everytime I see them I smile!

I have found gardening is a stress reliever~I am a social worker for Child protective services for the state.

So now I want to plant more...Is it too late to plant for fall? I love Red tip Leaf lettuce. We buys 5 bags a week so I thought I could save money by growing them. I want to grow more in the ground or in containers. I would love any ideas, tips, or suggestions!!!!

Thank you!!!

You have time to plant a lot of things if you get them in the ground soon. Lettuce, radishs, carrots, mustard and turnips should all do good planted now. I lettuce, carrots, mustard and turnips all out last year when we had 45 days of temps in the mid to low 20's and it didn't hurt any of them. If turnips have big roots on them a freeze will kill them but you should have plenty of time to at least have the greens.

I guess I am through planting for the fall. I have lettuce, onion sets, squash, chard and beets planted. I have 4 young tomatoes about 18 inchs tall and 8 late summer tomatoes that I cut back and left because they had new growth put out at the bottom was blooming. Cucumbers, radishs, kohlrabi and chinese cabbage are up to a stand. I don't know how the kohlrabi and chinese cabbage will stand a freeze but they should have time to get big enough to eat. I put out a dozen regular cabbage. In Louisiana they will usually handle our winters really good. All that is left to do is transplant the chinese cabbage and kohlrabi when they are big enough.

Wncchic,
What's your growing zone? Please go to your preferences and include it so we can relate to your zone season/temps.

We're just now cranking up in the South, cause our heat wave just won't let up. Lettuce LOVES, LOVES, LOVES to grow in cooler temperatures. Since you're a container grower (so am I) you're actually a bit ahead of the game. You can plant your lettuce in portable containers and bring them into the garage?shed? if temps dip above freezing (they will freeze...).

If you're growing in ground, you can construct a simple PVC hoophouse over them to protect them from dropping temps.

Cole crops can be grown from fall thru the winter and harvested all the way up to mid-Spring, depending on how hot it gets (they'll start to bolt -- go to seed), or how many bugs start attacking them (cabbage worms, etc.)

I'm making a run to purchase cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli seedlings tomorrow. These LOVE, LOVE, LOVE growing in colder temps (they do beach volleyball around 45-42 degrees) and can withstand freezing temps down to around 28 or so, without damage -- long as it's not sustained freezing temps. I've left mine out for 2-3 days in a row in 35-32 degrees under the hoop cover, with no damage. Broccolis and cauliflowers can go down to around 40ish, before you need to protech them from the cold.

Mustards and collards can go in and can take the cold down to around 38-35 with some protection. They will freeze, so take care.

Turnips, beets, carrots are cold weather. You can also do spinach. Onion sets in November here, and garlic, too.

Google these veggies and read up a bit on them.

Keep us posted on your progress.

Here's a picture of some a' my container (homemade eBuckets) crop of cabbages from last fall/winter.

Linda

Here's a link to a Planting Schedule for your zone.

http://www.thevegetablegarden.info/resources/planting-schedules/zones-7-8-planting-schedule

And a quote from MotherEarthNews.com

>>>ZONE 7. October is essentially frost-free in most parts of your zone, so—in the first few days of September—you can plant beets, Swiss chard, kale, and kohlrabi ...and transplant collards and cabbages. Up to the middle of the month, sow Chinese cabbage, parsley (soak the seeds overnight in warm water to hasten germination), peas, and turnips ...and set out seedlings of head lettuce. Leaf lettuce can be planted until October 1, and radishes and mustard greens will still have time to produce if you get them in by October 15.

Happy planning and planting!

This message was edited Sep 4, 2010 1:49 PM

Hi there in Spruce Pine, NC...I'm in Winston-Salem, NC also in Zone 7 but probably in a slightly warmer area. We just planted broccoli, cabbage and collard greens as transplants but also mustard, turnip and other greens as well as beets, kale and Swiss chard. Will wait another week or two to plant lettuces.

Since you are in a cooler area, you should be planting all of these now. I would try seeds for the beets, mustard and turnip greens, but use transplants for the broccoli, collards and cabbage. Many nurseries will have the plants ready to put into the ground. Using containers is a good idea too if you want to move them around. All require full sun as you probably know. The red leaf lettuce should work great and you should probably get it going now with seeds.

You county extension service is a great source of info and often offers workshops. Ours here in Forsyth County offers a great series and a Master Gardener training program. Our workshops are offered at the public libraries.


Having said all of this I too am going to try brocolli, cabbage and collards from seeds just to see if they will produce enough before our frost date of Oct. 15. I find it hard to imagine that we really will have frost on Oct. 15 with the 90 degree temps predicted for this coming week.

I sowed some peas, snow peas, and chards today. Sowed some corn last week and they've started to come up. Maybe I'll have corn in November. Will sprinkle some lettuce seeds around when the weather cools a bit. Am debating whether to direct sow the romanesco broccoli or start them in flats and then transplant.

Planted collards, broccoli and turnip greens with seeds today. Also transplanted some zinnias I had started from seeds. Really nice cool day here in WS but up to low 90 s this coming weeks.

Thanks Quyen for sharing this link to finding out planting zones! I was surfing for info on when to plant seeds in the fall for winter crops and came upon this website. What a wealth of information! What a bunch of nice folks too. Best, Lish

I'm sure glad I didn't sow cole crop seeds last July for a fall garden. We've had 86 days of 90F+ this summer. They said it might get into the 90's again today!

Next week is supposed to be in the 70's so hubby and I should be able to get the rest of the grass out to expand our garden for next year.

Our fig tree gave us fruit this year for the first time. They are small, but sweet.

Right there with your Honeybee. I set some collard plants out 10 days ago for my neighbor's garden (she's 84 and WON'T go a winter w/out her collards!) and they all died. Air and ground temperature is too hot combined with our lack of rain, no fair. I have more plants being held over in quart pots and will set them out when we get below the 90's.

My plants and seeds in boxed beds are doing better, most likely cus I can more easily keep them cool (shade cloth) and better watered (soaker hoses).

By the way, regarding your fig, did you ever find the Hardy Chicago you were looking for a year or so ago?

shoe

I am probably going to start planting mine soon, its still so hot here, and I don't want to pull up my tomatoes until they are done! I need more gardening space.

Collards we planted at Food Bank Garden on August 21 were ready to harvest a week ago.

Sawpalm,
Do ya'll harvest the whole collard? I just clip the larger outter leaves from mine with the kitchen sheers, and leave the smaller ones to keep growing. 4 weeks later, I have a whole new batch to harvest. My first season, I harvest FOUR times between Thanksgiving and Valentine's Day! Could'a had a fifth batch, but I got tired cutting and the buggies started moving in.

Linda

Things are starting to look up with the cooler weather. My cabbage are starting to twirl. Transplanted my chinese cabbage and kohlrabi. Finally got lettuce up after replacing all the bad seed I got from Park's. Ate my first radishs and mustard greens tonight. Tomatoes still haven't set any fruit. I think it is about to late for them.

Gymgirl, We have planted the collards that you harvest as you described, taking the biggest leaves and letting it develop for several other cuttings. However, since I last wrote we've had an attack by pests so we had to deal with that. The cabbages are beginning to form heads but something is eating them as well. It might even be the cows that occasionally get loose in our fields. Last year they ate all our corn before it had time to make ears.

Life on the farm!

Hopefully in a week or so we can harvest some more collards. Meanwhile, the okra and chili peppers are going strong.

I have lots of greens starting (chard, arugala, mustards, kale, lettuce and a few chinese greens) plus about 10 flowering tomato plants, eggplants, one cuke, shallots and a bunch of brussel sprouts, cabbage and brocollini. The bugs have destroyed my squashes and most of the cukes. I am using organic methods but so far, the critters are winning. I will get some pics up in a few weeks. Everything is so tiny now. I do love the fall crops so much.
I finally put it all on auto irrigation and hope this will be the easiest garden to care for yet. It's all raised beds and earth boxes.

I started some of my seeds 2 weeks ago then we had 3 days of 98 to 106 degrees last week. All the seedlings bit the dust. So now I'm starting over again. :-(

Aquannine,
I think you've become my fall garden inspiration. You're my muse!

Linda

I have squash, tomatoes and cucumbers but the hot weather kept them from setting fruit. I think it is to late now for them to make. I'm looking for an early frost and a hard winter after the long hot summer we had.

This is my first time with kohlrabi and chinese cabbage. I found out they transplant better when they are really small, especially the chinese cabbage. The bigger cabbage shocked bad on me. The ones that I transplanted at about an inch high took right off growing.

Good info to have Brother Jim41. Thanks!

Updating! Broccoli, Brussel sprouts, califlower are doing well in EB's. Took some thinned plants of each and put them in a 30 gallon just to see what they do and for comparison. I just direct-seeded some winter lettuce - Raddichio, Endive, and Escarole in some self-watering window boxes just for fun. My celery is slow going, but doing better in this cool weather we've been having, I'm hoping it will really take off soon. Swiss Chard (bright lights) I planted in May continues to produce, as I continually harvest it each week, so I'm trying to figure out when it will start to set seed so I can save them for next year. This is a pretty good size fall/winter garden for me, so here's hoping it continues to do well!

my tomatoes from february are still going... i don't know what to do!

Prettymess,
Get out a plate and a knife and fork!

Kindlekat,
I see you're using a single-bucket eBucket design. Do you have the colander wick inside? Your broccoli looks great. I never grew more than one per eBucket before. LMK how multiples/eBucket do. Thanks!

Linda

thanks Gymgirl! haha I have been making tomato sauce and eating lots of pizza and Its almost cold enough for tomato soup!

Horseshoe:

I planted some pumpkin and kale seeds this morning, we will see what happens. I don't have high hopes for the pumpkins but if they grow I will be excited. Yay winter garden!

i am about to direct sow mache this week, here in zone 6a! i plan to have a cold frame built soon as well.

We've harvested about 20 beautiful heads of cabbage, lots and lots of greens (turnip, mustard and collards) and the broccoli is just starting to come in.. We used transplants for the broccoli and the cabbage (planted on Aug. 21).

I also planted seeds at the same time and they didn't do very well. Really need to start them in mid July here. Use seeds for the turnips and mustard, also planted on Aug. 21. So our fall garden really kicked in since I started this post. It's been fun to see what everyone is doing.