Fall Veggies - When To Plant

Still dealing with 100+ degree temps here in North Dallas.

Have a bunch of seed trays with kale, swiss chard, beets, peppers, spinach, and tomatoes staring to sprout. Moved them from inside to a shady / spotty sun spot in the back where it's somewhat cooler.

Now just wondering how long I can keep them in the seed cells as it appears temps won't be cooperating with me transplanting them into the raised beds anytime soon.

How long can a seedling stay in a starter cell with plant mix? I assume it's a matter of size, so about what height should I be looking for? Also, all the seedlings, while having some tiny leaves, are not really able to support themselves yet, so I assume I can wait til they get a little thicker.

Iany advice much appreciated.

JD

If the seedlings are flopping over, you didn't provide enough light after the seeds germinated. If they have enough light, seedlings will produce fat sturdy stalks right from the get go. What you can do now is to transplant them into deeper pots burying the seedlings up to the first set of leaves or better still get them into their permanent site. Peppers and tomatoes take such a long time to get up to transplant size, they should have been started back in June and potted on up until this month. Here in central Texas fall gardens have to be in the ground by the first part of August or frost will get them before they produce much if anything at all. I would imagine that in north Dallas, things have to go into the ground even sooner.

Do you have any way to provide some shade if you were to plant everything into your beds? Keep the soil moist and the plants shaded until they get established. You might want to purchase bigger pepper and tomato plants this year.

Betty -

Thanks so much for the reply. I guess my first Fall garden may not come out so well. Live and learn.

I guess I'm struggling with having to get my seeds or plants in the ground by August. Does this work for kale, chard, beets, and other cold-hardy crops? I can't imagine how those plants would have survived in this heat.

I did purchase some big row covers I can put in place, but don't those, while protecting against frost and insects in the Spring, actually raise the ambient temperature?

Thanks -

JD

I believe row cover are frost covers. Shade cloth is slightly different. I didn't mean for you to cover the plants completely. Prop it up somehow just to provide shade, but letting air flow around the plants. Cool weather plants can go in later. As late as early October around here. I located this link to TAMU's fall planting guide.
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/fallgarden/fallindex.html

I also found one for Houston that has some really good tips. You would have to adjust it by a few weeks to fit your zone.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/gardening/features/5955527.html
You might also try contacting your local AgriLife agenr for more accurate information.

JD, before this year, I have always just stuck cuttings from my tomatoes when they started to die off, for my fall crop. I usually do that about mid-July. They grow and get big (when temps cool down), and set fruit. And then first frost rolls along 4-5 days before the fruit is ready, and I move them in the house overnight to try to save them, and it never works.

This year, I paid attention to Neil Sperry, who says mid-June is the time to stick cuttings or seedlings. If you're buying bigger plants to set out, they need to be planted by the July 4th weekend (in North Texas), to have enough time.

I would put out your peppers now, and what the heck, might as well give the tomatoes a shot too. Peppers are faster than tomatoes, so you'll probably have more luck with those. I've never grown the other things you mentioned, but most people in this area put out the cooler-weather crops around Sept 1. They can take the light frosts we usually have in Nov-Dec.