What's gonna be in your zone 9 fall garden

ErinTX 6/25/2013, 9:39 pm

Hey Everyone,

I'm new to gardening in Zone 9. I live a little south of Houston now, but originally, I'm from Michigan and gardening up there is very different. It seems like every website and book has a different suggestion about what to plant and when. I'd like to know what you guys are planting and when and how its working for you.

Here's kinda what I had in mind:
Mid-July I am going to get my tomato and broccoli seeds started.
August: direct plant some bush bean seeds
September: direct plant radish, arugula, bok choy, carrots, beets, green onion, basil and the broccoli and tomatoes I started.
October: add lettuce
November: add red and white onions

What do you guys think? What works for you for fall gardens??

**sanderson** 6/25/2013, 10:16 pm

Zone 9B, here. I planted my vining beans last week and they are a few inches high. I would get the tomatoes started asap as they like hot weather. Just remember to mulch.

Audrey, So Cal, and others, what do you recommend?

ErinTX 6/25/2013, 10:32 pm

I don't know sanderson, my tomatoes that I planted beginning of may took off at first and the hotter it gets the worse they do. They are barely producing any tomatoes. I was told that part of the problem is that its too hot this time of year.

**sanderson** 6/25/2013, 10:49 pm

Did you mulch? It sure helped all of my plants through the last 100+ degree heat wave. We are fore casted for 109 this Friday. I have play ground bark (light colored without redwood) on all my little beds and pots. "Hot heads and cool feet". I read that somewhere. My hot peppers are taking off.

You may get some other responses such as "do you use Mel's Mix" in foot-squared boxes, 6 inches deep? What did you use for the 1/3 part compost?

ErinTX 6/25/2013, 10:57 pm

No I haven't mulched, but I plan on it asap. My boyfriend gets free mulch from work but its just from what ever trees and branches they have to remove while working.

also, no, I did not use mel's mix. the raised bed already had soil in it from the previous owners. I just wanted to plant something while I'm getting my SFG beds ready. I added some compost but thats about it. I'm growing pole beans, tomatoes, green peppers, cucs, and zucchini. So far the beans are doing very well. The peppers are doing pretty good. I've got several cherry tomatoes on one of my plants and no tomatoes on my slicing tomato plant. My cucs and zucchini are not producing much of anything but i think its from lack of pollinations so I am working on that.

I just figured I should be planting new tomato plants for the fall... is that not correct?

**sanderson** 6/25/2013, 11:28 pm

Erin, I had to look for a chart I saved for Zone 9.

June Direct sow:

Beans, cantelope. corn, cucumbers, gourds, melons, okra, peanuts, So. Peas (?), watermelon, Cilantro.

July direct sow:

Beans, cantelope, corn, cucumbers, So. Peas, pumpkin, summer squash, winter squash, basil, cilantro and dill.

The seeds I recently planted were lightly covered with new wood shavings for horse stalls until they came up. Then removed the shavings and covered with playground bark.

Hope this helps.

brainchasm 6/26/2013, 12:33 am

My melons and cucumbers should still be humming along in fall, and likely my eggplants as well.

My tomatoes will hopefully be doing BETTER in the fall (we're supposed to hit 115 this Friday!).

For new plantings, I'll be looking for spots for red torpedo onions, red inchelium garlics, and probably take another crack at radishes and carrots.

**sanderson** 6/26/2013, 12:48 am

Hi BC, Hoped you would jump in with suggestions. 115? Good Grief! After it gets back down to a cool 100, let us know how the plants fared.

southern gardener 6/26/2013, 2:44 am

ErinTX wrote:No I haven't mulched, but I plan on it asap. My boyfriend gets free mulch from work but its just from what ever trees and branches they have to remove while working.

also, no, I did not use mel's mix. the raised bed already had soil in it from the previous owners. I just wanted to plant something while I'm getting my SFG beds ready. I added some compost but thats about it. I'm growing pole beans, tomatoes, green peppers, cucs, and zucchini. So far the beans are doing very well. The peppers are doing pretty good. I've got several cherry tomatoes on one of my plants and no tomatoes on my slicing tomato plant. My cucs and zucchini are not producing much of anything but i think its from lack of pollinations so I am working on that.

I just figured I should be planting new tomato plants for the fall... is that not correct?

Erin: maybe go look at the "Back to Eden" thread. If your boyfriend gets free mulch from trees etc...that's what the method is, and you get it FREE! wow!!

TxGramma 6/26/2013, 11:01 am

Erin, Here are some links that I have for our local area. I'm in Harris County and you are in Galveston County so I did look up local info for Galveston as well and are adding those links here too. Hope this helps...

TAMU Harris Co Planting Chart

Houston veg planting

Mother Earth News click on the month and it tells you what to indoor plant/direct plant/transplant.

Houston Chron Yearly planting guide

Houston Chron Fall Planting

Urban Harvest this is in Houston but they may have something similar in Galveston...not sure.

TAMU Fall Plant at the top of the page is the link for spring planting as well. And the regions map which shows us as region 3 which is actually listed as zone 8 but the US map shows us as 9A...go figure!

Galveston Co Master Gardener

Galveston Co Ext Office

Guide for New Gardeners in Galveston County this is a good booklet put out by TAMU

BrianDorry55 6/26/2013, 11:04 am

This fall will be my first real gardening experience but I'm going to try all sorts of things...

A few different varieties of tomatoes, bell peppers, hot peppers, rattlesnake pole beans, red chard, golden chard, dragon carrots, arugula, a few different kinds of lettuce/cilantro/basil, radishes, beets, kale, collards....now I'm rambling...

The things I'm most excited to try to grow are Turkish Orange Eggplants, Rosa Bianca Eggplants, Brandywine Tomatoes, Black Trifele Tomatoes, Aurora Peppers, and the chard.

I'm in Florida...so I have to sit through many hot, miserably humid days before I can even think about planting anything other than Okra...which I'm starting this weekend out of boredom.

TxGramma 6/26/2013, 11:08 am

southern gardener wrote:
ErinTX wrote:No I haven't mulched, but I plan on it asap. My boyfriend gets free mulch from work but its just from what ever trees and branches they have to remove while working.

also, no, I did not use mel's mix. the raised bed already had soil in it from the previous owners. I just wanted to plant something while I'm getting my SFG beds ready. I added some compost but thats about it. I'm growing pole beans, tomatoes, green peppers, cucs, and zucchini. So far the beans are doing very well. The peppers are doing pretty good. I've got several cherry tomatoes on one of my plants and no tomatoes on my slicing tomato plant. My cucs and zucchini are not producing much of anything but i think its from lack of pollinations so I am working on that.

I just figured I should be planting new tomato plants for the fall... is that not correct?

Erin: maybe go look at the "Back to Eden" thread. If your boyfriend gets free mulch from trees etc...that's what the method is, and you get it FREE! wow!!

+1 It's a really good thread and definitely something to look at and consider since you can get all that Free mulch!

ErinTX 6/26/2013, 11:58 am

Southern Gardener, thanks for the suggestion. I read a bunch of the back to Eden thread and its very interesting. I will keep looking into it.

TxGramma, thanks for all the links. That's I'd some great info and I will definitely use it. I have been on the urban harvest website a lot. I like that one. I really like their suggestions for crop rotation. I looked at TAMU and the EXT and based on what the lists say I will probably not plant some things so early

I guess really it comes down to trial and error but all this info is very helpful.

ErinTX 6/26/2013, 12:00 pm

Brian, it sounds like you are going to have a great garden. Make sure to let me know how all those different varieties do in your area.

BrianDorry55 6/26/2013, 3:04 pm

Thanks Erin!

Seeds are cheap enough, so I figured what the hey...even if I only get a few fruits on some things, the whole pack of seeds is cheaper than buying two eggplants or large tomatoes...

Go big or go home I suppose!

ErinTX 6/26/2013, 7:27 pm

Yeah I agree... and its fun to experiment and see what you get :-)

TxGramma 8/22/2013, 1:52 pm

Hi Erin, just checking to see how things are going for you. Did you get anything planted yet? Any updates on your fall plans?

PamLangleySWLA 10/13/2013, 2:42 pm

If you're south of Houston, you can even push back your planting schedule another month. August is going to be just too hot for anything except tropicals. I have succeeded with beets, carrots and spinach by planting seed in December and January. I'm in southwest Louisiana, but we have same climate as Houston. I also plant my sweet peas in mid to late January and they love our winters. Good luck!

tomthebuilder 10/24/2013, 4:56 pm

planted radishes, carrots, yellow onions,vidalia onions and green onions, sweet peas

ErinTX 10/27/2013, 11:01 pm

Hey all,

I know it's been a very long time since I posted anything. I hope everyone is doing well. It was a very busy summer. I got my fall garden started. I have 3 spots I'm planting in. The first 2, I planted 2 weeks ago. the 1st has brussel sprouts, broccoli, kale, and swiss chard. The 2nd i put in english peas and sugar snap peas, spinach, beets, radish, arugula and lettuce. For the 3rd spot, I had to do some soil admendment before I could plant anything, so I let it rest for a few weeks. I'm going to plant it next weekend with garlic, onions and grn onions, lettuce, spinach, beets, carrots, parsnips, peas and kolhrabi.
Happy gardening everyone!!!

BrianDorry55 10/28/2013, 9:16 am

I guess I should give an update as well...I didn't get started until later than anticipated...so last week I worked my tail off for three days building, filling, and planting in my bed...I had to stick to more cold-tolerant plants because of the late start...

Went with carrots (muscade), radishes (german giant), beets (lutz salad leaf), arugula, lettuces (sunset and cracoviensis), kale (russian red), chard (five color silverbeet), collards (Georgia southern creole), kohlrabi (early white vienna), mustard greens (southern giant curled), cilantro (slo-bolt), dill, and basil...I ordered all seeds from Baker Creek and direct sowed them all on Wednesday...went out of town on Friday and came home yesterday to a bed full of little sprouts! The radishes are taking off compared to everything else but almost all of the lettuce, kohlrabi, arugula, and chard is up to...I was out there like a kid in a candy store poking around to see what has sprouted!

ErinTX 11/17/2013, 6:34 pm

My broccoli, brussels sprouts, Swiss chard are all doing great. The kale was doing really well too, unfortunately, a critter thought it looked tasty. Both kale plants and a broccoli plant were dug up and never to be seen again. I ended up planting some kohlrabi seeds where the kale was. We set alive trap next to that bed with some dog food and dried corn in it. What ever the critter is it got the dog food, set off the trap but managed to escape. Sadly, the dogs have killed about 5 small possums in the last couple weeks. Nothing has bothered any of the plants since, so I'm thinking that's what got the kale. Hopefully, there won't be any more uninvited critters eating my plants!!

Cincinnati 11/19/2013, 10:49 am

Tomatoes in earthboxes, SQFT: various lettuce, carrots, broccoli, onions, Pineapple in containers.

tomthebuilder 12/7/2013, 10:43 pm

attempting to upload a picture of my carrots.
What's gonna be in your zone 9 fall garden Pc030210

What's gonna be in your zone 9 fall garden 3170584802

boffer 12/7/2013, 10:52 pm

I can only dream. My carrots are frozen in MM, and I don't think I could get them out with a blow torch!

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