Fall Harvest Planting

yolos Fri Jun 13, 2014 10:15 pm

I was researching to find when I should start seeding my fall vegetables and came across this excel spreadsheet from Johnny's Seeds. It takes into account the date to maturity and the fact that growth of vegetables are slower in the fall. You will need to know your first frost date. At the bottom of the spreadsheet is how they calculate the planting dates. If you know how to manipulate an excel spreadsheet you could easily make any changes based upon your experience or variety of each vegetable.

Go to the second paragraph of the link below and there is an underlined partial sentence that says, "FALL PLANTING CALCULATOR".

Click on that link.

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/v-45-recommended-summer-planting-for-fall-harvest.aspx?categoryid=12&source=H_BrocArcadia_062014_R2Rec1img

yolos Fri Jun 13, 2014 10:27 pm

Yicks - for my first fall frost date it says to plant Brussel Sprouts on June 30 and advises to start fall crops inside 4 weeks before transplanting. I am late already. I had to scrap my Brussel Sprouts I planted in the spring because they had not even started to form sprouts and I needed the space to plant summer squash. I thought I could plant them in the fall when I normally plant Broccoli (Sept 1 for me). NOOOOOO. Anybody in the south grow brussel sprouts. When do you plant them. I have never eaten them before but would love to try some fresh ones.

**AtlantaMarie** Sat Jun 14, 2014 7:39 am

Nice calculator, Yolos. Thanks for the info.

**donnainzone5** Sat Jun 14, 2014 11:56 am

Yes, thanks, Yolo!

I'd better fire up my seed-starting station again soon!

boffer Sat Jun 14, 2014 1:23 pm

Thanks, yolos.

It's hard to believe that it's time for some of us to think about fall planting. It's only been 3 weeks since I turned off my lights for spring/summer stuff.

Don't fall into the trap of thinking that it's too hot to start seedlings. In the spring, we start indoor seedlings because it's too cold outside. For fall planting, we start seedlings indoors because it's too hot outside.

The timing of fall planting is more difficult than for spring. In the spring, we know that sooner or later it will warm up, and plants that are stagnant will begin to grow. In the fall, we have to be careful of the summer heat, yet we don't know when the cold temps will arrive that slow the growth of our plants, and keep them from reaching maturity. Fall planting can be a crap shoot!

Besides the link posted above, be sure to check in your regional forums to see when others in your climate are beginning their starts.

Windmere Tue Jul 29, 2014 9:42 am

Yolos, thanks for posting this fall planting guide link. I see planting date of broccoli is July 7, so perhaps I am too late. I thought I might try this fall season. What do folks think about planting now and if ok, which are best varieties (very disease resistant)?

PS: I've done a little research, and I've read that Marathon is a good variety for winter.

yolos Tue Jul 29, 2014 10:49 am

Windmere wrote:Yolos, thanks for posting this fall planting guide link. I see planting date of broccoli is July 7, so perhaps I am too late. I thought I might try this fall season. What do folks think about planting now and if ok, which are best varieties (very disease resistant)?

PS: I've done a little research, and I've read that Marathon is a good variety for winter.

What date are you using as your first frost date ?. Pike's (for the last two years) started carrying their fall transplants just about 9/1. That is the date that an old time farmer (farms out east of here near I20) said that broccoli transplants should be set out. So your date of setting out transplants on 7/7 may be off (or are you saying to start seeds indoors on 7/7). The planting guide is for transplant date (or if designated as DS, then direct sow). Last year I transplanted Broccoli into the garden about 9/1. I did have to use season extending (covering with row cover) at some point before harvest.
I am kind of worn out gardening. Our season is so long. If Pike's or Swint's sell transplants, then I will do a fall garden. Last year both companies sold Pacman and Premium broccoli. I experimented with about 6 varieties two years ago but that was the first time for me trying a fall garden that I didn't get good results.

Windmere Tue Jul 29, 2014 12:06 pm

yolos wrote:
Windmere wrote:Yolos, thanks for posting this fall planting guide link. I see planting date of broccoli is July 7, so perhaps I am too late. I thought I might try this fall season. What do folks think about planting now and if ok, which are best varieties (very disease resistant)?

PS: I've done a little research, and I've read that Marathon is a good variety for winter.

What date are you using as your first frost date ?. Pike's (for the last two years) started carrying their fall transplants just about 9/1. That is the date that an old time farmer (farms out east of here near I20) said that broccoli transplants should be set out. So your date of setting out transplants on 7/7 may be off (or are you saying to start seeds indoors on 7/7). The planting guide is for transplant date (or if designated as DS, then direct sow). Last year I transplanted Broccoli into the garden about 9/1. I did have to use season extending (covering with row cover) at some point before harvest.
I am kind of worn out gardening. Our season is so long. If Pike's or Swint's sell transplants, then I will do a fall garden. Last year both companies sold Pacman and Premium broccoli. I experimented with about 6 varieties two years ago but that was the first time for me trying a fall garden that I didn't get good results.

I think the Johnny's Seeds guide was for seed planting. I'm going to throw my hat in the ring and try planting seeds inside and then transplanting. Thanks for guidance about 9/1 transplanting date. We'll see what happens. cherry

yolos Tue Jul 29, 2014 4:13 pm

Windmere wrote:
yolos wrote:
Windmere wrote:Yolos, thanks for posting this fall planting guide link. I see planting date of broccoli is July 7, so perhaps I am too late. I thought I might try this fall season. What do folks think about planting now and if ok, which are best varieties (very disease resistant)?

PS: I've done a little research, and I've read that Marathon is a good variety for winter.

What date are you using as your first frost date ?. Pike's (for the last two years) started carrying their fall transplants just about 9/1. That is the date that an old time farmer (farms out east of here near I20) said that broccoli transplants should be set out. So your date of setting out transplants on 7/7 may be off (or are you saying to start seeds indoors on 7/7). The planting guide is for transplant date (or if designated as DS, then direct sow). Last year I transplanted Broccoli into the garden about 9/1. I did have to use season extending (covering with row cover) at some point before harvest.
I am kind of worn out gardening. Our season is so long. If Pike's or Swint's sell transplants, then I will do a fall garden. Last year both companies sold Pacman and Premium broccoli. I experimented with about 6 varieties two years ago but that was the first time for me trying a fall garden that I didn't get good results.
I think the Johnny's Seeds guide was for seed planting. I'm going to throw my hat in the ring and try planting seeds inside and then transplanting. Thanks for guidance about 9/1 transplanting date. We'll see what happens.

I want to make sure we are understanding each other. On Johnny's chart it says "Broccoli (TP)". The TP stands for transplant. At the side of the Excel worksheet, it says "The date calculated is the date to plant outdoors; crops that should be direct-sown are marked DS. Those marked TP should be set out as transplants on the date shown, so seeds should be started 4 weeks before the planting date."

I am at work and do not know when our first frost date occurs on average so I do not know if Johnny's chart agrees with my old time farmer's date of 9/1. Some people say plant broccoli inside 4 to 6 weeks before transplanting outside. Look at Mel's book to see what he says. So it looks like you could start your seeds indoors now. This old farmer also told me that if the transplants are root bound or stressed in anyway, they might just form button heads and not regular heads.
I think it is too hot sow outside now but who knows for sure. Not me.

Windmere Tue Jul 29, 2014 4:34 pm

yolos wrote:
Windmere wrote:
yolos wrote:
Windmere wrote:Yolos, thanks for posting this fall planting guide link. I see planting date of broccoli is July 7, so perhaps I am too late. I thought I might try this fall season. What do folks think about planting now and if ok, which are best varieties (very disease resistant)?

PS: I've done a little research, and I've read that Marathon is a good variety for winter.

What date are you using as your first frost date ?. Pike's (for the last two years) started carrying their fall transplants just about 9/1. That is the date that an old time farmer (farms out east of here near I20) said that broccoli transplants should be set out. So your date of setting out transplants on 7/7 may be off (or are you saying to start seeds indoors on 7/7). The planting guide is for transplant date (or if designated as DS, then direct sow). Last year I transplanted Broccoli into the garden about 9/1. I did have to use season extending (covering with row cover) at some point before harvest.
I am kind of worn out gardening. Our season is so long. If Pike's or Swint's sell transplants, then I will do a fall garden. Last year both companies sold Pacman and Premium broccoli. I experimented with about 6 varieties two years ago but that was the first time for me trying a fall garden that I didn't get good results.
I think the Johnny's Seeds guide was for seed planting. I'm going to throw my hat in the ring and try planting seeds inside and then transplanting. Thanks for guidance about 9/1 transplanting date. We'll see what happens.

I want to make sure we are understanding each other. On Johnny's chart it says "Broccoli (TP)". The TP stands for transplant. At the side of the Excel worksheet, it says "The date calculated is the date to plant outdoors; crops that should be direct-sown are marked DS. Those marked TP should be set out as transplants on the date shown, so seeds should be started 4 weeks before the planting date."

I am at work and do not know when our first frost date occurs on average so I do not know if Johnny's chart agrees with my old time farmer's date of 9/1. Some people say plant broccoli inside 4 to 6 weeks before transplanting outside. Look at Mel's book to see what he says. So it looks like you could start your seeds indoors now. This old farmer also told me that if the transplants are root bound or stressed in anyway, they might just form button heads and not regular heads.
I think it is too hot sow outside now but who knows for sure. Not me.

Oooh... I feel so dumb... I did not realize the meaning of TP and DS. Rolling Eyes

In light if the issue with root bound plants, I think I might prefer DS. I did read about button heads. Good... then I probably have some time. Thanks yolos.

landarch Tue Jul 29, 2014 4:49 pm

This year I've tried to hit the magic date for starting broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage seeds indoors as planting dates for our area are the first week of August. The challenge I've read about and have been experiencing is 1) natural sunlight is great but plants can get leggy with high summer temps (high 90's), 2) my grow light set-up is in a cool stone basement, but the plants can get somewhat leggy under lights...kinda a catch-22, 3) August and September heat can be brutal on cole crop seedlings...the key is water, water, water.

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