Mid-Atl - Aug 2017 - Planning/Planting Fall/Winter Garden

Hey Everyone!

Sorry I'm a little late posting this. Life got in the way (not bad things though).

Are you planning/planting or getting ready in any way for a fall/winter garden?

What are you growing?

A few days ago I planted:
Mustard
Broccoli Sprouts
Lettuce Mix
Arugula
Tom Thumb Lettuce
Red Lettuce
Chippolo (small onions)
Purple Plumb Radishes
Mikado Dwarf Turnips
Scallions
Dwarf Pak Choy

Need to get going soon on other stuff.

And I'm even later replying!
Yes, I've been planting my fall plants. I'm not sure if I started the broccoli and such too late, too early, or right on time. I know I didn't get it right last year, and I know that this year I learned that the age of the transplant matters a lot more than I previously thought.

This month I got these transplants in: broccoli, cauliflower, Romanesco, cabbages, Brussels sprouts, turnips, rutabaga, pak choy, kohlrabi, lettuces, and some final cucumbers.
 I know some of those are typically direct sown, but the sowbugs are vicious to my brassicas. Even with the safe head-start indoors they may have done too much damage to the Brussels sprouts.

I've direct sown these: peas (pre-germinated inside before sowing), carrots, mustards, orach, mache, arugula, radishes, Hon Tsai Tai, tokyo bekana, komatsuna, and "dandelion"(chicory).

I've recently started these inside: giant kohlrabi, more pak choy, more turnips, more lettuces (including my first try at Tom Thumb), radicchio, tatsoi, napa cabbages, and beets.

And before the end of the month I still need to sow: more carrots, edible chrysanthemum, claytonia, parsley root, and more lettuce.
It seems a little warm yet for spinach, but I snagged some malabar spinach seedlings at the local farm store and I need to figure out what they want in terms of growing conditions and then how to make that work in my garden, whether it's in existing squares, or in containers.

I think I'm going to squeeze in sowing one more succession of bush beans, too. Might work, might not.

Sowing for winter/over-wintering will come in a few weeks. Based on what worked last year -- which I mostly didn't harvest so I could keep the experiment(s) going -- I expect to enjoy some nice greens this winter. The zebra grass clumps are huge, so I'll have plenty of 'hoops', and the plastic from last year fared pretty well so that I can reuse it - but I might need to buy more Ag/frost-fabric, either more from Agribon, or from someplace else.
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Reading your plans, Kim, I think I should stuff some scallion seeds in my grid intersections.
What do you plant the Tom Thumb at? I plant most of my lettuces at 4/square, but I was figuring on 9/sq for the Tom Thumb because it's smaller.
And have you grown the chippolo onions before? If so, when are you able to harvest them when planting now? (i.e. do they overwinter with/without protection in your zone?)

BeetlesPerSqFt wrote:
Reading your plans, Kim, I think I should stuff some scallion seeds in my grid intersections.
What do you plant the Tom Thumb at? I plant most of my lettuces at 4/square, but I was figuring on 9/sq for the Tom Thumb because it's smaller.
And have you grown the chippolo onions before? If so, when are you able to harvest them when planting now? (i.e. do they overwinter with/without protection in your zone?)

I think Tom Thumb could be planted 9 per square successfully. LOL at least I HOPE so.

Nope, I have never planted CIPPOLO before (sorry I misspelled it before - was going phonetically - I've lived in Italy and I KNOW better LOL). Not even sure they'll work in the fall, but seed is cheap so it's worth a try. I'll be prepared to try again in spring.

Your fall is our spring. 

Your summer may as well be winter for us.

Right now I'm planting for "2nd summer."

So, who's on first?

countrynaturals wrote:Your fall is our spring. 

Your summer may as well be winter for us.

Right now I'm planting for "2nd summer."

So, who's on first?

Gotcha! I used to live in Nevada.
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Got out and planted more today:

Carrots - Little Fingers 
More arugula
Swiss chard
Lettuce - Celtuce (WHAT IS CELTUCE?)
Golden beets
5 color radishes
More kale
More dwarf bok choy
Mikado "baby" turnips
Mustard
Broccoli
Tom Thumb Peas
Kalibos cabbage
Carrots -- Short Stuff
Kohlrabi
Cippolo -- small Italian onions (the last planting didn't com up)

Kim, were they seeds or starts that you planted? I'm planting both today.  Supposed to rain Friday and Saturday.

CapeCoddess wrote:Kim, were they seeds or starts that you planted? I'm planting both today.  Supposed to rain Friday and Saturday.

All from seed. I'll get my PVC and plastic sheeting ready to go.

Ah, Cioppolo I have grown/am growing. They were disappointingly small last year, so I started earlier this year – at the start of February (indoors). Only half the necks were floppy when I checked them today. My plan says they have until those beet seeds I just sowed inside are ready to transplant out. 
... I wondered if it was spelled wrong, but there are some many similar sounding varieties out there that I wasn’t going to assume. After all Tom Thumb, in addition to being a lettuce, is also a pea, a tomato, and a popcorn!

I googled your Kalibos cabbage – beautiful! But I need to get through more of my Red Express cabbage seeds before I can get something different. Do you know if the outer leaves of the Kalibos take up the full square – or is this a new one for you?

I got my claytonia and chrysanthemum sown today, and started soaking parsley root, dill, and cilantro seeds for sowing tomorrow. I also expect to have to water tomorrow. There's rain forecast overnight, but I don't think it's going to be enough.

More of my green tomatoes are blushing, but I think all of them are about 2 weeks behind where I expected them to be by this time of year. The early tomato variety "42 days" is impressing me, and the ripe tomatoes from that plant are helping me cope with the lack of yield from the other near two dozen tomato plants. I was hoping to bring variety of tomatoes to a tasting on Saturday - I've been looking forward to it since last year... but it's not looking promising. I guess I'll just have to try again next year. I already know I'm not going to grow Bellestar or New Yorker again. The Bellestar got diseased quickly and are almost dead. The New Yorker has a lot of BER (epsom and eggshells did not prevent it.)

Bump! How's everybody doing now that winter is practically here? I'm in transition, with a few summer plants still hanging in there -- like cukes and pattypans!  Daikons and carrots looking good, but not ready, yet. Kale chugging along, nicely. Cabbage, Brussels sprouts, celery, and broccoli looking good. Starting microgreens in the house. One cuke and one tomato plant inside under lights. That's all for now.

Inside, most of my Tom Thumb didn't germinate (I got one), most of my other lettuces did. I got them transplanted out and they are under AgFabric A-30 row cover (it's 22*F outside right now.)

Most of the fall/winter stuff I mentioned sowing outside in this August thread didn't germinate. I was reviewing germination temperature preferences/limits, and the problem was probably that it was still too hot. The radishes that did sprout didn't grow. Meanwhile, there are volunteer radishes in another bed that sprouted later and look livelier.

I've sown replacement claytonia, chrysanthemum, and cilantro inside, but it's only been a few days so they aren't up yet. I'll wait until spring to try parsley root again. I forgot about dill... I wonder how cold hardy it is...

Here's where I'm at (over in November):
https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t21936-mid-atl-nov-2017-warming-up-again#274646