Fall Planting? When and What?

I was wondering what everyone was planning for fall planting. And when they were going to start. Mostly because this is my first year and I wanted to borrow ideas.

I'm sure you've been asked this already, but have you read Mel's book up in the banner? The reason I ask is because it has wonderful tables and charts for both spring AND fall plantings. It also describes which veggies and plants do best in cool and warm weather. This is the single best tool when I start planning gardens.

First thing to look up is your autumn frost date. You, then, work backwards from there on a calendar to when you need to put a specific plant in the ground. For instance, leaf lettuces. Those are ready to harvest in about 7 weeks. So, if your autumn frost is Oct 31, you would plant lettuce for the fall just after Labor Day.

I have read it once. Thing is it seems to have grown feet. I am gonna tear apart the books shelves and look hopefully I can find it cause I am mad. I thought that it would be fun to see what everyone was gonna do too.

Well, Jhayford, for those of us here in the West hills of Yankton outside of St. Helens, OR, we read through Territorial Seed Co.'s Winter Catalog and made informed choices of seeds for late summer and fall planting. Translation: Totally beguiled by the descriptions and swooning over the pictures: "Oooooh, I want one of those, one of those, and one of those, two of those. Now where did I put that credit card?" This year, we are going to seriously try to garden all through the winter. One of the long raised bed has been set up to be planted with winter crops. It will have a double plastic covering, one level, already built, archs over the bed and the isle between it and the East bed. This is tall enough to walk through to tend the bed from that one side. A shorter arch will tent the bed and, hopefully, keep things from freezing. So far, we've chosen vegetables touted as being for winter harvest or early spring harvest. Purple Sprouting broccoli, Falstaff Brussels sprouts, January King cabbage, Ripbor and Redbor kales (very cold tolerant), Bettollo beets (Fall/winter), Merida (overwintering) carrot, Amazing and Maystar cauliflower, and some Oriental vegetables: Tah Tsai, Mizuna, and a dwarf pac choi. May try a hoop house a la Boffer with heat tape in bottom. Caveat: we are in an area where power outages are a given in bad weather. Would the experiment be worth firing up the generator for a hoop house? At this point, I don't know. Let us know what you are planning. Nonna

My experience with TN "fall planting" is that fall really doesn't get here until October, and these days it's freezing just a few days later. I'm pretty much skipping the fall planting stage and going right to what can be overwintered. In September, I'm putting in garlic, onions, kale, carrots and Fava beans, to be joined by some radishes, spinach, overwintering broccoli and winter lettuce in October. Last year my "summer" veggies produced right up until frost and then I brought little green tomatoes inside to finish ripening.

Mamachibi wrote:My experience with TN "fall planting" is that fall really doesn't get here until October, and these days it's freezing just a few days later. I'm pretty much skipping the fall planting stage and going right to what can be overwintered. In September, I'm putting in garlic, onions, kale, carrots and Fava beans, to be joined by some radishes, spinach, overwintering broccoli and winter lettuce in October. Last year my "summer" veggies produced right up until frost and then I brought little green tomatoes inside to finish ripening.

What is overwintering broccoli???

Is there a type of broccoli that will grow in very cold weather?

April, overwintering broccoli is a cold-tolerant variety that grows slowly through winter, then puts on a burst of growth when it senses the weather is warming, and it forms heads for spring harvest. Types like the purple sprouting broccoli then gives you a flush of side shoots to prolong the harvest. Does this help? Nonna

I'm in Tennessee, and I'm trying my very first fall/winter garden, too.

I put out some carrots, beets & cabbage seeds a couple weeks ago. They've begun sprouting. Hopefully they will be ready by late October/early November.

I suspect I will have to cover them from a mild frost.

Well, let's see. The first thing I planted for a fall harvest was a ton of bush beans. When the squares started emptying, I got a little sad by how little was left in the garden, so I just started planting beans! They'll be ready in 8 weeks after planting. Then I decided I may as well try some sugar snap peas as well.

I went out and planted lettuce, beets, radishes and an early Chinese cabbage yesterday for late fall/early winter harvest. I'm planning on having a cold frame as well, so we'll see how that goes!

Nonna.PapaVino wrote:April, overwintering broccoli is a cold-tolerant variety that grows slowly through winter, then puts on a burst of growth when it senses the weather is warming, and it forms heads for spring harvest. Types like the purple sprouting broccoli then gives you a flush of side shoots to prolong the harvest. Does this help? Nonna

That did help me understand ((thanx))