The Gardening Thread v.2 - Fall Edition!

[Doggygirl]

Hi gardeners. I'm in zone 5 and a completely novice gardener. I'm looking for tips and advice from other gardeners in this zone. What are you planting and when for fall? How do you water for sprouting, and then protect your little sproutlets on those still hot days?

No advice is too basic for this beginner! Here is a list of seeds I've got. All comments and advice is welcome:

Broccoli
Radishes
Spinach
Lettuce
Beets
Turnips
Rutabagas
Chinese Cabbage
Kale
Kholrabi

Hope the summer harvest season is going well for everyone.

DG

[Sunbeam]

The Gardening Thread v.2 - Fall Edition!

Hi DG,
I don't plant much in the fall. I am still harvesting stuff that has been growing all summer, including kale, swiss chard and tomatoes. Radishes and lettuce grow quickly, so you could plant them and harvest before frost. I'm not sure if the others would grow big enough from seed before getting frosted out. Spinach over-winters well: if you plant in fall, you will have earlier spinach in spring. There is a white translucent fabric called remay, sold by garden supply sources including Gardeners' Supply, I think, that you can use to shade the young plants from the hot sun.

I hope that someone else can be of more help. How did the plants do that you put in last spring?

[rubywillow]

The Gardening Thread v.2 - Fall Edition!

Sunbeam is our gardening guru!! I love to garden, but I to garden in at least 4 different locales. So I'll contribute when I can, but I'd love more to read your expertise!!!

[Doggygirl]

The Gardening Thread v.2 - Fall Edition!

Hi Sunbeam and Ruby!

Things have gone pretty well. I'm learning a lot about life while spending time out there that relates to sobriety analogies, but I won't bore you with those on THIS thread LOL!

Things have gone really well considering my beginner status. My biggest mistake was planting things too close together. So as an example my tomatoes are way too crowded and some are taller than me (I'm 5'9") trying to get to the sun! I also didn't really fertilize and think some things could benefit from that next year.

I didn't get my spring broccoli and cauliflower and spinach in early enough. I still got some, but Dad was coaching me yesterday on getting that stuff out in March when I can find a window of 24 hours frost free.

We had a cool spell - very unseasonable cool - in July which halted the progress of tomatos and zukes and cukes. So the tomatoes are just now starting to ripen in larger quantities and the cukes are coming back to life. Lots of flowers on the zukes but they are not back in full production yet from the chill. LOL - if we hadn't had this slow down I would probably be canning freezing and dehydrating my butt off and not thinking about planting for fall!

I had turnips and beets early and wish I had planted more.

Onions did well. The yellow ones are all out of the ground now and hanging on my porch. I'm going to dehydrate a bunch of those for use this winter.

I'm still getting green and wax beans from the early planting. Wish I had planted more of those too. I planted more a few weeks ago but don't know if they will get into production mode while it's still hot enough for them.

I've got brussel sprout plants that are huge and they have little nubbins on them - hopefully they will turn into sprouts in time for Christmas dinner LOL.

I didn't have good luck with carrots but our soil is really heavy clay. I did work some sand in where the carrots are but still.... I recently bought some seeds of a hybrid that is shorter and supposedly does fine in these soil conditions so we shall see. I need to figure out whether I want to try some for fall or just wait until spring. I will have space issues given my long list of stuff in my first post!

Peppers are doing OK - I wouldn't call it a bumper crop. I'm not sure why - maybe the weather. My Mom's peppers aren't doing much either.

I planted viney things along the sunny side of the fence. I've got lots of baby watermelons on so I hope they keep thriving. Cantalopes and honeydos are starting to come on. There are 4 nice big spaghetti squashes "cooking" out there. And two pumkins - it's hard to believe the vines grow so strong to hold them up off the ground like that. Butternut squash keep trying to come on but for some reason I'm losing them when they are still very small. So far I've only got one that is now maybe 5 or 6 inches long that looks like it might be a survivor. ????? I never did find acorn squash plants in time. Next year I will start those from seed.

Before all the tomatoes get ripe at once I need to really get the garden cleaned up in the areas where stuff is done. I still have old lettuce plants in the ground that need to be pulled up and stuff like that. And the big cauliflower plants where I didn't plant them early enough so the heads were not even as big as my fist LOL! But they are taking up a lot of space that can be freed up.

Anyway...that's what's going on here. I think a bunny is eating the leaves off my bean plants. Any tips for keeping bunnies at bay?

So how did your gardens do? Any new tips you've learned of? COME ON! Let's get fired up for FALL!!!!

DG

[Sunbeam]

The Gardening Thread v.2 - Fall Edition!

Ruby, thanks for your enjcouraging words! I stopped posting on the other thread gardening because someone didn't like it, and I hesitate here now, but I am willing to give it another "go".

DG, I agree that gardens are really meditative. Organic matter is better than sand for improving your soil. Sand mixed with clay adds no nutrients and can make concrete unless you add tons of sand.

I am so impressed with how productive your gardens have been. It all sounded a little big for someone who I think hadn't been gardening for awhile. It is amazing how getting the alcohol out of the equation creates so much time and energy.

I keep a fence around my main garden to keep the bunnies and deer out. It is a more rigid type of wire, with holes big enough for me to reach through. I only loosely attach it to the stakes, so I can easily take down a whole fence side to do some work like removing the spent peas, like I did last night.

My biggest success is early tomatoes, in spite of the cool wet summer. I am growing an early variety called 4th of July. It is a smaller variety, about the size of my fist. But I am so happy to already have fresh tomatoes available for cooking and eating every day.

I will look up more info on your fall gardening question later today, and post it then.

[rubywillow]

The Gardening Thread v.2 - Fall Edition!

Sunbeam, don't worry about pleasing everyone here. Ain't gonna happen. I for one think your posts, or any thread for that matter, that encourages others and gives them an outlet for their extra time and energy, post AL, is a GREAT thing. If someone comes to this thread and complains, politely ask them to go find another thread they like better! LOL

[LookingToGrow]

The Gardening Thread v.2 - Fall Edition!

I am reading this thread because it's relaxing. Thank you for the change of pace :h

[rubywillow]

The Gardening Thread v.2 - Fall Edition!

I knew LTG would love this thread!!!

[Doggygirl]

The Gardening Thread v.2 - Fall Edition!

Sunbeam, thank you. And I ditto the sentiment that there are many, many threads here at MWO on many topics. There is plenty to choose from - nobody needs to be bothered with a gardening thread if they are not interested.

Unless somebody is holding them hostage or something. :b&d:

It is amazing how getting the alcohol out of the equation creates so much time and energy.

Amen!

DG

[rubywillow]

The Gardening Thread v.2 - Fall Edition!

Doggy, with clay soil, you must be in the south somewhere, huh?

[LookingToGrow]

The Gardening Thread v.2 - Fall Edition!

I need zone 7 suggestions for my herb garden. I needed to refresh it early September for a possible back drop for wedding vows. I already have a huge rosemary for rememberance but need some symbolic ones for love and marriage. Hope y'all have some ideas :h

[rubywillow]

The Gardening Thread v.2 - Fall Edition!

Herbs are always good. Its still too hot there in September for pansies, isn't it? That time of year always makes me think of daisies, mums, the beautiful berries some plants produce. Did you get my e-mail?

[LookingToGrow]

The Gardening Thread v.2 - Fall Edition!

Got the email! Thanks! I have the mums out front so I want edible herbs for the herb garden. It starts to cool a bit in September so could use pansies in the shade of the patio.

[rubywillow]

The Gardening Thread v.2 - Fall Edition!

And the ornamental kale, cabbages, they to do well.

[Sunbeam]

The Gardening Thread v.2 - Fall Edition!

DG,
I think you should post your questions about fall planting at the following garden web link:

Four Season Vegetable Gardening Forum - GardenWeb

You need to become a member to post, but it is free, and you will get no spam: like MWO, your email address is never revealed. You can search for old posts on your topics as well.

LTG, I purchased some lovely oregano from High Country Gardens earlier this season, but mail order plants tend to be small (to reduce shipping charges) so you will probably need to go to a local quality nursery for plants and advice. They won't probably know much about herb symbolism, but garden web could probably help you with that:
Herbs Forum - GardenWeb

For fall, you could consider asters, but fall-blooming anemones are my favorite. I believe they do well in hotter climates, but I'm not an expert on that.

OK, I gotta go run the vacuum, which I haven't done in a month because I just go outside instead of cleaning. We are actually having a warm summer day today, in the 80's. I already got my bike ride in, and will be working on some edging later this afternoon. I like this kind of edger
Forged Stainless-Steel Edger - Lee Valley Tools

with the long horizontal hand grips, but it is expensive. The ditch edging some people use looks very nice, but is way too much bending for my bad back.