Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Preparing for Fall

Trying to get the fall garden started in the heat has been a challenge. The carrots have come up. In areas they are spotty. I seeded over a couple of weeks, weirdly the ones that came up in the blazing heat of last week are doing very well (photo above). Some were seeded last Thursday and a few are just barely breaking the surface now. Today I reseeded any gaps I saw.

I've also put chicken wire down. The neighborhood cats love to dig in my soil. I actually have a spot in the garden just for them to do their business. I figured I'd better or they would dig where I didn't want them too. But such a wide expanse of bare soil is just too tempting. Usually I see them test it out and not use it though. The seedbed is kept wet and they hate wet soil. But a few swipes in the dirt can dislodge a lot of carrot seedlings. Also in photo are my lettuces that I should be picking about now. But they have mostly started to bolt even with the shade cloth. A few plants have survived and I might pick them tomorrow to taste.

I've put out more seedlings. I wish I had more, but a lot of the seed that I was trying didn't germinate. Only the Red Sails, Deer Tongue and a couple of Little Gem did. So it might be a few weeks before lettuce again, unless I find some non bitter lettuce in there.

This is the broccoli that was put in about a week ago. It has grown by leaps and bounds. I thought the heat would kill it. I'm hoping it will be big enough to produce. This area does get fall shade so it had better get growing fast.

I also have seedlings in the nursery. Yesterday I potted up my kale. I have 21 plants potted up. I'm hoping that is enough to fill the bed. If not I'll seed some beets to make up. The bed is the bed that my onions are currently in. A handful of the onions have fallen over and been pulled. Most still seem to be growing. But I've noticed that the outside wrappers are starting to form on all of them. It shouldn't be long before they all fall over. They have to be out in two weeks though one would be better for the kale.

14 comments:

  1. I'm having a hard time getting things in the Fall garden to germinate here, too. I've replanted twice and will go out again today and give it another shot. Last year was so much easier! Your broccoli looks fantastic!

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  2. I am in the process of transitioning large parts of the garden too. The fall broccoli transplants went out about a week and a half ago. I have lots of seedlings going in the house under lights - kale, lettuces, cabbages, chinese cabbage, pac choi, etc. Today I am planning to direct seed some over wintering onions and some late fall/winter beets and carrots.

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  3. I'm trying again today for fall planting. This whole year has been a garden challenge for me :(

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  4. My latest carrots seem to have germinated with not too many spaces, but I fried my lettuce seedlings. Planted them on a cool evening, then had our hottest day of the year the very next day. I'm not going to do a lot of succession planting, as we'll be heading south before you know it. I am going to try a small bed of spinach to hopefully winter over.

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  5. I have to remember to transplant my fall broccoli and cauliflower this week. We are getting down to the wire!

    I have some amazing looking Red Sails lettuce in the garden right now but unfortunately, it's bitter city. Such a shame.

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  6. It just baffles my mind that you are putting out seedlings at this time of year. I wish we could do that here!

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  7. It seems we JUST got the garden going for the year and it's time to think of fall. I don't think I'll have enough time for another batch of carrots or broccoli to get going. I wish I had gotten them sown earlier.

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  8. I planted out my over-wintering Purple Sprouting Broccoli this week, but it's not looking too happy. Several of the plants have wilted - I think because Cabbage Root Fly have attacked their roots.

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  9. This must be one of the busiest month in the garden for you Daphne. While this is the most relaxing month in the garden at our corner. Your brassicas doing really well in warm weather.

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  10. Linda. Last year I didn't have a garden for fall. I had just a small part of the yard done yet. I did get a small fall garden up with some ripped out tomato plants though.

    Laura, I've got to keep doing successions of pac choi it just grows so fast I could do it every three weeks.

    Carol, I hope your next try works out better. Sometimes getting this started for fall is so hard.

    Granny, I had some lettuce seedlings I'd direct seeded between some more mature plants. As soon as the mature plants got pulled they mostly fell over. I think the massive sun all of a sudden was way too much for them.

    Thomas, Mine too. All of the summer lettuce was too bitter. Sigh.

    Mrs. Pickles, lol well we can't plant in the winter. The ground is frozen solid then.

    Sue, gardens are always like that in short season areas. I start my fall seedlings before the tomatoes start producing.

    Mark, That is too bad. I had a lot of trouble from them in the past, but the row cover this year is doing very well.

    Diana, Not the busiest, but certainly I've got more work to do. I'm shocked how well the brassicas are doing in the cool weather. I thought the broccoli would just die, but they did quite well.

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  11. That's funny. We have a spot in our bed for the cat too. We can't stop her, so we accommodate her. Following a fall planting schedule is very new to us. I look forward to seeing how yours works out.

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  12. It all looks very nice. You've really been working at it!

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  13. I bet it's really challenging to plant your fall starts/seeds in a heat wave. I was surprised too how heat tolerant the broccoli plants are. I complain when the temps are in the 90s but 103 degrees is way too hot!! I hope it cools off for you this week.

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  14. Yay for newspaper pots! I just made a bunch today!

    (Sorry for the late comment. I'm catching up on a week+ of posts)

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