The Fall Garden at My Mom’s
If you’ve been reading my blog for a while you know I grow some things with my mom in her garden. The majority of my potatoes were planted there this year as were most of my peas, sweet potatoes and a few tomatoes. When we harvested all those potatoes, we replaced them with fall crops including: carrots (10 varieties), leeks, cabbage, broccoli, beets, and more peas. When we went on the field trip last Friday I made sure to get a few photos of the fall garden so you could see the progress.
The leeks are still very small, I’m hoping they’ll size up in time. I may need to adjust my seeding time next summer depending on how these do. I guess we can harvest baby leeks if needed.
We planted 10 different varieties of carrots in all colors shapes and sizes. We had different germination rates on the different carrots. It should be interesting to see how these do.
We planted 3 varieties of beets, Cylinder beets, golden beets, and Detroit beets. The ‘Golden’ Beets didn’t germinate well, so we’re considering replacing them with some ‘Bull’s Blood’ beets.
The peas are doing well, we planted 4 different varieties and one of them is thriving, unfortunately we forgot to write down the name of this variety. We also planted ‘Wando’ and ‘Alaska’ peas but neither had great germination. I’m thinking they must not like the warm soil when planted in August. We should get a decent crop of peas from our fall crop.
The fall broccoli, cabbage and Brussels sprouts are doing well. We’re hoping to have a nice crop of sprouts for Thanksgiving. I’ll keep you updated on how all my fall crops do. Since this is only my second year growing fall/winter crops it’s certainly an experiment. In a few years I should have a better grasp on planting times and the difference in growing patterns with the reduced sunlight in the fall.
Any exciting crops growing your fall garden?
Filed under Edible, Winter Gardening | Comments (12)
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I love the Bull’s Blood beets. They don’t have as good of a germination rate as the Kestral hybrid we also grow, but for some reason, the greens on the Bull’s Blood (which are actually dark red) are edible even when they’ve gotten really big. A nice benefit.
to kristin @ going country's comment
I tried peas too, around Aug. 15. This was the date recommended by the county extension. They didn’t do a thing. So a week or two later I tried again, but I soaked them overnight, and they popped right up. Don’t know if it was the soil temps or the soaking that did it.
I have all the same things in my fall garden. Radishes too. I still have limas in, but they need to come out soon to make way for my garlic, which arrived in the mail yesterday.
Are you going to overwinter your carrots in the ground?
to Corrie's comment
Most likely we won’t overwinter the carrots, they’re in my mom’s garden. If she doesn’t plant anything in her cold framer, perhaps we’ll throw the cold frame over part of the row. One year I did leave the carrots in the ground over the winter here in one of my raised beds, but I haven’t done it since.
to Susy's comment
Wow – leeks in fall? Ours were over 100 days. We planted them in April and still haven’t harvested.
I planted a few beds and my husband has constructed a wooden frame for a hoophouse in the event of cooler weather. Anyways, I planted two beds of kale, one of spinach, one of radishes (regular and black spanish), one of herbs, and one of beets. He has also placed random lettuce plants all over the empty garden beds.
to Shannon's comment
Beets
The Amy Jones post over at Baker Creek seeds tells that only red beets should be planted in the fall. I never knew that.
http://rareseeds.com/2010/09/fallplanting/
to MAYBELLINE's comment
Very interesting. I tried growing golden beets in the spring too but the germination was sparse.
to Susy's comment
Pretty peas! I’ve tried planting them here in both fall and spring and never had any success at all. I look forward to growing them in a different climate – maybe next fall!
to Miranda's comment
Your earlier posts about your winter gardens inspired me to plant a few items and see what sprouted and made it. I ended-up planting via direct seed very late, so it’ll be interesting if we get them at all.
I am noticing some sprouting… Planted some lettuce (Red Bib and Romaine), arugula, and cukes. I’ll have to wait and see what gets big enough to be edible before the unpredictable New England frosts.
to Justin's comment
Thus far I only have some new herbs to the herb garden (lemon balm, curly leaf parsley, more basil that I propagated, and thyme), and some cauliflower and cabbage. I have yet to plant beans, beets, 2 types of lettuce, and carrots. Our fall growing season is quite a bit longer here, so I’ve still got time (plus until recently it was still in the 90s).
to melissa's comment
Looks great. I wish it would cool down here a little bit so we can plant our fall garden.
to Sandy's comment
I am really looking forward to hearing about your fall/winter gardening. This is our first fall/winter back in the lower 48 since we discovered the fall/winter garden The Alaska pea does not like warm soil… they are a variety we grew in… Alaska… where our soil was always on the chilly side. .
About your raised beds…. Do you line the bottoms? What materials did you use in their construction? Our plan is to till up the soil outside our fence and put in raised beds. We do have a compost pile going and a bit of a cover crop to help enrich the soil plus a truck load of leaf mulch available whenever we come and pick it up.
Thanks!
to Peggy's comment