Fall veggies this year in the deep south

[Tracydr]

Originally Posted by baileyj

b54red,
I am a Rutabaga lover, but am in zone 7, Maryland so I have never tried to grow them. I thought I was to plant them in early spring with a late summer harvest....is that wrong ? I know they take so so long....can you elaborate on your method of planting them inside and then transplanting and any advice on when to start them here ??

I also have never planted carrots and thought they were a warm weather crop so was planning to put them in in May....should they overwinter here also, or perhaps out in March ?

I need to research more on these, thanks for any advice..

Judi

Hey, Judi. Here in AZ, our growing seasons are so weird. Lettuce in the winter, tomatoes in early summer. I start carrots anytime from Sept through Feb. they are really easy, so long as your soil is nice and deep. Just keep them damp until they germinate. You can keep a board or piece of cardboard on them until they germinate, just check each day. I've never done that and even in our dry air gotten good germination by misting each day, along with my lettuce seeds at the same time.
I've not grown rutabagas, kinda waiting until I move somewhere a little cooler, although I love rutabagas, turnips and parsnips in stews or roasted.
Beets and chard do extremely well here in AZ so I bet they'll do well for you. I can start them anytime except the heat of summer. I love beet greens and chard. Pickled or roasted beets are great, too.

[Tracydr]

Had a chicken wing clipping session today. Everybody is flightless. Will have to keep an eye on the ones that are molting right now.
I may net some of the gardens but that is such a pain in the rear!
Looks like I get to replant everything and it was just ready to eat. So disappointing!

[baileyj]

Thanks, I may just have to experiment !
It seems around here there are very few Rutabaga lovers...so few in fact we run out of them at the grocery all the time...
When you ask...only the produce manager even knows what theyare !!

I will look into some local gardeners, but it is not a crop many try to grow here...so I may just have to experiment.
I have started seeds before along with Broccoli, but as you said it is not a great crop for the summer, perhaps I will start it late summer next year...
Thanks,
Judi

[Tracydr]

Judi-late summer is probably your time to plant broccoli. That or very, very early spring but late summer is probably better. Remember, it can tolerate some light frost and is perfect for hoop hous or row covers.
Rutabagas, do you have a county or state calender for planting? The one I use includes almost everything but that may be because we have a lot of northern snowbirds in our state. I know I have a date for rutabagas, with a small window of opportunity and parsnips are not able to be grown here.

[kilroyscarnival]

So according to my new indoor-outdoor thermometer, the low last night in my Orlando yard was 41. I brought the baby seedlings in, but didn't cover the plants. Everything looks fine except the zucchini. The leaves look like they melted. Not all, but most. If it wasn't frost, it was trouble with a light side dressing of Jobe's organic 4-4-4 from yesterday?

[kilroyscarnival]

A little object lesson in appearances deceiving. Grown in the same tall pot.

[Deborah]

Those look great, Kil ! How long did it take to harvest?

[Tracydr]

Are those the same variety?
I've had four hard freezes and/ or frosts in the past week. Each time, the forecast in our city was for 40-41 degrees. I don't know what to make of it. I didn't used to be in a cold spot but I guess I am this year!

[kilroyscarnival]

Same variety and same container, a tall pot. It is Danvers half long, I think sowed the first week of October. Only two made it, and I was told it might have been too hot. Replanted around those, but those carrots are small. I plantedsome others in a planter box, I forgot the name. Those are coming up smaller, like true baby carrots, and I have some purple ones started later.

I think two of the pepper plants have frost damage too. Maybe it was a dampness thing, as not all plants were affected. Will have to see in time how bad it was. Only down to 55 so far tonight.

[Rockporter]

Mine was doing well until we had an unexpected freeze here in my area. The warning was for inland, far far inland and I didn't see a need to cover because I am so close to the coast. I must be in my own little micro climate that doesn't apply to the weather man.

I lost my grape, roma, fred's tie dye(part of the dwarf program) and my mr. stripey tomatoes. I lost my basil and my moon flower. I thought I actually lost my cabbage but I think it came through ok. The bells are fighting and I lost all my beet seedlings. I am very happy my chard and lettuce came through. I don't know how but I am grateful for that.

[Tracydr]

Well, looks like I'll have to replant everything. Maybe the collards and parsley will survive. Radishes will be okay as they hadn't sprouted when the chickens escaped.
Has anybody tried a straw bale garden? It's so late, I'm thinking of putting my salad greens in bales since I have to plant the tomatoes and other spring stuff around Feb 1. Otherwise, everything will overlap, or I need to plant the salad stuff in a location that just isn't sunny enough for winter growing.

I do still have peppers and eggplants not effected by the rampaging chickens, along with 8 potted dwarf and/or determinate tomatoes. Those are all on the other sides of the house, guarded by the dogs, where the chickens never go, even when they fly the coop.

[Tracydr]

Originally Posted by kilroyscarnival

Same variety and same container, a tall pot. It is Danvers half long, I think sowed the first week of October. Only two made it, and I was told it might have been too hot. Replanted around those, but those carrots are small. I plantedsome others in a planter box, I forgot the name. Those are coming up smaller, like true baby carrots, and I have some purple ones started later.

I think two of the pepper plants have frost damage too. Maybe it was a dampness thing, as not all plants were affected. Will have to see in time how bad it was. Only down to 55 so far tonight.

Strange. The one looks just like the little Parisian carrots, which I've grown before.
Give the peppers about a week, then prune the damage off. I've had some with awful frost damage survive. I mean, losing almost all leaves and many branches awful! Same with the eggplants. I give a kelp spray and if the weather improves, they usually come back with a lovely flush of nice, new growth.
I use boxes to cover my smaller plants and sheets or blankets to cover the larger plants. It helps if you grow them close to the house or something else that's concrete to retain heat in the winter. I don't try to keep the tender stuff alive unless I keep it near the house or the concrete fence.

[kilroyscarnival]

Originally Posted by Tracydr

Give the peppers about a week, then prune the damage off. I've had some with awful frost damage survive. I mean, losing almost all leaves and many branches awful! Same with the eggplants. I give a kelp spray and if the weather improves, they usually come back with a lovely flush of nice, new growth.

Thanks, that is encouraging. So far I have left the alone so I will continue as you suggest. I have a feeling the zukes will come back... The peculiar thing is that plants 24 inches apart were affected differently.

[kilroyscarnival]

Another possible frost night tonight. I spent part of the evening covering plants and moving some inside. it is only supposed to go down to about 42ºF but last time that is what the thermometer said. Might be unnecessary but I would rather not find melted leaves again.

[habitat_gardener]

Originally Posted by kilroyscarnival

Another possible frost night tonight. I spent part of the evening covering plants and moving some inside. it is only supposed to go down to about 42ºF but last time that is what the thermometer said. Might be unnecessary but I would rather not find melted leaves again.

In my garden, all it takes is the sun hitting leaves that have a little frost on them at dawn -- even when the temperature is above freezing. I had a large malabar squash plant that showed frost damage only on the topmost east-facing leaves for a couple weeks. I kept it going long enough to harvest 2 more large fruits (a total of 3 melon-size squash, which was 3 more than I expected because I planted it very late, and grew it just to test germination), before it finally succumbed to a series of nights in the upper 30s and one or two in the low 30s. With all the rain, the fruits got large very quickly. The one I picked a week ago was 6.5 pounds.

Anyway, if the temperatures are not quite freezing and I have time to get to the garden, all I have to do is put a barrier above suscepible plants so that frost does not land on the leaves. (In my climate, for what I grow, it's worth doing in the spring but not the winter.) Someone else at the community garden made a sort of roof over his lettuces: row cover laid on a 5x5 ft. section of wire (so that the row cover doesn't collect rainwater and collapse onto the plants), parallel to the ground, with posts at the 4 corners. It's about 18-24 inches above the ground -- high enough so that it's easy to pick lettuces without moving the roof. I don't eat lettuce, but I like mache and nettles in the winter, which don't need protection.

I still have a few tomato plants in containers at home and I'm hoping to get some seed from them. I draped some tulle/sheets/row cover over them and so far they still have foliage. It's not as windy as my community garden plots, where the tomatoes have been long gone, and it's easier to keep tabs on them and move them around.