What's in your garden this fall?

[shelleybean]

Ray, I think I remember a photo of your snow peas from a previous year, posted here. Awesome, especially grown in a container!

[rnewste]

Originally Posted by shelleybean

Ray, I think I remember a photo of your snow peas from a previous year, posted here. Awesome, especially grown in a container!

Michele,

Yep, Here is that photo of the Snow Peas in February. They lasted well into March:



Here is a photo of a pair of SnowTainers planted a month ago, taken today:



Hoping for a mild Winter again.....

Raybo

[shelleybean]

Yes, that's the one I was thinking of. They look so healthy! I will have to wait and sow my peas in March. They just don't do so great in the fall here.

[kath]

Still have tomatoes & peppers; lost the cukes, zukes & butternuts & dug the sweet potatoes yesterday because of the light frost; have carrots, snap peas, green beans, beets, lettuce & spinach that were planted for fall harvest.

[shelleybean]

I didn't grow any sweet potatoes this year and I really miss them. I like the white varieties that are a little drier flesh and not quite as sweet. They are really good baked.

[kath]

Originally Posted by shelleybean

I didn't grow any sweet potatoes this year and I really miss them. I like the white varieties that are a little drier flesh and not quite as sweet. They are really good baked.

We tried lots of varieties from starts found locally and also from Sandhill and only found one that doesn't get whatever disease gives the tubers those dark sunken spots that make them rot in storage. Tried growing them in the regular garden and also in raised beds that have a variation of 'Mel's Mix' and got the same frustrating results. Vardamon gives us a huge, beautiful harvest that keeps through spring. I sprout 1 in a glass of water and grow vines for next year's crop.
Some of the others we tried were really good tasting, though; luckily this one tastes good to us and works well for how we use them.

[Ruth_10]

We had a very dry and warm fall. First frost on Oct. 28 and first freeze on Nov. 26. I tossed the last of the watermelons on the compost pile last week and still have peppers out in the garage.

I plant my fall garden in July/August--it's always a challenge to get the timing right.

Carrots (Mokum, Napoli, and Nelson). Eating these now. They got quite large this year--maybe larger than I would have liked, but so far they are still sweet and tender.

Broccoli (Gypsy, Arcadia, Blue Winds, Major, Marathon, and Packman). A really good fall for broccoli. I froze a bunch and we're still eating the ones in the 'frig. I picked the last heads on Nov. 23. Haven't looked at them since the freeze to see if the plants were damaged. I'm hoping to still get some more side shoots. Blue Winds was a new variety for me this year, replacing Dia Green as a smaller, early broccoli. Can't say I was particularly impressed with it.

Brussel Sprouts (Diablo, Oliver, Long Island). Man, I can't grow BS! About one year out of five I get good sprouts. This year I have either no real sprouts forming (one bed) or very loose heads (another bed). At least this year I kept the wild critters away.

Collards (Topbunch). Haven't started eating these yet but they did well. Haven't grown them the past two seasons for one reason or the other.

I should have planted some lettuce, but didn't get aroung to it.

I love being able to have a fall garden! There's just enough stuff to keep my interest, but not enough to overwhelm me like during the main season.

[kath]

Originally Posted by Ruth_10

I plant my fall garden in July/August--it's always a challenge to get the timing right.

Carrots (Mokum, Napoli, and Nelson). Eating these now. They got quite large this year--maybe larger than I would have liked, but so far they are still sweet and tender.

Broccoli (Gypsy, Arcadia, Blue Winds, Major, Marathon, and Packman). A really good fall for broccoli. I froze a bunch and we're still eating the ones in the 'frig. I picked the last heads on Nov. 23. Haven't looked at them since the freeze to see if the plants were damaged. I'm hoping to still get some more side shoots. Blue Winds was a new variety for me this year, replacing Dia Green as a smaller, early broccoli. Can't say I was particularly impressed with it.

Brussel Sprouts (Diablo, Oliver, Long Island). Man, I can't grow BS! About one year out of five I get good sprouts. This year I have either no real sprouts forming (one bed) or very loose heads (another bed). At least this year I kept the wild critters away.

I love being able to have a fall garden! There's just enough stuff to keep my interest, but not enough to overwhelm me like during the main season.

Love to garden in the fall, too, Ruth. Have grown all those carrots and found that Nelson is my fav for the spring. Have you tried Bolero for the fall? Its taste seems to get even better with storage.
Gave up on broccoli, but maybe I'll try again next year. Never tried Arcadia or Marathon. So often, spring or fall, they would just button up and wind up being a waste of precious garden space.
Never had a bit of luck with brussel sprouts either! Too bad, as I LOVE them and am afraid to buy them in the store because of all the pesticide residue supposedly found on them. They take forever to grow and have to be sprayed with bt the entire time, too, so it's extra disappointing when you don't get a good return.
All I have left out there is the lettuce, spinach, parsley and cilantro that is under glass in the raised beds, as well as some carrots and beets that need picking before they freeze. Our nights have gone into the mid 20's quite a few times so far already. Dreaming about next year's garden now.

[Ruth_10]

Kath,
Tell me about growing cilantro in the fall--when you start it, how cold hardy it is.
My DH and I were discussing this just the other night. I dislike cilantro but he likes it AND he's gotten into trying out Indian cooking. We grow it in the spring, mostly from volunteers, but it bolts in the blink of an eye. Seems like fall growing it would be slower to bolt?

[kath]

Originally Posted by Ruth_10

Kath,
Tell me about growing cilantro in the fall--when you start it, how cold hardy it is.
My DH and I were discussing this just the other night. I dislike cilantro but he likes it AND he's gotten into trying out Indian cooking. We grow it in the spring, mostly from volunteers, but it bolts in the blink of an eye. Seems like fall growing it would be slower to bolt?

Ruth,
I've only grown it for a couple years but find I have the best luck when I plant it densely in some type of container or in a raised bed. This year I started 3 varieties early indoors in 3" pots with a few dozen seeds in each container; then they got transplanted into a large pot on my front porch that I used for several types of herbs. "Calypso" from Johnny's was the last to bolt compared to "Santo" and "Large Leaf Cilantro". When it got warmer outside and the over-wintered spinach in a raised bed bolted, I planted an 18" square dense patch and I can still harvest from it in the interior that hasn't frozen from out 24 degrees nights. The bed is to the north of a blueberry bush, and on the west side of the garden, so it gets a bit of shade in the afternoon once Sept. comes, so that may have helped, but this is the best year for it I've ever had.
Hope that helps.
Kath

[RinTinTin]

Cilantro will not tolerate heat well. Yes, it is a staple of Mexican cuisine, but in Mexico, it is typically grown at elevation in the mountain regions.

[Ruth_10]

Thanks for the growing info. Ours grows in our front flower garden as volunteers and as such gets afternoon shade. We also had a very nice patch out by the compost pile. Both of those were spring/summer crops, however.

I could try starting some indoors and planting out in one of the planters on our front porch. This year the two front porch planters grew Bright Lights swiss chard, Italian large leaf parsley (also grown in flower bed and in main garden), and a bush bean plant! I thought it was a far more interesting front porch planting than the dwarf evergreens that had been there, but I think I was the only one in the neighborhood that went that direction.

[kath]

Originally Posted by Ruth_10

I could try starting some indoors and planting out in one of the planters on our front porch. This year the two front porch planters grew Bright Lights swiss chard, Italian large leaf parsley (also grown in flower bed and in main garden), and a bush bean plant! I thought it was a far more interesting front porch planting than the dwarf evergreens that had been there, but I think I was the only one in the neighborhood that went that direction.

Maybe you'll start a new trend in your neighborhood!

[shelleybean]

Reviving an older thread from three years ago here.

Picked my first collards of the season today. They were Morris Heading. Very tender and I cooked them with bacon and onion. Seasoned them with red wine vinegar and they were wonderful.

[clkeiper]

I still have broccoli coming and it is supposed to get cold tomorrow...ugh. 21f. I hope the rowcovers can save it. lettuce is still coming along nicely, but probably not for long, now. A few beds full of cilantro, too.