What can be started now for fall

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I am going to get an area ready for fall. I want more radishes and lettuce, but still too early I think for radishes? What about Swiss chard, is it too late to start? I am going to try spinach AGAIN and when would be a good time to start that? I am thinking of starting some bok choy inside and putting out. I guess I need to look at seed packages, but it almost seems a waste to start spinach in the spring. By the time I get the ground thawed out and ready it will turn hot and it goes to seed.

I also think I have just been hurting myself growing things by not watering enough. I have a box that I plant lettuce and a few other small things and it never grows good and I think it is just drying out too fast. Also, I am noticing the garden doing so much better and I know it is warmer, but I have just been watering and watering compared to what I usually do. I think it was the way DH did things. He would only water so long and I think the water bill was on his mind and I just picked up a habit of doing what he did and I realized that there are a couple of places in my yard and I have a hard time getting water to those areas so they are not getting enough water and I almost judged my tomato plants really harsh and was thinking I am not starting tomatoes from seed again, but the 2 plants I gave DD are HUGE so it is water and I think her soil might have been better.

Also, my kale and collards are just full of holes and pale. I am thinking of cutting the leaves off and putting in the compost and putting some new compost around them and fertilizing them good, pulling weeds away from the edge next to where they are growing. Do you think they will grow enough new leaves worth all the work?

 

[flowerbug]

@Gardening with Rabbits does your garden soil have some clay in it? it should hold water better if it has at least some clay in there. often sandy garden soil will dry out pretty quickly in comparison.

i don't really know greens that well to be able to answer those questions. chard is like growing beets, it takes a while to germinate (has to be kept fairly evenly moist and i'm not sure how it does in the high heat when trying to germinate) - i've never tried to plant beets this time of the year to know how that goes.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Also, my kale and collards are just full of holes and pale. I am thinking of cutting the leaves off and putting in the compost and putting some new compost around them and fertilizing them good, pulling weeds away from the edge next to where they are growing. Do you think they will grow enough new leaves worth all the work?

Why are they full of holes? Slugs, snails, something like grasshoppers, or small caterpillars. Down here mine is snails. In Arkansas it would be caterpillars. I'd strip off all kale leaves and give them to the chickens, just leaving a bud. The chickens didn't mind the holes. Then in a few days while the leaves were really small I'd spray the plant, usually with BT. I'd get a good harvest of leaves then they'd be full of holes from new caterpillars. Rinse and repeat maybe 3 times before I gave up.

Not sure why they'd be pale. Could be a nutrient issue, maybe water.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I am going to get an area ready for fall. I want more radishes and lettuce, but still too early I think for radishes? What about Swiss chard, is it too late to start? I am going to try spinach AGAIN and when would be a good time to start that? I am thinking of starting some bok choy inside and putting out. I guess I need to look at seed packages, but it almost seems a waste to start spinach in the spring. By the time I get the ground thawed out and ready it will turn hot and it goes to seed.

Your climate and growing season are tremendously different from mine, I don't have a clue. I can direct seed all of those in October and get a good harvest. How can I give you any advice you could believe?

I'd call your county extension office and chat with them. They should be able to answer your questions.

 

[digitS']

I put out a cake pan and measured the water from different sprinklers. Timed them ... and went from there. If your soil is like mine, 3/4" twice each week is a minimum for the garden. It would be better to go for 1/2" three times each week but it increases the bother. Really, water is the limiting factor for my gardening. Water stressed plants are also vulnerable to pests.

My guess is that the holes are caused by flea beetles. In the "Praying Mantis" thread, I was commenting on how bug populations change, year from year. That does not seem apply to the flea beetles.

Your experience with spinach is also mine. What I have never done is sow spinach seed in September to overwinter. I was also late to the chard gardening. The few plants planted late in 2021 did okay and chard lived thru our mild Winter. I'd like to have the chard variety that I like . The problem is that the seed is available only from a few places. It grows and produces right through Summer and, if it survives the Winter, I could save the seed! I've tried to start beets late in the season a couple of times and the tiny plants turn bright red in the heat and stop growing.

Snow peas have been started in the garden but we are willing to eat the tendrils if it's obvious that the season is running down and they won't produce a crop, or much of a crop, of peas.

DW has been on a lettuce kick. We have lettuce seed sown in a flat but I'm not very hopeful. The days with weather that it prefers just seems too short, late in the season. In the past, the lettuce plants have stopped growing before they are any size in the Fall. Our usual bok choy was also started and I have more faith in that. I'm hoping that despite all the heat, it will grow quickly and can go out as soon as more benign weather arrives.

Steve

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

Why are they full of holes? Slugs, snails, something like grasshoppers, or small caterpillars. Down here mine is snails. In Arkansas it would be caterpillars. I'd strip off all kale leaves and give them to the chickens, just leaving a bud. The chickens didn't mind the holes. Then in a few days while the leaves were really small I'd spray the plant, usually with BT. I'd get a good harvest of leaves then they'd be full of holes from new caterpillars. Rinse and repeat maybe 3 times before I gave up.

Not sure why they'd be pale. Could be a nutrient issue, maybe water.

Slugs mostly and it has to be nutrition. Never had this happen before with the pale leaves.

 

[Dirtmechanic]

Yes kale, juliette and early girl tomatoes, dill and spinach. Basically 60 day stuff should come in. Squash, if you need more, yellow and courgette\zucc.

 

[ducks4you]

I am posting from my Fall gardening research at a weather station in zone 5b. Hope this helps, but contact your land grant univerisity extension office to see Their recommendations for YOU bc your climate might be slightly different. POINT IS, try, anyway, and see what grows for you! (list is the next post)

 

[ducks4you]

Very frustrating to change formats that are readable.

 

[ducks4you]

You will notice repeats, but I have been researching this topic for the last couple of years.

20 Crops You Can Still Grow In August
1)Beets--Detroit Red
2)Beans
3)Cabbage
4)Kale
5)Swiss Chard
6)Broccoli
7)Zuchinni
8)Cucumbers--Pickling
9)Bunching onions
10)Carrots
11)Rutebega
12)Turnips
13)Peas
14)Radishes (September)
15)Spinach (September)
16)Lettuce (September)
17)Kohlrabi
18)Dill
19)Purslane
20)Amaranth