Anyway, I have put together my seed order for my Fall garden! This is very exciting, for it is my first Fall garden! Yay! Through various bit of research, I have found the following dates to be the dates that you plant at. I am going to try these out this Fall and then make my own changes to the dates if necessary. Planting dates are really funny. It really makes me wonder why anyone would put down any specific date in books about gardening. They are all different. In San Marcos, I very well could have a different planting date than those who live below the escarpment. It would only vary by a few days probably but you get the idea.
Alright, planting dates:
Beans
Snap 9/1
Lima 8/20
Broccoli 9/1
Cabbage 9/1
Carrots 11/10
Chard, Swiss 10/1
Collards 10/10
Garlic October
Lettuce, Leaf 10/10
Onion 11/1
Peas, Southern 8/1
Potato 9/1
Pumpkin 9/1
Spinach 11/15
Squash
Summer 9/10
Winter 8/10
There are a few things that I didn't realize. I thought that the only time that you could plant potatoes was on Valentine's Day and I didn't realize that you grow peas in a fall garden. Crazy.
I have done some ordering from both the Seed Savers Exchange catalogue as well as the Bountiful Gardens catalogue. I have also drawn up the plans for the fall garden. I will post that in a couple of days.
Some things that I have to get done before planting/things I have procrastinated on:
- Widen the beds, making smaller rows
- Mulch all the paths
- Install a soaker hose
- Begin planting starts (I have broccoli and some gourds started)
- Purchase some soil and compost for the beds
- Start some new compost
As far as my goals go for the fall:
- Start and complete a successful compost pile
- Start composting worms.
- Practice more with companion planting
- Practice more planting in succession
- Start a seed bank
My spring/summer garden was all in all a success. It was really my first garden to collect a small harvest from and was definitely a challenge. Towards the end of the season, I let the garden go. The consecutive over 100 degree days put so much stress on my plants and the water bill that in the end, it didn't make sense to me, financially, to continue putting so much work into the garden without getting enough harvest. Something that I know would have helped that is soaker hoses. A more thorough watering system. That is what I needed. Ah well. You learn, eh?
