Fall Garden ALREADY??

[shelleybean]

Thanks, Gimme. Yes, I plan to leave the Willow Leaf plants in the garden until frost. They're so good! They blow the ones from the farm stand away! My plants are still really healthy and starting to flower again.

[Adenn1]

Went out to water snap peas...and they were gone...eaten to the ground...maybe rabbit or ground hog. Probably too late to plant again...

So much for a fall garden...

[shelleybean]

Oh no, what a bummer about the peas. My spinach plants were just gone too but I think it was the heat rather than a critter.

[ibadreamer]

i just turned my soil over with some compost and i will plant some carrots, beats, spinach and lettuce. where do you suggest i buy the seeds? i normally buy whatever they have at home depot. but if i should buy elsewhere let me know. thanks for any info

[shelleybean]

I think that if you're happy with the selection and quality of seeds at HD, keep buying them there. If it aint broke, don't fix it, right? But if you want to look at some less common varieties as well as the usual, two of my favorites are www.southernexposure.com and www.victoryseeds.com for OP and heirloom seeds.

[mdvpc]

Ibad-You can also order seed for lots of Italian cutting lettuces, etc from Seeds from Italy-

http://www.growitalian.com/

Bill McKay has wonderful seed from Italy of all kinds of wonderful things to grow in the fall garden-very good prices, huge amount of seed and very quick shipping. No, I am not Bill, dont even know him other than ordering from him.

[shelleybean]

After I posted, I rememered I should have mentioned www.growitalian.com, too. I was already out of the house at that point though. I am really falling in love with this site. For fall, I'm growing Paris Market carrots and Red Verone cabbage from there. I picked up several things for next year, too.

[feldon30]

They usually have Red-Cored Chantenay carrots and Nantes Half-Long carrots at Home Depot and they are both quite good. They are both short carrots (3-4 inches). Sometimes you can find Golden Beet seeds at Home Depot as well which are nice (tasted at farmer's market) but I got 0% germination last time I tried.

[Worth1]

"""Sometimes you can find Golden Beet seeds at Home Depot as well which are nice (tasted at farmer's market) but I got 0% germination last time I tried.""""
************************************************** ***

Wow 0 how old were the seeds?

http://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheets/hgic1305.htm

Worth

[shelleybean]

I've heard several people comment that the Golden Beets have much lower germination than the red. People usually say to sow your seed thicker than you normally would.

[feldon30]

I've also heard that. I wish I could start them indoors. Maybe if I am REALLY careful...

[FlipTX]

I barely gardened at all this summer, except for watching the sweet potato vines run rampant. But it's finally starting to cool off a bit so I can think about fall gardening. (By "cool off" I mean sometimes our highs drop into the upper 80s. Brr!) I planted some Kilima Leek seeds in a pot today. I've got my potatoes started in containers in the shade.

I'll be sowing some bok choy, scallions, and kale soon. Last spring, Tuscan kale was two bucks at the farmer's market for a tiny little bunch, so I decided I might save myself scads of money if I could successfully grow it. Tuscan kale + mushrooms + roasted potatoes = Mmm.

I planted a few cornfield beans about four weeks ago and they'll be flowering soon. I really liked them this spring and they did very well for me in partial shade. I don't know if I'm going to bother with beets and carrots. I've tried to grow them so many times with ZERO success, even in the fall.

[shelleybean]

I have seed for that Tuscan kale. I wonder if I could squeeze a little in someplace out there. My shallots and garlic arrived today so I'll try to get that planted in the near future. I started more cabbage indoors and that'll be going out soon. The cabbage plants I have out there already are about 16 inches across. My Romanesco broccoli is about 18 inches across. My red bottle onions came up this week. I hope they do well. Carrots, collards, turnips and chard are all doing well, also. I had to seed the carrots several times and just keep watering. It's been so darn dry here. I had to sow collards twice. The little plants dried up when we went camping. So did my beets and chard. I planted more chard but am out of beet seeds. Don't know where I'd squeeze them in now anyway. I still have sweet potatoes, butter beans, peppers and okra out there from summer.

[FlipTX]

Michele, if you decide to replant the beets (or find room for them) I have some seeds for Early Wonder Tall Top I got from Fedco this spring. I'd be happy to send you some since I've about given up on beets. I don't know if it's my climate or what.

[shelleybean]

Thanks, Flip. I'll keep that in mind. Now you've got me thinking about that kale and I want to fit that in too!