Fall crops? What kind & when?

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What kind (plant types ie.. beets, onions) of plants do you plant in late summer or early fall to harvest before winter kills it (the same year)? And just when would I need to plant them? I've heard some of you say you plant turnips in the fall instead of the spring. What else & when do I plant?

animalfarms

-- animalfarms (jwlewis@indy.net), June 27, 2001

Answers

It depends altogether on what part of the country you are in. In Central Texas, we planted all of the root crops and cole crops in the fall. Watched the skies and the weather forecasts, and sometime before the first fall storm came into the gulf, maybe early to mid September is when we planted. We planted turnips, onions, broccoli, carrots, cabbage, any other like crop would do, and the winters usually didn't get cold enough to kill any of them. Sometimes late August, if I was feeling really cocky, I would even replant squash, but of course, that is not a winter crop, and would die at the first frost. Fall is also the best time to plant strawberries in the south, and you can also put out fruit trees then, I've heard...If, however, you are further north, all bets are off.

-- mary, in colorado (marylgarcia@aol.com), June 27, 2001.

http://muextension.missouri.edu/xplor/agguides/hort/g06201.htm is a calendar for planting in Missouri. If you live in a different climate, maybe you can still use it to get an idea of what can be done.

==>paul

-- paul (p@ledgewood-consulting.com), June 27, 2001.


Look for a book called Four Season Harvest. There's another I've seen, "Winter Gardenening in the Maritime Northwest" (read it while I was living in Portland OR), of course that one won't help much outside of the Maritime Northwest.

You could also go to Barnes and Noble's website and do an advanced search with winter garden in the keywords field.

Location matters a lot, also what your goals are. Are we talking people food or animal fodder? Do you want a cover crop to help preserve and build up your soil?

-- Sojourner (notime4@summer.spam), June 27, 2001.


Here in N.E. Okla. it can be very tricky when it comes to planting a fall garden. Unless you have a good arigation system, there is sometimes very little time to grow anything between the annual summer heat drought and the first frost. This year I'm planning on making some cold frames out of fence post, cattle panels, and clear sheets of plastic to hold off that frost. Maybe this year I can have a fall crop of squash, green beans, peas, lettuce, other greens, turnips. Usually if you have a seed dealer (produce stand) they can tell you what all will grow.

-- Russell Hays (rhays@sstelco.com), June 27, 2001.

Find out when your first frost date is and count backwards to determine when you should start seeds, both for direct sowing and transplants. Since the days will be shorter than in the spring, allow some extra time for crops to mature. The trick for me in hot, humid western Kentucky is getting cool season crops started in the summer. I now start lettuce, arugula, broccoli, cabbage etc. in pots in the basement, where it's about 60-70 degrees, under grow lights. For turnips which are direct seeded, make sure they are well-watered as late summer and fall can be dry. Unless you have really cold winters, it's amazing how much of the fall garden will carry on into winter with a little protection. Good luck.

-- Katherine (KyKatherine@Yahoo.com), June 27, 2001.


I have an e-mail address change. For those that don't know, I'm in central Indiana (zone 5). Any crops I raise for now will be for a small road side stand. I'm trying to talk my husband into buying a small lot to grow (& sell) this on. If I can get him to agree to buying this lot(size is between 1/4 & 1/2 acre), I'm hopeing to get enough time to put in a small crop before this winter (hopeing to off- set the cost of the land). At lease I can try. I figured I might be able to get some early maturing root crops & some salad fixings in before winter (if I can buy this lot (price is between $2500 & $5000)). I (if husband agrees) may have to wait until we get our tax check before buying (if it's still for sell at that time). The main question still is, when do I plant these crops? And can you suggest any more? After all, some produce sales (this year) are better then none (until next year).

Thanks for the ideas.

animalfarms (IN)

-- animalfarms (jawjlewis@netzero.net), June 28, 2001.


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