Spring: Seeds and seedlings are planted (tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, basil etc. )<\/p>\n
Fall: Garlic and shallots are planted<\/p>\n
Right bed:<\/span><\/p>\n Spring: \u00a0Garlic and shallots planted here last fall will be pulled in June<\/p>\n Fall: Plant fall seeds (carrots, beets, brussels and lettuce)<\/p>\n Now is the time to start planting the plants you will harvest before the winter frost comes. \u00a0Here are some examples of the kinds of plants to try: \u00a0Carrots, beets, lettuce, arugula, Brussels sprouts, peas, broccoli, kale, swiss chard, winter squash, spinach. \u00a0Look for cool season or cold hardy plants. \u00a0Some varieties will even be marked for fall planting. \u00a0The basic idea is that they will grow to maturity rather quickly, handle cold and\/or frost or both.<\/p>\n I am a self taught gardener. \u00a0I try things and read a lot. \u00a0And fall is one place I haven’t always been successful. \u00a0The timing has been a learning curve since I start thinking of planting seeds way too late and then the frost gets everything before I get to eat anything. \u00a0Last year I started Brussels sprouts seeds inside which didn’t go so well and I had a few weak plants I had to nurse along. \u00a0I had given them up for dead once winter came but since we had a crazy winter they lived and we ate Brussels sprouts for St. Patty’s dinner. \u00a0A nice surprise but not ideal.<\/p>\n I plant mostly from seed for a number of reasons: \u00a0it’s hard to find organic seedlings locally, shipping them cost as much as a new car, there is a much bigger variety in seeds and it costs $2-3 for a pack usually so if you kill them all, it’s not a big deal. \u00a0Seeds are great to experiment with but they like certain conditions to be met, especially when first starting out. \u00a0Summer veggies like basil and tomatoes love the sun and are cool with blazing sun even in the beginning. \u00a0Cool weather veggies are not cool with being roasted in the August sun. They complain and fall over. \u00a0To combat this I have installed a high tech device to provide shade.<\/p>\n This is a white fitted twin sheet from college held down with clothes pins. \u00a0My name is even written in it because when I left for college they told us to write our names on everything like it was preschool. \u00a0I would suggest you use something you aren’t planning to put back on a bed anytime soon since it will be outside getting dirty. \u00a0You can also buy commercial shade fabrics that are made in different weaves to allow different amounts of light through. \u00a0I again have a problem finding these locally for a reasonable price so I went the DIY route. \u00a0 I already know it’s working very well for two reasons. \u00a0One, I planted the same carrot seeds in another garden with no shade cloth and only one sprouted. Two, when I took the cloth off on a cooler day to give them a chance at sun and forgot to put it back on the next day when it was hot, many of the seeds were slumped over. \u00a0The Brussels didn’t snap back and I had to plant more. \u00a0A little shade is the way to go when the garden is full south facing sun. \u00a0If you have a spot with morning sun and afternoon shade you can probably skip the sheets.<\/p>\n My timing is also way better this year. \u00a0I have been known to plant things way late and have frozen pea flowers and no peas. \u00a0So I reminded myself to look at everything at the beginning of July so I would have time to plan. \u00a0I took stock of the seeds I had left over from fall and ordered more if needed. \u00a0 To figure out the timing, look at the seed pack which will give you all the info you need to plug into the formula below to find out when to plant! \u00a0First find out your first frost date<\/a>\u00a0 (a simple format at the Old Farmer’s Almanac). \u00a0If you want to get a bit more in depth, check out the info at NOAA where you can request a report<\/a> for where you live with numbers for first frost dates at different temperatures. \u00a0Choose the Normals\/Annual report to put in your cart and they will email it to you for free!\u00a0\u00a0(use the 50% or .5 at 32 degrees for most tender plants and the 50% at 20 degrees for cold hardy plants). \u00a0My first frost is 11\/2 for Sandy Hook NJ in Zone 7.<\/p>\n The above in the back of a pack of seeds for a Rainbow Carrot Mix:<\/p>\n 65 days to maturity + 15 days to germination + 0 days spent inside + 2 weeks (14 days) \u00a0= 94 days or about 13 1\/2 weeks<\/p>\n then I count backwards that many days from my first frost date of November 2nd which means I should plant around the week of August 1st. Since all of the numbers on the seed pack are a range (ex. 10-15 days) I use the biggest number (the longest it should take to grow) to give myself some leeway but you can also do the calculation for the shorter time or for both numbers and give yourself a range. \u00a0 I planted some of the seeds the week of July 31st and then added more in the spots that didn’t sprout on Aug 8th. \u00a0 Since the days get shorter in fall, the seeds will take a bit longer than in the spring which is why we add the extra 2 weeks in.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Don’t let this all drive you crazy with lots of dates for things. \u00a0I planted everything at once. \u00a0I planted everything the last week of July with the peas a little late and the arugula a little early. \u00a0Use this as a guide to give yourself enough time to let things mature based on what you are actually planting since some generic charts are just a guess. \u00a0I was going to plant one type of Brussels that had a maturity date that would have landed somewhere in February. \u00a0It would never have been done in time and would have been a waste. \u00a0This way you can get an idea of how long things take to grow and plan for it.<\/p>\n There are some plants known as cold hardy that can withstand a lot more cold than others. \u00a0For these plants you can use the 50% at 20 degree number on the \u00a0NOAA chart to count backward from. \u00a0My cold hardy date is 12\/12, a full five weeks later. \u00a0 Some plants like Kale can grow through very cold weather and even through most of the winter with a row cover. \u00a0I would love to go out in snow boots and harvest from my garden but no matter how many ideas I see on Pinterest, I can’t get over the fact that kale tastes like I am chewing through a shrub.<\/p>\n At about a week and a half in the ground there are a ton of little seedlings.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lincoln helped with these seeds, hence the clumps of seedlings everywhere. \u00a0He was very careful putting the tiny carrots seeds in rows but the sprinkling of the lettuce and arugula seeds was a bit harder so it kind of all over the place. \u00a0I will see what seedlings come out the strongest and thin the others. \u00a0They are not all supposed to be on top of each other!<\/p>\n Brussels Sprouts are Hestia<\/a> that have a much shorter maturity rate than the others. \u00a0Although I planted some this spring with very different times and there are all about the same growth so who knows. \u00a0Keep an eye out for little green cabbage worms that can eat the leaves very quickly. \u00a0Pick them off and squish them instead of using pesticides.<\/p>\n Carrots – both Rainbow <\/a>and Scarlet Nantes<\/a> which is a sweet orange variety. \u00a0Even after the frost comes, store these carrots right in the ground! \u00a0The leaves will die off but the carrots will stay nice and snug. \u00a0Just pull them out before the ground freezes solid. We pulled and ate ours for Christmas dinner last year.<\/p>\n Arugula<\/a>\u00a0is my favorite green. \u00a0It grows quickly and does much better in the cool weather.\u00a0These will also get cabbage worms so check every day or so.<\/p>\n Lettuce – Gourmet Mix<\/a> \u00a0which is a mix of leaf lettuce that are fast maturing. They are called cut and come again since you can pick a few leaves from each plant for a salad and the plant stays in the ground to keep growing. \u00a0(These are a bit slower and I couldn’t get a good pic.)<\/p>\n Peas – Progress #9<\/a> which are a new variety of shelling or English peas I’m trying.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"Ridiculous](\"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Ridiculous-Redhead-shade-cloth.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nSince this seems like a lot of math I have made a worksheet to help! \u00a0Just plug in the numbers on the back of your seed pack and you have all of your info in one place. \u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n
Click here to get the free worksheet!<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n
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