fall garden
Return to DiscussionsHas anyone ever started/grown a fall garden? Been reading about it in the magazine - Self-Reliance & Backwoods Home magazine. Much of the veggies to plant in the fall are leafy greens and root veggies. Like to hear about other's experiences with a fall garden.
Feeling the envy for all of you bare planters who've gotten your fall crops in. We tried a second round of green beans and the plants did nearly nothing, planted again, a few more came up, a third planting did almost nothing else, and then one plant and then another the next day began dying, something cutting off the main leaves. Still not too sure what's going on, with less than 15 surviving plants now, dammit. Put some powdery stuff on them to hopefully kill or at least inhibit the further loss but now the ones that're left are acting nearly static for new leaves. Oh well, interspersed them with more radishes and some pea seeds, some mesculun mix, got beets and more radishes - a new variety, black spanish - to put in still. We're still harvesting a few tomatoes, no doubt our most successful plantings this year. Squash are still putting out nice blooms but not a single veggie harvested from them. Mom says we planted them too close together - I thinned them but probably too late not to have damaged the roots of the ones I left behind. Challenges galore, but the female hummingbirds are still hitting all the many blooms and the goldfinches are eating the seeding zinnias and even the basil plants constantly. So even if we can't eat much from the garden, the fauna are having a grand chomp! Here comes autumn - windows open all night last night, no AC running today or yesterday, YAY!
I took out my corn and fed to the cows and made sure to cut very close to ground. I worked it up with lawnmower cultivator and planted some squash, cucumbers and radishes. I had a few cucumbers come up out of 2 rows. Of the radishes I got 1 whole row and maybe 1 or 2 plants from the other 2 rows planted. Not sure if the ground is lacking the fertilizer that it needs for the plants. If nothing happens I'll till up and plant oats and clover for cover crop to plow under in spring.
Feeling the envy for all of you bare planters who've gotten your fall crops in. We tried a second round of green beans and the plants did nearly nothing, planted again, a few more came up, a third planting did almost nothing else, and then one plant and then another the next day began dying, something cutting off the main leaves. Still not too sure what's going on, with less than 15 surviving plants now, dammit. Put some powdery stuff on them to hopefully kill or at least inhibit the further loss but now the ones that're left are acting nearly static for new leaves. Oh well, interspersed them with more radishes and some pea seeds, some mesculun mix, got beets and more radishes - a new variety, black spanish - to put in still. We're still harvesting a few tomatoes, no doubt our most successful plantings this year. Squash are still putting out nice blooms but not a single veggie harvested from them. Mom says we planted them too close together - I thinned them but probably too late not to have damaged the roots of the ones I left behind. Challenges galore, but the female hummingbirds are still hitting all the many blooms and the goldfinches are eating the seeding zinnias and even the basil plants constantly. So even if we can't eat much from the garden, the fauna are having a grand chomp! Here comes autumn - windows open all night last night, no AC running today or yesterday, YAY!Were your beans pole or bush?I have tried to post pictures in the comments and would help in giving yo suggestions on your plants. But squash and beans should be easy to grow. Are in the areas getting extreme heat? While it may be too late to help you much this year - want next year to be better.
The first round of beans in the spring were both kinds, mostly bush, and produced well, even with a nasty infestation of first bean leaf beetles and then the Japanese invaded, they grew past them both with the prolific leaves. Tried Neem oil and some other things but we did okay. Now the plants are all bush-style and every morning I notice a leaf or two cut nearly off, but still hanging on, eventually that leaf shrivels up. The powder stuff (Captain Jack's Deadbug - Spinosad) might've helped but I couldn't see any real growth on the plants once I applied it - wondering if that application was somehow blocking new growth because it blocks stomata or something. Eh, not sure, have now put in new pea seeds and radishes and leafy stuff and stopped worrying about the beans til next year. We might get a dinner or two before they all die, iffy since they are still too little to produce any flowering.
Gladly picked our last two black crim tomatoes, those things have so much dieback but still fighting to make more BLTS! One of the finest flavored varieties I've grown, ever. Too much blossom end rot, but one sometimes will put up with one thing to smack their lips later.
Appreciate any input, for this season or next year.
Squash are dioecious? DAMN, I didn't know that!
We have all of the above and more when it comes to fauna. Netting mellows out the rabbits somewhat, the squirrels are too smart for that, the deer eat over the nets, eh, only so much can be done, I admit. Still all part of the big circle of life here, whether or not I'm wearing clothes when I weed ~ thanks for the teacher's assistance.Feeling the envy for all of you bare planters who've gotten your fall crops in. We tried a second round of green beans and the plants did nearly nothing, planted again, a few more came up, a third planting did almost nothing else, and then one plant and then another the next day began dying, something cutting off the main leaves. Still not too sure what's going on, with less than 15 surviving plants now, dammit. Put some powdery stuff on them to hopefully kill or at least inhibit the further loss but now the ones that're left are acting nearly static for new leaves. Oh well, interspersed them with more radishes and some pea seeds, some mesculun mix, got beets and more radishes - a new variety, black spanish - to put in still. We're still harvesting a few tomatoes, no doubt our most successful plantings this year. Squash are still putting out nice blooms but not a single veggie harvested from them. Mom says we planted them too close together - I thinned them but probably too late not to have damaged the roots of the ones I left behind. Challenges galore, but the female hummingbirds are still hitting all the many blooms and the goldfinches are eating the seeding zinnias and even the basil plants constantly. So even if we can't eat much from the garden, the fauna are having a grand chomp! Here comes autumn - windows open all night last night, no AC running today or yesterday, YAY!Were your beans pole or bush?I have tried to post pictures in the comments and would help in giving yo suggestions on your plants. But squash and beans should be easy to grow. Are in the areas getting extreme heat? While it may be too late to help you much this year - want next year to be better.By bean leaf beetle do you mean Mexican bean beetles? If so BT is the most effective. But it will wash off in rain. I add just a tad of Dawn soap to make it stick to leaves better. For Japanese beetles get the lure based traps. Put the traps outside the garden, in a few years you will greatly reduce the population. I only use bush beans early is season since they produce a little faster than pole beans.Do you have rabbits? Or deer? Bugs usually do not take whole leaves at one time.The squash could be a pollination problem. Do you have both male and female flowers?
I spoke too soon. The bugs have found my nice new cabbage plants and are eating the leaves. It looks like they just started nibbling on the edges and are working their way towards the stem. I have sprayed them with both fungicide & poison but they keep coming. I wonder about this eco-friendly type chemicals, I think theyre too green! I sprayed one worm on my squash earlier in the year and it didnt even bother to stop eating! Oh well, we will press on.