Fall Plantings

Today was a relatively cooler late-summer day in Central Texas.  We hit a high of 89 degrees, when the past few weeks, the days have been pushing 100.  That meant a gardening-filled day for me.  I will be on business travel for the second half of August, so I wanted to get my fall garden growing before I leave.

In veggie bed #1, I didn't make any changes.  I want to see if the tomatoes planted in the spring will continue producing.  I also have pepper and eggplants that are still bearing fruit, so no changes were made.

In veggie bed #2, I ripped out all the squash plants.  The squash vine borer already got to ALL the plants, so I'm cutting my losses and planting other veggies from seed that might actually produce for me this fall.  I planted the following in the bed:

• Bush Beans - Tendergreen Improved [52 day maturity]
• Swiss Chard - Fordhook Giant [60 day maturity]
• Swiss Chard - Ruby Red [55 day maturity]
• Kale - Lacinato (heirloom) [70 day maturity]
• Kale - Dwarf Blue Curled Vates [55 day maturity]
• Collards - Georgia [65 day maturity]
• Echinacea - Purple Coneflower

Before and after:

       

I also have a mystery tomato plant growing in the middle of bed #2.  I assume one of the tomatoes from bed #1 landed in the bed and reseeded.  I'm letting it grow and we'll see a couple months from now what it turns out to be.  I love a good garden mystery!

In bed #3, I ripped out the old cucumber and cantaloupe vines.  It looks like the heat became a little too much for the plants and they probably weren't getting enough water the past couple of weeks.  I've replanted the bed with more cukes and melons, specifically:

• Cucumber - Marketmore 76 [63 day maturity]
• Watermelon - Sweet Scarlet Hybrid [85 day maturity]
• Cantaloupe - Hale's Best Jumbo [ 80 day maturity]

I haven't had the best of luck with melons up to this point. We'll see if the fall crop does any better than the summer.

In bed #4, I ripped out the chard that didn't produce over the summer, as well as the spent green beans.  I've now planted:

• Fennel - Trieste [90 day maturity]
• Dill - Bouquet
• Lettuce - Sylvestra [50 day maturity]
• Spinach - Bloomsdale Long-Standing [48 day maturity]
• Arugula - Rocket [35 day maturity]

This bed receives ample shade during the fall and winter months.  I'll be interested to see if I have any luck with these crops this fall.

Based on these plantings, I should be getting some decent harvest between mid-September through early October.  Cheers to a productive gardening day!