Fall Seed Sowing

Fall is here, so now is the time for fall seed sowing.  Last weekend, I planted numerous packets of veggies, herb, and flower seeds in all my beds.

Here's the full list:

Veggies

• Summer Squash (Zucchini) - Sure Thing Hybrid
• Summer Squash - Burpee's Golden Zucchini
• Summer Squash - Pic-N-Pic Hybrid
• Broccoli - Sun King Hybrid
• Swiss Chard - Fordhook Giant
• Swiss Chard - Ruby Red
• Collards - Georgia
• Lettuce - Sylvestra
• Spinach - Bloomsdale Long-Standing
• Beet - Detroit Dark Red, Medium Top

Herbs

• Cilantro - Spanish
• Oregano - Greek
• Lemon Balm
• Bulbing Fennel - Trieste
• Dill - Bouquet
• Parsley - Green Pearl
• Parsley - Italian "Gigante"
• Chives - Common

Flowers

• Echinacea - Purple Coneflower
• Rudbeckia - Goldsturm
• Foxglove - Mixed Colors
• Bouquet Larkspur - Singing the Blues
• Oriental Poppy - Brilliant Red
• Red Cornflower
• Carnation Flower Poppies - French Flounce
• Columbine - Blue Star
• Shasta Daisy - Alaska
• Gaillardia - Goblin
• True Lavender - Lavandula Angustifolia

The beds should be bustling a few weeks from now!

Fall Veggie Transplants & Today's Harvest

Fall is here, and so is the beautiful Texas weather that I live for.  Every moment that I can spend outside in the garden, I do.  

A few days ago, I bought some fall veggie transplants and got them into the ground.  First, I had to clean up one of the beds for the veggies.  It wasn't too difficult, since before South Africa, I had turned the beds and tried to plant some seeds, which never really came up.  I also tore out all the dead marigolds.

Then, I planted the transplants, along with a few seeds.

From left to right I planted:

• 1 Toscano Kale (transplant)
• Dwarf Blue Curled Vates Kale (seeds)
• 2 Gypsy Broccoli (transplants)
• 2 Calabrese Broccoli (transplants)
• 1 Marathon Broccoli (transplant)
• 4 Brussel Sprout - unknown variety (transplants)
• 1 Long Island Brussel Sprout (transplant)
• 1 Nautical Brussel Sprout (transplant)
• Lacinato Kale (seeds)
• 3 Kale - unknown variety (transplants)
• and along the trellis - Mammoth Melting Sugar Peas (seeds)

While it may be fall, I still have a few summer veggie plants (peppers and eggplant) that are still producing, so they will stay in the beds until the are no longer fruitful.  Today I harvested the below.  I'm not quite sure why the eggplant turned yellow, but I assume it has something to do with staying on the plant for quite awhile, since this is my first harvest after being away from home for almost 3 weeks.

Harvest Totals (since April)

• 5 lbs Cherry Bell Radishes

• 3 lbs Giant Fordhook Swiss Chard

• 3 lb 5.5 oz Pic-N-Pic Summer Squash (5 squash)

• 5 lbs 6.3 oz Black Beauty Zucchini (3 squash)

• 13.7 oz Mammoth Melting Sugar Peas

• 11.6 oz Mucho Nacho Jumbo Jalapeno (13)
• 15.7 oz Jalapeno (9)

• 2 lb 2.4 oz Bush Blue Lake 274 Green Beans

• 1 lb 8.7 oz Gypsy Sweet Peppers (14)

• 1 lb 15.9 oz Sweet 100 Cherry Tomato

• 2 lb 7.5 oz Juliet Roma Grape Tomato

• 3 lb 12.0 oz Early Girl Tomato (12)
• 1 lb 10.4 oz Big Boy Tomato (3)
• 1 lb 7.3 oz oz Bradley Heirloom Tomato (4)
• 2 lb 2.3 oz Roma Tomato (22)
• 5 lb 4.0 oz Long Eggplant (21)
• 11 lb 0.1 oz Black Beauty Eggplant (12)
• 1 lb 10.2 oz Pablano Pepper (22)
• 1 lb 2.0 oz Acorn Squash (1)
• 1 lb 1.0 oz Butternut Squash (1)
• 1 lb 6.6 oz Spaghetti Squash (1)
• 1 lb 10.1 oz Green Bell Sweet Pepper (10)
• 2.1 oz Cayenne Pepper (9)
• 11 lb 11.1 oz Marketmore 76 Cucumbers (11)
• 3 lb 7.9 oz Okra (63)
• 3.8 oz Serrano Pepper (14)

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!