Blog Update!
For those of you not following me on Facebook, as of the Summer of 2019 I've moved to Central WA, to a tiny mountain town of less than 1,000 people.

I will be covering my exploits here in the Cascades, as I try to further reduce my impact on the environment. With the same attitude, just at a higher altitude!

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Fall plantings

Stinkin' roseSandy asked on yesterday's post what things we can plant now for a fall or winter harvest. She is in zone 7 so I think her options are more open than for you guys out there in a zone less than 6.

I actually just planted a few things yesterday even though I probably should have done it at the end of July. Since we are finally getting our August-style temperatures, I thought I'd give it a try anyway.

I had replanted another round of sugar snap peas in early August and they are just now looking good. I'm doubtful they will produce anything giving our recent cold temperatures, but I'll see.

Yesterday, I planted winter hardy lettuces, kale, spinach, broccoli (not sure if this will work) and onions. Other fall and winter delights you can plant now are radishes, beets, rutabagas, parsnips and turnips. Oh yeah, and carrots.

Later in the fall I will plant some overwintering onions and garlic.

Territorial Seed Company lists their winter varieties and other hardy seeds. So, take a peek through those and see if anything fits your zone (and your tastes)!

Since I really don't know what the hell I'm doing, double check whether or not any of these plants (or the varieties you choose) will work for your zone.

Happy planting!!!

P.S. What are the rest of you guys planting, if anything, now?

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Arugula aka Rocket, Mustard Greens, Radishes, dwarf peas (particularly mangetout types, which don't need time to ripen), and Lettuces can be planted now for Autumn harvest.

Corn Salad aka Mache and "Miners' Lettuce" (Claytonia perfoliata) overwinter and are normally planted now. In fact Claytonia won't grow when it's warm. These are both salad greens.

Some types of Fava beans will overwinter. I think they actually do better overwintering than spring-planted because they get diseased in warm weather (beware; some people are deathly allergic to fava beans). The harvest for fall-planted favas is in the spring.

Swiss Chard overwinters well. It kinda shuts down for the winter but then will give a 2nd crop in late winter, early spring, before bolting.

You were asking about broccoli. Some types will overwinter. Some Cauliflowers MUST overwinter; they are true biennials and won't flower until they've been through a winter. Nine Star Perennial "Broccoli" is actually a Cauliflower, and it will bear for several years around April.

I think there are plenty of other crops that can be planted now.

P~ said...

Two weeks ago planted some spinich, lettuce, radishes, collard, and Arugula. Also peas, although I don't know if they'll have time to mature, you never know here in Utah, sometimes winter hits hard and early, sometimes it just trickles in.
Good luck with your fall crops!

Christy said...

I recently planted spinach, carrots, brocolli, onions and a few small tomatoes to take into the house when it gets cold. I'll be planting more spinach this weekend.

Kelly @ The Barefoot Mama said...

I'm an amateur gardener (VERY! LOL!) so now I'm totally excited about fall plantings. I use garlic in tons of recipes, so I may have to try growing it myself!

Anonymous said...

Wow! Thanks Crunchy! What a response!

I seriously didn't know that I could plant all this stuff in the winter. Live and Learn. I'm originally from Chicago and not a whole lot of gardening going on there when it's 35 below zero -- so I don't know these things!

The first year I moved to Oregon I went out to the yard in October and started yanking everything up out of the ground. My neighbor came over and was like "what are you doing?" I told her. Then she had a good laugh and explained to me that you didn't have to do that here, stuff would actually survive the winter.

I consider myself relatively smart, but it is amazing how the obvious doesn't hit you sometimes. You just do what you have been taught as a kid without really thinking it through. Damn habits!

Well, I can see I have my work cut out for me this weekend....now I have to find seeds this time of year that don't have weird gene splicing in them. (I didn't know this either. Learned it in Animal, Veg, Miracle.)

Anonymous said...

For the first time ever, I planted some walla walla onion starters (in June), and they are smaller than my thumb. Does anyone know if they'll last the winter? My plans are to plant some carrots, radishes, and more lettuce.

Olive said...

we have planted peas, spinach, carrots, and romaine with like plans to plant garlic in the coming weeks. YUMMM

Unknown said...

two weeks ago, i planted cauliflower, daikon, another radish, spinach, and turnips. everything is sprouting up beautifully. now, i'm putting a lot of my summer garden to rest and trying to figure out where i'm going to plant my garlic.

does anyone have advice on harvesting sweet potatoes? i know that i need to get them before the frost, and i know i need to cure them...but i can't remember any details. if anyone has suggestions or a good reference point, i'd be most appreciative.