Fall Planting

Our summer crops are winding down and the garden always looks a little sad at this time of year. We are starting to transition into our fall crops. A couple of weeks ago, we got an absolutely beautiful Saturday morning, so we took advantage of the cooler weather to put the red and white cabbage plants into the ground. With most fall crop varieties, it is recommended to start them indoors 12 weeks before the first frost. For the southeast this is typically around the beginning of July. Last year we started all of our broccoli, kale, and cabbage indoors. This year we are going to experiment with direct seeding a few plants to compare.

Austin has put a tremendous amount of time into researching, planning for and cultivating our 2000 square foot organic garden. There is so much strategy that goes into crop rotation, soil composition, timing of planting and harvesting, and disease management. One area we wish hope improve on is succession planting, making sure we have a steady continued harvest. This year we will have 3-4 different rounds of plants started indoors and will set out later in the season. We grow everything in our garden from seed and either direct seed it or start it in our basement under fluorescent lighting. Using an organic potting mix for seedlings has greatly improved our germination rate and soil water retention vs. a general garden soil mix. Although a good potting mix will cover most of the nutrition for seedlings, it is also a good idea to feed them every 1-2 weeks with a good liquid fertilizer like kelp, fish emulsion, or a compost tea. Austin has gained a wealth of knowledge over the past couple of years and has put a ton of hard work into our food production. Here is a great resource he has used for starting seeds. I have mostly helped with harvesting, cooking and preserving the veggies, but this fall I am starting to step into helping him with some of the other responsibilities.


After we planted the cabbage yesterday, I helped him transfer some of our broccoli, Brussels sprout and kale seedlings into larger containers to allow them a little more time to grow under the fluorescent lights before they are ready for planting. Some of them had multiple seedlings in one container and had to be gently split without destroying the root balls. Fortunately plants in this the Brassica family respond well to root disturbance unlike crops in the squash/cucumber family. When transplanting them to their final resting place in the ground, we make sure to do it on a cool (preferably cloudy) day, either later in the evening or early morning. As far as depth goes it's a good idea to plant them up to the first set of "true" leaves. Since Brassica plants are heavy feeders we always mix in some rich compost into the planting bed and also roughly a 1/4 cup of dried poultry manure mixed into each planting hole.

These plants will stay under the fluorescent lights for another 3 weeks before making their way outdoors. Since these are cool weather crops, they have a difficult time adjusting to the remainder of summer's heat at season end. We have had good luck transitioning them outside for their last 3 weeks before going into the ground by leaving them in a shady area for 1-2 weeks and then slowly introducing them to the sun's rays (cloudy days are a good way to ease the transition). Don't panic if you left them out longer than you meant to and you come home to what looks like a tray of dead, wilted plants. Take them back to the safety of shade and give them a real good watering. Most likely they will perk back up over night (although "sun shock" like this can slow their overall growth down).

This year, our fall crops will include: 

- Green Beans

- One last planting of Snap Peas

- Red Cabbage

- White Cabbage

- Sweet Potatoes

- Kale

- Mustard Greens

- Broccoli

- Cauliflower

- Brussels Sprouts

- Swiss Chard

- Beets