Schedule for starting fall edibles

Kale in the winter garden

Saturday, July, 2024

The great thing about fall and winter edible gardens is little to no pests!  The insects die off in fall so your harvest is safe from pest destruction.  Once you have spent the effort to get the plants established and cool weather is here, fall and winter gardening is very low maintenance.  As it gets cooler, the veggies will get sweeter, too.

For more on how to choose varieties to grow, starting seeds and transplanting, see this post.  Time to plant for fall and winter harvests!   You're targeting for your edibles to be full size by early November before daylight hours dwindle to less than 10.  The winter slow down  

Look at the germination temperatures of the cool season crops you are starting from seed as some will not germinate well in the hot summer temperatures and you may have better luck starting them in shade or indoors.  Lettuce is one that germinates best at temperatures below 70F.  I like to start my seeds in pots in the shade on our north covered patio.  It gets morning sun but is shaded all afternoon.  Being on the patio lets me keep a close eye on them, too.  After they sprout and are a good size, I move into their permanent spot.

Here is a by month schedule of what to plant for fall and winter harvests in a Midwest garden.  

July

Beets, carrots, Asian greens (pak choi, tat-soi), cilantro, collard greens, endive, escarole, frisee, fennel, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, mustard, onions, parsnips, scallions, and Swiss chard.  Use transplants for broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage.

August

The rest of the greens (arugula, corn salad, lettuce, miner’s lettuce, spinach, mustard, endive), kohlrabi, onions, snap peas, scallions, cabbage plants, radishes, and turnips.  Peas and Fava beans can be planted in August for spring harvests in Zone 6 or higher.  

September

Plant more greens, carrots, and radishes.  September is also a great month for starting perennial veggies, fruits, and herbs as well as flowers, trees and shrubs.  Midwest Perennial Vegetable Garden

Greens in a portable greenhouse

October

The month to plant garlic for next year’s harvest and over-wintering onions.  Order your favorites early as many sell out quick.  Time to plant garlic! With growing tips......

If you don’t want to start seeds, some big box stores and local nurseries have begun to have fall planting veggies.   If none in your area do, there are many mail order seed companies that carry fall bedding plants.

  Late August, early September is the best time to get transplants into the garden for fall and winter harvests.  Don't forget to fertilize when planting like you would in the spring.  Keep your transplants  watered for them to get established until the fall rains start.

What's happening in the late July edible garden

Butterfly on zinnias in the garden

Sunday, July 21, 2024

We are harvesting eggplants, summer squash, peppers, sprouting broccoli, herbs, okra, onions, cucumbers, lettuce, lima beans, snap beans, winged beans and tomatoes.   We are getting steady amounts of rainfall on most weeks so only the pots are needing water consistently.  Have had to water the beds twice so far this summer.  The flowers are very happy, too! 

Both the hot and sweet pepper plants have peppers on them.  Have been harvesting the hot peppers I overwintered consistently and got my first Poblano pepper today.  Peppers are for every taste and garden

Tomatoes are producing decent this year.  We have gotten more rain and heat than usual this year.  Our grass is still green in late July!  The plants greenery are full and tall in the pots but got burned pretty good in the upside down 5 gallon bucket system.  We started getting tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers, and summer squash since the first of July.  The bumblebees love the cucumber, beans and squash flowers!  The vines are alive with buzzing with lots of bees every morning.

I am getting about 2 cucumbers every 3-4 days which is plenty for me to eat fresh and make pickles for my husband.  Some of the fruits now are smaller on one end than the other so they likely need to be fertilized.  I am getting a few eggplant each week.  So far all 3 varieties have fruited-AO Daimaru, Amadeo, and Listada de Gandia.  All do well in our heat and humidity and don't turn bitter like other varieties do.  Probably averaging a fruit every other week on each plant.  I have 4 plants so getting 2 per week.  I have them growing in partial shade in pots.  I could likely double the production if I sat them out in full sun.   

I only planted one okra, Red Burgundy, this year as I am the only one that eats it and one plant is all I need to put up enough okra for me for the year.  It has beautiful burgundy stems and fruits and large, creamy hibiscus looking flowers.  It is a beautiful plant.

Oregano in bloo

Our basil has been slow to get started but is now off to the races.  I can take my first harvest anytime.  You should take no more than a third of the plant at a time.  It will regrow to give me at least one more good harvest before fall.  If you wait to harvest, if you pinch the flowers off, it will keep the stems from getting woody.  Cardinal basil seems to not have this habit and it has a strong flavor to boot.  I grow the sweet basil and let it flower because the bees love it and harvest the Cardinal basil for pesto.  Basil basics-harvesting, preserving, growing basil

Our garlic is ready to be harvested.  I will harden in the shade on our outdoor, covered deck for a couple of weeks before bringing indoors and putting it in a dry, dark place to store until I am ready to pickle it and take cloves to replant in the fall.  Garlic harvest time is near!

Oregano is in full bloom.  The bees love the purple flowers!  It could be cut and dried now, but I love the flowers and will wait until fall.  Harvest and preserve your herbs

Lettuce gone to seed

I fertilized all the pots again as well as some of the veggies in the garden.  It is good to fertilize pots biweekly and garden plants monthly during the growing season to give them the nutrition they need to produce well. Summer garden tips

  

Most of my typical lettuce has gone to seed.  When you see the white fuzzies, they are ready to remove the seeds.  I just pull the seed heads, break apart, put in a ziplock freezer bag, label with type and date, and store in the refrigerator.  It is time to get more seedlings going for the fall harvests.  Never ending salad from one packet of seeds  Seed saving-fun, easy and a cost saver

In the greens department, summer is a hard time for most greens.  Sprouting broccoli, different types of sorrel, arugula, dandelion greens, orach, amaranth, chard and herbs are all available.  The heat increases the sharpness of most greens.  Succession planting of lettuce and planting types that are resistant to bolting can keep your lettuce crop going.  Plant them in the coolest part of the yard where they are not in full sun all day and get shade in the afternoon.  Pots are a good option to be able to move them to the cooler part of the yard.  The greens that do not get bitter that I grow for summer salads are sprouting broccoli, New Zealand spinach, Red Malabar spinach, orach and amaranth.  Giant Blue Feather lettuce is not too sharp in taste and is a prolific self-seeder.  Growing summer salads  Bolt-free, sweet summer lettuces

I am not growing zucchini this year.  They produce more than we can eat at once.  You can use it as a substitute for pasta or lasagna.  You can also dry them to use in soups or roasts over the winter.  What to do with all that zucchini?!

I am growing Trombetta squash which can be used either as a summer or winter squash.  It is much less susceptible to diseases and it does not over produce.  It's the summer squash I am growing every year now.  I am also growing a few winter squashes-Mashed Potato, Warsaw spaghetti and Jarrahdale.  So far, I have not seen a squash that looks like Mashed Potato or Warsaw spaghetti but a ton that look like butternut squash.  Maybe the seed packet had the wrong the seeds in them?  I can use the butternut squash for pumpkin bread and pie so it's fine to have it instead.

The Blauhilde purple snap beans are producing a few each day.  The 1500 Year Old has not produced any beans yet.  These vines are lush and green.  The winged bean plant in the pot is producing beans, too.  I harvest from these three every few days and snap and freeze them.  I never saw the lima bean vines, Christmas Speckles, flower but there are many pods on the vines.  These pods you let go brown on the vine and then harvest.  Their foliage was a little on the yellow side so I gave them a side dressing of alfalfa meal for nitrogen boost.

The annual flowers are really rocking in the garden right now.  The daylilies, marigolds, zinnias, and celosias are doing extremely well this summer.  They attract all kinds of beautiful butterflies and moths as well as bees.  I love watching all the bees and butterflies that are visiting the garden.  

Summer garden is in full swing!

Tomato season is here!

Saturday, July 20, 2024

 

In our garden, the Fourth of July marks the beginning of tomato season.  This is when the first tomatoes are ripe.  Time for BLT's, juicy burgers, tomato cucumber salads and many more dishes that ripe tomatoes shine!

I always look forward to the Fourth of July in the edible garden as that is when I can bank on tomatoes being ripe.  If I'm lucky and started early ripening or cherry tomatoes, I will get a few before the holiday, but after the Fourth, I can count on ripe tomatoes daily all the way through the first killing frost.  

Key to on-going tomatoes is some basic maintenance, harvesting regularly and keeping an eye out for pests or disease.

Tomatoes are native to Mexico so a little dryness doesn't hurt them; some feel that keeping them no the dryer side enhances the flavor of the tomatoes.  Too much water can cause rot and disease.  If Mother Nature doesn't provide the inch of rain, I use a soaker hose to give the bed a good watering.    I make sure they get an inch of water each week, to not get the foliage wet when watering and to water in the morning to ensure that the foliage drys during the day.

Some think if a little water is good, a lot of water is better.   Not so with the tomato plant.  They are susceptible to fungal diseases which love moisture.  Too much water will also leach out nutrients like calcium from the soil, causing "blossom end rot" which is a rotten spot on the bottom of the tomato.  Lastly, overwatering can cause tomatoes to be tasteless and to crack, inviting rot in the cracks.

I fertilize with an organic dry fertilizer that I put under the mulch at planting, at first flowering and then monthly.  If not mulching, dig the fertilizer into the soil.  I use a fertilizer for tomatoes which provides the balance needed for all fruiting vegetables.  Some think that if a little fertilizer is good, more is better.  Not so.  If you over fertilize, you can end up with a huge bushy plant that produces no fruits.  If you see that the leaves on your plant are turning yellow, you can use a water soluble fertilizer like Alaskan fish fertilizer that you mix in with water and water the plant.

A plant will do its best to produce fruits to ensure that there will be more tomato plants in the future.  If you pick the fruits, it will stimulate the plant to make more fruits.  And a plant can only support so many fruits at once.  Harvesting often will keep the tomatoes coming!

I have found harvesting when the tomatoes just start turning red keeps the raccoons and birds from eating them before I can pick them.  I just put them on the counter where they get some sun and they are fully ripe in a day or two.

If I get more tomatoes than we can eat, I slice and freeze the extras.  Come fall, I will can all the frozen tomatoes from last year into sauce and any from this year that I don't think we will need for winter and spring cooking.  I have found that I don't need to blanch tomatoes or peppers before freezing.  I slice what is ripe that day and put in a freezer bag in the freezer with what it is and the year.  When I have a full bag, I move to the upright freezer.

Since tomatoes are susceptible to fungal diseases, many recommend that you put some kind of mulch around your tomato plants so dirt and fungal spores don't splash up onto your plants.  I prune any leaves with spots on them.  If they did have an infection on them, it keeps many diseases from spreading to the rest of the plant.  Any leaves that may have disease should be put into the trash and not composted.

The only pests I have with my tomatoes that cause any issues are birds that peck on the ripe fruits, raccoons that ferret away ripe fruits, hornworms that will quickly eat every leaf on your plant and voles that dig holes through the roots of plants and eat roots they like.  This causes my plants to wilt and the leaves to yellow.  They seem to recover on their own over time if I hand water them every few days to allow the roots to regrow.  I have tried vole vibration deterrents and it may have helped but not eliminate them.  I read that they don't like coffee so I am trying putting my coffee grounds around the garden and in any holes I dig up.  Fingers crossed!

For hornworms, I look at the leaves of my pepper and tomato plants.  When it looks like something has been wolfing down the leaves, I inspect for the large green hornworms, both on the stems and leaves as well as the undersides of the leaves.  If you find any, check back over the next few days for any you might have missed. 

Some gardeners see their production go down over the summer.  My plants usually produce until the first killing frost.  If you want to hedge your bets, you can start seeds or buy transplants now.  They will start producing faster planting now than in spring since there is much more sunlight and warmth now than spring.

Culinary kitchen herb garden

 

Saturday, July 13, 2024

If you are just starting gardening, an herb garden is a great place to start.  Most common herbs are perennials and do well being neglected.  Want full bodied flavor in your cooking on the cheap-just add fresh herbs.  What can be better than that!

Now, you just have to decide what type of herb garden to you want?  It could be a medicinal herb garden, a fragrant herb garden, a Victorian herb garden, a French herb garden, a culinary herb garden, and the choices go on.

So, what are the herbs you should start with?  A basic culinary herb garden would include parsley, basil, chives, French tarragon, sorrel, sage, dill, oregano/marjoram, and thyme. 

Of these, parsley, basil and dill are annuals, the rest are perennials.  With perennials, you plant once and you get to enjoy them for a lifetime.  Parsley and dill will likely “self sow”, meaning their seeds will sprout into a plant next year.  Basil does some self-sowing but you may have to replant each year when all danger of frost has passed.

You can pick up your herb plants at any big box store or for more fun varieties, go to your nearest nursery or for the more adventuresome, start unique varieties from seed.  Many catalog companies offer a wide variety of mail order plants.  There are many options out there.  I prefer getting my herb plants from a local organic nursery or trying new types from seed catalogues.  Right now, the big box stores are marking their edibles down so deals are out there.. 

You can buy an entire plant for less than the cost of one tiny bottle of dried herbs.  Herbs are easy to preserve; just dry them.  Cut the herbs back in mid summer and put in a paper bag.  Do not pack tightly, pack loosely so that the herbs do not mold.  Put in a warm, dry place out of direct sunlight if possible and a few weeks later you will be rewarded with enough herbs for your cooking and all your relatives for the entire year!   Make your own "Herbes de Provence"

To get varieties that even your nursery does not have, order seed.  I have phenomenal luck with the Aerogarden seed starter.  The germination rate is near 100% using it.  The best time to start new herbs is in the spring.  All plants are primed for growth in spring.  However, herbs will do fine being planted in summer.   Indoor seed starting tips

This time of year, I like to start my seeds in pots on the covered patio so I can keep a close eye on them to make sure the soil stays moist.  Soon, I will be starting seeds in pots to transplant in the garden for fall and winter harvests.  Just be sure to harden off your transplants before putting into the garden.  Once transplanted, give them extra water the first week or two if the temperatures are hot.  I like to transplant the day before they are forecasting rain.  Outdoor seed starting tips  

You can even make your own peat pots for your seeds.  Make your own peat pots  If you are really industrious, you can make your own potting soil and fertilizer!  Make your own organic potting soil  Make your own all natural, complete fertilizer

Most herbs like full sun and dry feet.  Too much water is about the only thing that will kill an herb plant.  I plant mine amongst the flowers and near the back door for optimum convenience for cooking.  You can also grow in pots if you like and put right at the door!

Plant your edible garden in the shade

Vegetable garden in shade

Sunday, July 7, 2024

You may think that your shady yard can't grow any vegetables or herbs.  You may be surprised to learn that you can grow many veggies and herbs in shade.  They will not be as lush or full, but they will produce and some will appreciate the cool shade on hot summer days.

Veggies you can grow in the shade: greens, chard, kale, lettuce, spinach, celery, peas, beans, beets, radishes, turnips, endive, french sorrel, leeks, radicchio, purslane, pac choi, carrots, potatoes, scallions, mustard greens, cultivated dandelions, corn salad, chickweed   

Herbs for shade: mint, chervil, oregano, chives, cilantro, golden marjoram, lemon balm, parsley

I have grown green beans, snow peas, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and eggplant in a shady part of the garden that gets direct sun just in the afternoon.  They don't produce heavily, but it is enough for us to eat and put away for winter.  We cut the limbs on the trees up about 10 feet to allow dappled sun to come through in the morning.  Any variety that has been bred for greenhouses are great options for trying in the shadier parts of your yard.

My thyme, mint and Egyptian walking onions thrive in our shady garden bed so don't rule out herbs.

Remember that you will have sun in the spring under deciduous trees until they leaf out and in fall after the leaves have fallen.  Cold crops that do well in cool temperatures of spring and fall include lettuce, kale, broccoli, cabbage, radishes, turnips, peas, beets.  Choose crops that have the shortest time to harvest and plant as early as the seed packet instructs to get your crop up and ready to harvest before the shade overtakes the garden spot in the spring.

I always thought you had to have your garden in full sun pretty much all day to be able to grow vegetables.  This isn't the case.  If you can give them some sun or dappled shade, it will be a boost to yields and you can grow almost any vegetable.

Kitchen garden with flowers in front

Watch how the sun travels through your yard and don't forget about your front yard!  You can grow herbs and vegetables interspersed with flowers for a beautiful "flower" bed.  If you have an elevated deck that gets sun, use pots.  There are many varieties today bred specifically to be compact and do well in pots.   Decorative container gardening for edibles

Here is a listing of crops you can grow  in your garden by hours of sunlight:

2-3 hours of sun:  Anise hyssop, Asian greens, chives, cilantro, kale, lemon balm, lettuce, marjoram, mesclun greens, mint, mustard greens, oregano, parsley, scallions, shiso, spicebush, spinach, sweet woodruff, wild ginger
4 hours of sun:  Alpine strawberries, arugula, soybeans, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, beans, peas, rosemary, basil, radishes, Swiss chard, carrots, beets

5 hours of sun:  blueberries, grapes, apple trees, micro greens, potatoes, celery, green onions, turnips

You can get more sun than you think by trimming tree limbs up to allow morning or evening sun in.  You can also use light colored mulch or even the high dollar metallic mulch to have more sunlight reflect up onto the plants.  Another approach would be to spray paint what the plants back up to with metallic paint or place a piece of metallic painted plywood behind your plants.

Another thing to keep in mind is when the leaves are off the trees.  There are many cool season crops that will do great in the chilly seasons like winter, spring and fall.  Overwintering crops are another winner for planting in the shade of late summer that will then have the benefit of late fall, winter and early spring sun.  For more on cool season crops for fall and winter, Fall garden planning and planting and Time to set out transplants for fall, winter, & spring harvests.  For spring any that are planted before your first frost date are the cold hardy ones Indoor sowing/outdoor planting dates.

Crops that thrive in spring will appreciate shade and dappled shade during the heat of summer. These include lettuce, spinach, kale, chard, sprouting broccoli, and cilantro which bolt (go to flower) at the first sign of heat.  It is that bolting time of year.....  If you can plant them in a shady spot or move the pot they are planted in to shade as temperatures rise, you will be able to extend the season of harvest before they go to flower.

Don't let a little shade keep you from trying your hand at an edible garden.  The harvest may not be as much for the summer lovers like tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, peppers, and eggplant, but you can have a nice kitchen garden.

What to plant in July's edible garden

Onion, oregano, lemon balm and zinnia in July garden

Saturday, July 6, 2024

You can still plant for summer harvests, but July is also the month to start planting for fall harvests.  It may seem crazy to be sowing seeds in July for your fall and winter garden, but it is the time to do so.  Everything you can grow for spring, you can grow for fall.  For winter harvests, look for cold hardy varieties.  

The trick to harvesting all fall and winter is to have your veggies to full size by mid-October.  With the shorter days of late fall and winter, your plants will not grow much after mid-October through mid-February.  This means you start sowing seeds July-August for fall and winter harvests.

The change I make from spring to fall plantings is for spring, I plant those varieties that are heat tolerant.  In the fall, I plant those varieties that are cold tolerant to extend the harvest as long as possible into winter.  Depending on the severity of the winter, many cold tolerant varieties revive in the spring and provide a really early, nice harvest surprise.

Because daylight hours are getting shorter in the fall, you will need to add about 2 weeks to the “Days to Harvest” your seed packet gives as the seed packet dates are based on spring planting.  Plants grow slower in fall because the days are getting shorter instead of longer and steadily cooler.  Frost date look up

Just like in spring, seeds have to be kept moist to sprout.  You can also plant the seeds in peat pots or you can reuse the plastic annual trays you got in the spring.  You can put the plastic trays in a water catch pan, find a shady spot convenient for watering, fill with seed starting mix, sow your seeds and keep moist until sprouted.  When the seedlings get their true leaves on them (second set), they are ready to transplant into the garden or a larger pot.  In hot temperatures, I transplant to a larger pot and let them get to a good size and transplant into the garden bed when it is calling for rain.  I will keep an eye on them after transplanting and water as they need it.  Peat pots require daily watering in summer months because the pots are so porous. 

Summer seedlings

There are some veggies that the temps are too high outdoors to germinate in our Zone 7, like lettuce.  These you will have to start inside or on the cool side of the house in the shade.  Lettuce has a hard time with germination with soil temps above 70.  

Indoor seed starting tips

Ideal soil temperatures for seed starting

You can also plant a second crop of summer veggies and herbs early in the month to keep the harvests strong through October.  Look for varieties that have short "days to harvest" or purchase transplants.  Summer lovers with quick harvest times include basil, beans, corn, tomatoes, and zucchini.

July-Seeds or Transplants

Asian greens (pak choi, tat-soi) Fall and winter greens

Basil  Basil basics-harvesting, preserving, growing basil

Beets All about beautiful beets

Broccoli  Broccoli and cauliflower growing tips

Brussel sprouts  Growing Brussel sprouts

Bush beans  Growing beans

Cabbage Cabbage is nutritious and easy to grow

Carrots All you need to know about growing carrots

Cauliflower

Celery  Give celery a try, an easy to grow garden staple

Chinese cabbage

Cilantro  Growing cilantro (coriander)

Collard greens Grow a southern favorite-collards 

Corn  Growing corn

Cucumber

Dill

Endive

Escarole

Fava beans Grow a European favorite-the fava or broad bean 

Frisee

Fennel Growing fennel

Kale  Grow one of the super greens this year-kale

Kohlrabi  Another spring veggie-kohlrabi

Leeks
Lettuce, heat tolerant varieties  Everything you need to know about growing lettuce

Mustard  Mustard greens

Onions  Everything to know about growing onions

Oregano

Parsley

Parsnips

Peas

Rutabagas

Salsify

Scallions

Summer squash

Swiss chard  For year round steamed greens, grow chard!

Spinach  Grow spinach-a super nutritious, easy green

Tomatoes  Tomatoes 101, everything you need to know to grow great tomatoes

Turnips  All about turnips

Zucchini  Growing zucchini and summer squash

If you don’t want to start seeds for fall harvests, some big box stores and local nurseries have begun to have fall planting veggies.   These typically come into stores in late September.  If none in your area do, there are many mail order seed companies that carry fall bedding plants.

Add self-seeding edibles and flowers to the garden

Zinnia and Egyptian walking onions

Sunday, June 30, 2024

An easy option for a plant once and be done are self-seeders.  These are plants that produce many seeds.  One trick to self-sowing is letting the seeds sprout before adding a thick layer of mulch in the spring which may dampen how many seedlings can push up through the mulch crust if put down before they have a chance to sprout.

There are many self-seeding vegetable and herbs.  Here are a few we are growing:

*Amaranth (Love Lies Bleeding)

*Arugula

*Basil

*Borage

*Calendula

*Celery

*Chamomile

*Chives and Garlic Chives

*Cilantro

*Cocks comb

*Cultivated dandelion greens

*Dill

*Hummingbird vine

*Lettuce

*Marigold

*Giant Leaf mustard

*Giant Red mustard

*Miner’s lettuce (claytonia)

*Morning glory

*Nasturtiums

*New Zealand spinach

*Egyptian walking onions

*Orach

*Peppers

*Purslane

*Red Malabar spinach

*Sorrel

*Spinach

*Squash

*Sunflowers

*Tomatoes

*Winter cress

*Zinnias

The trick to self-seeders is you have to let them go to seed in the garden.  That means leaving the brown flower heads on the plant or the dropped tomatoes on the ground so they can leave their seeds.

A risk is the spread of disease.  If you have any plant that was diseased, dispose of the plant in the trash and pull any volunteers that come up.

I have "volunteer" tomato plants that sprout every year, here and there.  They are easy to pop out of the ground and plant where you want them or leave them where they are.  I always let them grow because they must be happy and adapted to my garden conditions.  It is always a surprise to see what type of tomato it is.  

In the garden right now, the edible volunteers I have are Red Malabar spinach, New Zealand spinach, garlic chives, amaranth, orach, cock's comb, squash, peppers, tomatoes and zinnias that have filled the garden and pots.  Several fully mature volunteer basil plants.  I have moved basil, tomatoes, peppers and cock's combs around the garden in spots I want them to grow.  

  

A caution with growing self sowing plants is that they can self sow a little too well.  The only one on the above list that I would not let loose in my garden is the purslane.  I only let it grow in pots.  The rest are easy to pluck out the ones you don’t need.