I planted green bush beans last Monday, and they are up and have their primary leaves! I love this two-season gardening thing! I planted a row of squash this morning, and as soon as it cools off a bit, I'll be planting spinach, lettuces, broccoli, and a few other cool-season crops. What are you putting in your fall garden?
Fall garden is easy for me. I just broadcast seeds by the handfull over half the small garden. Purple top turnips as well as japanese turnips. Mix all the lettuce together and do the same thing on the other half along with a few collards, broccoli, and something else but I forget what. Its always a surprise whatever I get. I do have my white melons that I am testing on another spot. Can`t wait to see if they reproduce the same. It was the best melon I have had in a while.
Mart, fall gardens are fun, aren't they! Would you share the name of the white melon you planted? Is it a watermelon type or perhaps more like a cantaloupe? Sounds interesting, and I'm always on the prowl for different things to put in the garden, now that we have a really BIG one and I have room for experiments.
I sure would give you the name if I knew what it was. This melon is one of my garden mysteries. I posted on it a while back. You see,, each year I save seeds from watermelons and cantaloupe and use them the next year. And I did the same this year. I planted a large row of cantaloupe from my saved seed. I was walking through the row when they were about half ready and I see something white. I thought that one of the dogs had stolen a kids softball and dropped it after through playing with it. But I moved a few of the leaves and it was a solid white melon. Baseball white! Have no idea where it came from. Just a fluke or a possible throwback to something? Have no idea. There were only two melons on this vine. Hubby was in the hospital when the first one ripened so I didn`t get a taste of it, but I did get the seeds. The second one I guarded with a milk crate over it so no critters could get at it. Hubby was still in the hospital but when it turned loose, I cut it even though it should have ripened another day or two. It had a cantaloupe/honeydew cross taste. But I did not plant honeydew in the same garden, and the ones I did plant died from the drought before making. I don`t even remember them blooming. I have checked and there are no C/H crosses that are white skinned. This melon started out smooth with faint ribs and at ripening it only had a very fine netting. Not heavy as a cantaloupe and was still creamy white. What got me was after I cut it I put it in tupperware and put it in the fridge. It stayed good and crisp for almost two weeks. Did not go bad or mealy like cantaloupe does after a few days. Best melon I ever had. Much better than a cantaloupe. Got all the seeds from the second melon too. Only planted three seeds to see if it reproduces the same melon. Hope the weather holds till it makes and we will see.
I planted bush beans around the 15th of July during our rainy season. You can plant them through August 1st here. Any later and frost will probably get them. I started harvesting this week. I also planted late cantaloupes and sugar baby watermelon the first week in July. I've started picking late cantaloupes but the watermelon will be another three weeks I think. Fall garden (cool crops) I've planted Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, spinach, snap peas, collards, bok choy, lettuce, radish, bunching onions, leeks, fennel, parsley and carrots. I planted swiss chard too but procrastinated on setting the bird cages on it and the birds got most of it. So, I'll be replanting that and some beets this week. I planted cilantro too but I'm not seeing anything yet. It should be up so I'll try once more. Next month I'll plant some kohlrabi and onion seeds. This year I tried bulbing onion from transplants and they were good but the most expensive onions I've ever eaten. I've been inspired to grow them from seed. It was a trick finding short day onion seed but I got some. I really enjoy the fall garden. I think it's Mother Nature's way of making up for the miserable 100 degree heat, misquotes and gnats and the plant pests. There's much less work to do and a joy to do it in the cool weather. I can even water my garden deeply, then forget it for several days if I want to take a short trip to the big city.
OK,, you have my curiosity up. Onions,,expensive?? Are they the ones that are in bunches? Here we get a bunch of the sweets @ 75 for about $.99. I just bought the super sweet sets of 1015`s at $2.50 for one pound. That is about 200 sets. Surely yours are not planted individual onions?
This year one of my garden buddies ordered the onions. They came from a major onion farm catalog. My share cost me $11.00 for fifty plants. I'd call that pricey. I envy you being able to go buy bunches of transplants for .99. There's nothing like that available here. I've visited nurseries in the closest city, I've called around and hit all the big box garden centers. Nobody carries what we need. And, they think we are nuts. "It's too hot to grow bulb onions here," I keep being told. I think that's because most places ship their onions in late January or early February. That's really to late for me. My target date for planting transplants is January 10. This is one of those problems unique to desert gardening.
I sympathize with your difficulty in finding plants or bulbs at the right time. Have you tried feed stores? Our local feed store has transplants, onion starts, and seeds in bulk. I love that place!
Thats exactly what I was going to say. All my plants, seeds ect. I buy at the feed store or one of our local vegetable stands. The veg, stand has everything you want for spring planting. For fall I go to the feed store. If your target date is in Jan, I assume that is for spring. Do you plant that early because of the rain or lack of it ? When do you plant for fall? Most here plant around Sept.1, I am running a bit late but since our winter temps are fairly mild, time is not that critical for us. If I were in your shoes, I would start seeds on or around Nov 1. inside for a Jan. planting. They do not need sunlight to germinate. After they are up and going, put them on a sunny window sill. They would be ready when you are.
I'm planting fall veggies now and like you I started around September 1st. Bunching onions and leeks are already up. They'll be fine. Your notion of planting bulb onion seeds indoors Nov.1st makes some sense. I need to think about it more but it sounds like something I ought to try. I put transplants out around the 10th of January because the soil is warm enough here and I'm trying to beat the over 100 degree temperatures that can start as early as May. I can't handle that heat like I used to, so I try to be prepare ahead so that I don't have to be out in it any longer than necessary.
I was just wondering about your fall planting time because the sets are available now at my feed store. They are the 1015 super sweets. I could send you some if you like.
