Planting Now for a Fall Harvest

I have a difficult time thinking about planting more seeds when the garden is in full swing. There are new potatoes, carrots, beets, Swiss chard, snow peas, onions, broccoli, and more that need to be harvested for fresh eating and preserving for the cold months. Who wants to hoe up a new row to plant more seeds now, when the temps are in the high 80's (or 90's)?

Well, I wasn't feeling much like preparing a spot for planting today, but I'm already a week behind schedule for planting rutabagas for fall harvest. So I hitched up my shorts and got busy :)

I also wanted to direct seed some broccoli for a late harvest, so those little seeds went into their new spot too. I've harvested fresh broccoli for stir fry and side dishes for the last 2 or 3 weeks and it has tasted sooooo good! But when I cut 2 more heads that were ready today and did a quick check, I realized that there is only 1 head left. Drat! There will be a few side shoots, but they aren't coming in real fast and furious, so that fall broccoli will taste great in September.

Another crop of broccoli will be very welcome in the fall.

More seeds to plant for the fall.

 I will have more fall crops to sow over the next month. Carrots, beets and peas will be planted next week with turnips going in the following week (if I can find any seeds for sale, and room to plant them). In August there will be lettuce, spinach and radishes to sow.

To determine planting times for your area, count back from your average first frost date in the fall. Check with your Extension office if you aren't sure when that is. Rutabagas mature in 100 days, broccoli in 50 to 80 days, carrots, beets and peas take around 60 to 70 days, and lettuce and spinach need around 45 to 50 days. These are approximate days to maturity...check the seed packet for more accurate information. Remember that you want to be able to harvest some crops over a period of time, such as peas and lettuce, for fresh use. So leave plenty of time for an extended harvest before frost kills your plants.

Now is also the time to start making your plans for building a cold frame for keeping some of those lovely fall lettuces fresh and ready to eat well after frost settles in. I will have a cold frame set up in my little greenhouse this fall. See my post about setting up a cold frame within the greenhouse here...Cleaning Out My Little Greenhouse. The baby turkey 'fertilizer' should be rotted down to add some nitrogen to the soil by then! That little greenhouse has gotten a lot of use this year :)

As I worked in my garden today I did some more planning for later in the season. When my current row of broccoli is finished I will pull up the old roots to compost and then that spot will be open for a new crop...I'm thinking about root crops.

Only one head left to harvest.

There is some nice looking kale that will last well into the winter. I like the variety Red Russian best...although I'd like to try a few more varieties next year. More kale will be sown in the greenhouse along with the lettuce, to keep even longer.

The kale needs to be thinned out a bit.

It looks like we'll have a ton of Brussels Sprouts this fall. They keep late into the year too, and I love them sauteed in olive oil. So we should have greens well into winter to eat along with all of our stored veggies in the cellar, freezer, and shelves of canned goods.

Brussels Sprouts going strong.

All this planning was making my mind whirl, so I took some time out to harvest veggies and clean them up.

Veggies for dinner.

Tom cooked broccoli, snow peas, carrots and Swiss chard in a stir fry with locally grown pork for dinner...yum! We also have beets ready for dinner tomorrow.


Have you started planting your fall crops yet?

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