Preparing for Fall in the Garden

Fall is on its way.

On Thursday I decided to go prepare my fall garden, even in our “extreme” drought/bordering on “exceptional” drought conditions.  I planted little rows of carrot seeds and lettuce seeds.  I watered them well, then covered the ground with plastic to try and hold the bit of moisture in.

Thursday night it poured rain!

We couldn’t believe it–all through the night.  It stopped mid day on Friday, so the boys and I went down to the market nursery.

We brought home kale and green and red cabbage.

The boys each worked on getting their own plants into the ground.

Gentle instructions along the way is all it took to remind them of the process of transplanting.

They simply exude pride in doing it the right way with their own hands.  I realized afterwards that it was a blessing to them for my hands to be holding on to the camera instead of taking over their jobs to make it “right.”

Our “square foot” plot of fall vegetables isn’t exactly square, but the boys were as proud as could be to show their plot to daddy when he got home.

And then it started raining–again!  It rained most of the day and night Saturday, and into the morning on Sunday.  I don’t know what the almost four inches of rain we got will do for the drought status of our county, but I do know it means good things for our fall garden.

As of this morning, the lettuce seeds have already sprouted!

Overwintered Beets

I planted beets in my hoop house in the early fall.  They grew for about a month until it got cold, they they stopped growing but just kind of hung out waiting for the next few months for it to warm back up again.  They have started growing pretty well again, and the leaves are bigger than any beets I’ve ever grown before.  (I have lot’s of gardening failures!)

The interesting thing is that the leaves that overwintered are a dark purple color and the new leaves are a bright green.  They are very interesting to look at.

The chard and kale did great in the hoop house–they might even survive fine out in the open–we’ve gone out and harvested a few leaves here and there as we need them and they just keep growing more.

The last thing I put in the ground last fall (outside the hoop house) was garlic.  Once in Salt Lake City I attended a community garden workshop all about hoop houses and fall gardening, and one of the presenters was a garlic farmer.  Just. Garlic.  But the interesting thing about garlic is that you plant in the fall and cover with mulch or leaves and it just starts growing automatically when it’s the perfect time and temperature–that is my kind of gardening.

Each clove you plant will grow a whole new bulb.

I’ve heard people talk about using the greens or “scapes” as they call them, like chives to give a fresh flavor to food.  Have you tried it?  My real question is does cutting the scapes to cook with stunt or halt the growth of the garlic, or can you cut them a few times and still harvest a large bulb of garlic?

This is one thing I love about gardening. . . There’s always something new to learn.

Hoop House Gardening

For the last few years I have been trying to successfully extend my gardening season beyond the normal summertime garden.

I still don’t know that “successfully” would be one of the words I would use to describe my results, but I have enjoyed myself and learned a lot.

The main method I’ve been working with is a hoop house. Since I only have one hoop house I practice my own version of compact planting, based on the spacing requirements of the Square Foot Garden method.

When we installed the plants it wasn’t cold enough to need the cover yet–I was trying to plant earlier than previous years for better success.

But the warmer weather meant I definitely had to keep it fenced, to keep out the domesticated chickens, as well as the wild bunnies and squirrels.

Work is good for children.  (But don’t be fooled into thinking this work wasn’t accompanied by pouting and grumbles.)

A month later the cover is on and the plants are growing happily.  At the bottom are little beet greens that I need to thin out.  Then going clockwise are two chard plants, little brussel sprouts cabbages, some purple kale, and the rest of the carrots we planted in the spring.  Those carrots did hardly a thing all summer but have loved the fall weather.

I planted some lettuce from seed and so far have 2 little sprouts of four leaves up–I’m not quite sure what the failure was there, but oh well.  Each year I learn a little more, and (hopefully) produce a little more food.

Baby Carrots

Wen we prepared our garden plot for fall gardening we had a few small carrots in the way. There were supposed to be more but they, um. . .didn’t make it.

The kids were so interested to pull those carrots out of the ground.

A little too fuzzy for you?

Cleaned up a little bit it’s irresistible.

There’s a pretty dense patch of carrots left that is growing well in the cool fall weather.  They’re supposed to sweeten up quite a bit when the nights start freezing–I’m interested to try.

The plot we cleared the stray carrots from now has little beets growing in it.  Fall gardening is still highly experimental for me, but this year is looking good so far.