Well, it’s that time of year for us southern gardeners to plant our fall crops. Because of the extended warmth here, you can almost duplicate your spring plantings for this season.
If you started tomato plants last month, now is the time to transplant them. Although some people will claim that you can prune back your tomato plants from spring and get a second harvest, I’ve tried this here, and they grow quite nicely, but never set. So, my advice is to just start anew. I’m not planning on planting any fall tomatoes, as I want to get a good load of horse poo in those beds for spring.
My concentration this fall will be beans, greens, winter squash and members of the onion family, primarily bunching onions.
For beans, I will be planting bush beans in three separate beds, separating them by two weeks in between plantings. Rows will be 6″ apart with plants being 4″ apart in the rows. I have the first bed planted and managed about four rows in my four-foot-square beds. With each bed, I’ll water it in the morning, around noon and in the evening, just before dusk until the first sprouts emerge, then I’ll cut the watering down to morning and mid-day until they are well-established.
For greens, I’ve planted Swiss chard, collards, and multiple types of leaf lettuce, in addition to starting head lettuce and cabbage in my growing bins in the garage. I’ll transplant the head plants after they establish themselves. Down here, greens are somewhat sensitive to the heat, so I’m keeping the beds moist, but not saturated, until the cooler weather sets in. I’m not to worried about critters getting in my beds as I have two heavy-producing pecan trees which are keeping them busy. PLUS, I heard an owl in the front yard yesterday morning, so I might be putting up an owl house to see if I can keep them around.
For onions, I’ve already planted bunching green onions and I just received my box of seed garlic, which will supplement the box of elephant garlic my mom sent me last month. I’m planting garlic heavy this year and will leave some of the beds alone once the tops die off, letting those get established. I may leave them all alone for a year, but we’ll see. I’m also going to try and plant some sweet onions for the fall and see what happens.
The squash I’ve started in the growing bins and will transplant after I’ve hardened them off. Hopefully the vine borers will not be trashing my plants this go round. I’m talking to the local organic garden center and hoping their advice will pay out.
