Category Archives: Fall gardening

My favorite cilantro variety

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calypso cilantroCilantro is one of those herbs you wish could stay around a little longer. It’s great for the cooler weather but bolts and goes to seed as soon as the weather warms. Is there a variety that goes deeper into the summer? Up until this year I had little success lengthening the harvest into the summer months. I had experience with this variety from Cooks Garden this spring and summer. It called calypso. Besides being delicious, it made it’s way fairly well into the summer months. It eventually went to seed but it lasted about an extra 6 weeks, which is significant for us.

After direct seeding it came up within a week, was easy to grow, and tasted absolutely delicious! I’m pretty sure I’ve now found my go-to cilantro. You can click on the Cooks Garden icon in the sidebar to learn more about it. It looks like there’s some other happy calypso fans as well-check out the customer reviews.

I was able to sneak some calypso in two squares of my square foot garden for the winter. It’s doing very well and I can’t wait to use it through the winter. Spacing for cilantro in the square foot gardening method is one plant per square. The other great thing about cilantro is that it’s virtually pest free. I’m trying to remember the first time I had any problem with bugs and nothing comes to mind. If you’re a warm weather gardener and you love cilantro, you should try this. If you’re a cool weather gardener and love cilantro try this for the flavor alone. You won’t be disappointed.[ois skin=”1″]

My newly planted fall square foot garden

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fall garden 091315I’ve finished planting this 4X8′ square foot garden about 10 days ago. I can find seeds emerging in every square and in 6 weeks this will look very similar to my spring gardens. This particular box was planted to feed 4 people for a 6 week block of time. You can see that lettuce will be the first crop to be harvested. At about the same time will be spinach, chard, and mizuna. These are all easy to grow, they come up quickly, and they taste great. I think I’ve added some arugula in there. I found a variety that’s advertised as “much milder” than regular arugula so I’m giving it a try. All these make for a perfect mix-and-match mesclun salad. Add to this the cherry tomatoes that are still very productive and cucumbers and you’ve got something really good.

This weekend I continued planting for the winter garden. Over the course of the next 6 weeks I’ll be done with that. It takes a bit of planning but with the right crops, the right planting dates, and a layer of plastic and floating row cover you can easily enjoy fresh produce and veggies all winter long. At least, that’s the goal. We’ve got a few extra people living with us so we might run out a little earlier than we have in the past. Thats okay, it will be deep into the winter months if/when that happens. [ois skin=”1″]

Planting your fall square foot garden

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kale 090715I’ve been working pretty hard the last 2 weeks in the last effort to plant for fall and winter.  Today I planted 200 carrot seeds which will take us through the spring. Why that many?  Because that’s the amount our family will use though the winter months.  Certified Square Foot Gardening instructors always stress the point that you only grow what you need, what your family eats, and nothing more.

My fall garden is just about all planted now.  I’m waiting on one specialty packet of arugula seeds to finish.  This particular variety grows quickly-like most arugula plants do-but it’s got a milder pepper flavor.  That’s how it’s advertised.  We’ll see if that’s accurate.  In the meantime, I’ve just got a couple of square open for radishes(30 days till harvest), and a couple more for lettuce.  Combined with my huge bounty of cherry tomatoes, chard, spinach, and cucumbers, we are set to have a fantastic fall season of salads.  I’m trying not to boast but nobody can beat the taste of the lettuces I grow.  It’s more than just the varieties, although I think that’s important.  I think the soil is the other very important factor.

All my crops are grown in homemade compost made for free with items coming out of the kitchen and yard.  I have no weeds.  I use no commercial fertilizer.  I have no pests.  I have no use for chemicals of any kind.  Everything is watered just the right amount and harvested at the right time of day.  If you don’t have a garden you’re really missing out on some of the most tasty things in life.  You can beat any farm, CSA, or farmers market by growing lettuce yourself once you learn how.  Last night we had family over for margherita pizza on the grill, cheese bread, and salad.  This particular salad was Paris Cos, pepper jack cheese, homemade croutons, craisins, sunflower seeds, candied walnuts, cucumbers(the best ever!), and my cherry tomatoes(which taste like pure sugar!).  I combined blue cheese and poppy seed for the dressing.  Our guests raved.  So simple.  So good.  Done for pennies.  All from a trip to your garden.

This picture is a kale variety.  I initially ordered winterbor but the seed company was out for the entire year.  The substitute they sent me was starbor, and I’m not sure I’ll grow any other kale variety in the future.  It performed very well with heavy yields and excellent taste.  And it was magic through the hot summer months of July and August[ois skin=”1″]

Fall square foot gardens

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muirThis is a great time of year to begin direct seeding your lettuce. All the things that loved the spring season can be done one more time before the gardening year ends-at least for those living in zones 4-7. Lettuce, radishes, chard, spinach, arugula, bok choi, and cilantro are some of the things that can be started right now. But, don’t wait too much longer!

Why don’t you try a variety of lettuces this fall? I’ll be planting 8 or so varieties that all taste and look different. The fall gardner is one of the easiest and rewarding to grow-the pests are leaving, temperatures are cooling, and we get more rain to lessen our workload in the garden. If you have a brussel sprout transplant now would be the time to put that it too. It’s got to be a pretty good sized transplant but you’ll be rewarded with some delicious treats come the end of October or mid-November.

I’ll be hosting a guest post shortly on the topic of pest management. Keep an eye out and tell me what you think about some of the ideas.[ois skin=”1″]

Thinking fall in your square foot garden

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cherokee and concept lettuceI say square foot garden but it could be any garden. This is the perfect time to put in your entire fall crop. Everything planted now will be harvested by mid to late October-and you’ll be so glad you attempted to grow during this season. Because it’s been a long summer of pulling weeds, watering, etc. many gardeners think about ending their growing season around the Labor Day weekend. It’s the official end of summer and things are winding down.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact for me, this is coming up on the best time of year to garden. Why? First, most of the pests have headed south or will be soon. Second, the season usually gives us water from Mother Nature so this cuts back on your watering time. Third, all the great crops of spring are now back!

In the next couple of weeks I will be emptying squares and replanting with the following crops: lettuce, spinach, red ace beets(for the greens), arugula, bok choi, carrots(for winter as well), leeks(for winter), swiss chard, radishes, tokyo bekana, and mizuna. Some of these will be harvested at once but others will be left to continue through the winter months. And there’s a whole other bunch of fun crops that can be planted in a few weeks that do best during the winter months. More on that later.

I hope you give the fall garden a try. You’ll find it’s a lot easier and a lot less work than spring and summer gardening. When you harvest your first head of lettuce along with some spinach and swiss chard for an evening salad you’ll be so glad you did[ois skin=”1″]