Zone 5 "Fall" gardening

[Thystle]

OK so we have had ALOT of freak weather here and many people have lost their summer gardens.


It's getting close to the time to plant for a "fall" garden.





Is anyone else doing this? What are you planning on planting?

[Teenytoona]

I think I'm going to plant alot of greens. Kale, mustard, spinach... I didn't do too hot with them earlier. Perhaps fall will work out best for me?

[Thystle]

I am going to reattempt some cukes to see if I get any this time.

[KariM]

We had planned some fall plantings, but won't be able to this year. We still haven't harvested our summer crops!

Our peas and beans are still in the flowering stage and we'd need those beds cleared to plant our fall crops.

[Jenn_M]

I'm starting to plan now. DH is going to make my smaller garden bed into a hoophouse so that I can extend our season a bit.

I'm in Central Iowa and it feels like fall today!

[maplesugar]

I plan on planting lettuce, spinach, carrots, kale, and maybe some snap peas or snow peas. And more turnips. I already planted a second crop of lettuce a few days ago. These are all things that could be covered after frost to extend their life.

[Owen'nZoe]

I'll be doing just lettuce, turnips, radishes and daikon, some asian greens (I don't know what they are called - I got the seeds from my neighbor) and spinach here. I'm toying with using strawbales to extend the season.

Everything is in flats right now, and some of it is ready to transplant. Like some of you, I am waiting for summer and spring crops that should be long done to finish up here. I'm still getting a decent amount of snap peas out of my spring planting since it has stayed so cool this summer! Until those finish up, I have no room for anything new.

[KariM]

You just gave me an idea! I hadn't thought about starting transplants since most of our fall crops are direct seeding sorts of plantings (beets, greens, lettuces, rutabagas, etc).

I might try starting some down under the grow lights and see about planting when the beans and peas are finally harvested!

[Literate]

Mother Earth News has a great "What to plant now" site: http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organ...Plant-Now.aspx -- go wild!

[Thystle]

Good link!

[GardenStream]

I just read the article in mother earth news and then came here and saw this thread. I think it's a sign that I need to start thinking about trying a fall garden this year.

I guess I should start by checking to see what seeds I still have. Once again, my lack of organization is going to come back and haunt me.

[naturemama1]

I just read the article in mother earth news and then came here and saw this thread. I think it's a sign that I need to start thinking about trying a fall garden this year.

Same here! I was just going to till a cover crop into the vegetable beds, but now I'm inspired to get a second food harvest going!