ZONES 8-9 FALL/WINTER 2010

I'm going to do: Carrots, broccoli, cabbage, over summer my tomatoes for that fall crop, garlic, onions(gonna get them in right this time!), squash, and pumpkins are on the list and in the plans.

Steph,
Are you planting NEW carrot seeds or are those the ones you planted back in March? And, are you DSing or starting seeds for transplants?

The ones that I planted in March will be eaten soon. They are getting nice and big. I will start the new carrot crop in September. They will be direct seeded. I am getting the impression that carrots do not like being transplanted. I like to mix them with potting soil, broadcast them, and then cover with a fine layer of dirt.

Ok. Got it! I'm gonna start my cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower seeds inside and transplant out the end of August. Trying to keep the raggedy tomato plants alive long enough to take some cuttings. Probably should've taken 'em by now. This planting calendar does NOT wait, huh?

When's your target date to plant the onions (seeds? transplants?)

Onions and garlic will go in late Novemberish. I get cloves of garlic and teeny tiny onions at Wabash Feed (near I-10). I think it was $5 total for more onions than I could have ever hoped to grow and a couple of heads of garlic,. which eventually yielded about 24 garlic plants. But put them in a spot where you won't need the space for a while, because they weren't ready until late April/early May. I also put bone meal in the planting hole with both the onions and garlic.

Great info! I have a whole bag of bone meal ready to use!

I also just received onion seeds so I'll start them the 1st week of October and see what I can get for a plantout. How did your onions from Wabash turn out? I'm thinking I'll plant the onions in a not-too-deep Sterilite container. Portability is still my game!

The ones that made it where great. It was mostly the fault of the gardner that the rest of them didn't. I didn't get them in the ground on-time and they started sprouting in the bag, which is no bueno when they didn't get any water.

I sowed some eggplant seeds yesterday for the fall. I'm waiting for some rain to come to revive the garden!

I'm planning on planting more radishes, carrots, pole beans, bush beans, pumpkins, and maybe some squash. Oh! And the potatoes.

Gosh...mebbe I outta' go to a zone 6-7 thread, LOL. I won't be doing any wintering over tomatoes, as we get snow usually starting in December, but sometimes November. This year we had snow in May, so I guess zone numbers are not strict. Still, the low was only 17°, so that falls within the USDA zone 8, low temps 10°- 20°...

Foothills are not the same as flatlanders...more snow, and less frost, though when snow is on the ground it protects the tender plants. Sometimes it is a matter of drainage as well. When in poorly-drained soil, many plants usually go bye-bye.

Am I making any sense? I am trying to make sense of it all.....

This was the sunny day after the May 10th snowstorm....

This message was edited Jun 24, 2010 9:07 PM

wow.

Eggplant for fall? I thought they were heatlovers, I classed them with my peppers and okra. Mine are just beginning to flower.

Sigh. Maybe I got it wrong again, but I'm not telling _them_ :)

LOL - eggplant will produce until frost, at least here. And if you don't get frost like we didn't last year, you'll be eating eggplant at Christmas - lol.

Right along with the okra plum pudding?

Cat, for the fall you basically do a reverse planting of what you did for spring, so that the things you planted last for the spring, you plant first in the fall. It's also time to plant peppers, which is crazy because I'm just now getting buds on my spring peppers!

Hey Guys,
I'll be sharing all the helpful tools I can to make our Zone 8-9 journey together as successful as possible.

Consequently, regard the 1st post on this thread the same as you would a "sticky" on the Forum threads, and refer back periodically for links perinent to our combined growing effort.

Hugs!

Kelley,
Hope you don't mind being a sticky!

No problemo Miss Linda! Being a sticky has a nice ring to it, no?

Stephanie-I'm just wondering why you sow Eggplant seeds for fall? I put in my starter plants for eggplant and peppers in the Spring, once it has warmed up for good. They go all summer long and I actually get my best crop at the end of summer/beginning of fall. Too bad I don't like Eggplant but they are pretty. Just wondering.

Because my planting guide says I can. LOL Seriously! We didn't plant them this spring and the DH wants some, so we're doing it now.

I dunno yet....but I'm gettin' ready!

A 'Farm Truck' load of compost we picked up today. $40 - it's one front-loader scoop.

I see you made a visit to the farm today McP... I need to get out there really soon myself;o)

Nice new beds you got there!

Thanks Kelly. Yes, we trekked out to the farm early this morning. We'll unload the truck tomorrow morning. Just finished turning in buckets of llama poop to each bed. We are going to add a piece of redwood to the top of the pine that's there now. Just ascethetic more than anything.

They'll look great when you're done - I'm sure of it!

Still, in the summertime, I am definitely in zone 8 as it has been 80° for the last few days with only a low of 60°, just perfect for the tomatoes...however, the peppers have been very slow...they are not growing at all. I suppose I out to plant them out of their 6-packs anyways, it's either that, or buy some from the nursery, and if I don't even get a single pepper, I don't think I am ready to do that quite yet. I guess that I started them too late. (March...) I did not put them outside until the end of May when it finally warmed up. And now it will be warm until November or so...

Evelyn-I like your zone 8 temps much better then mine. 97* yesterday.

Well, of course, it is 80° in the shade...just don't do any work in the sun....90°++++!!

So yes, I think it is above 80° today, but I have not yet checked my thermometer...I am trying to think cool thoughts. I had to come in to get some iced tea and turn on the A/C in my room, as we do not have "whole house" cooling system...

I am trying to figure out what to plant next and where. I have a small nursery filled with my veggie seedlings as well as some mail-order perennials. I have prepared the place for them, but now it is even too hot to think about that, so I just need to cool off first. I need to plant some squash, beans, tomatillo and cilantro. The cilantro will go in with the peppers....and I have leftover tomatoes not yet planted out as well.

Ah, I will go right outside and take some more pictures...I have re-arranged the basil in their bed and then I had some leftovers, which I put in with the tomatoes. My hubby wanted a bed filled with basil, and now he has 30 plants in there. I just lined them up!

So here they are....grown in place, almost...

Hey, guys, I started a planting spreadsheet that includes what we've said we plan on planting. I'd like to flesh it out, so, if you wouldn't mind, please let the group here know when you plant out, and whether you DS or set seedlings.

Kelly reminded me I can post the spreadsheet for our group on Goggle docs so everyone can access it. When I get it uploaded, I'll put a link in our Sticky above.

Thanks!!

What I plan on planting and what I actually end up planting are 2 entirely different things!

Steph,
Looks lIke we're on the same schedule already!!

I don't think that's necessarily a good thing, Linda! LOL

Somehow I ended up with tons and tons of okra and butter bean seeds. So I'm still just planting those wherever I see an open spot. Too hot to think about ordering seeds to plant now for Thanksgiving...

Lady,
Careful the suppliers don't run outta your favorite varieties!

bump?

They finally fixed the A/C in my office, and it's colder than the north pole in here right now. Can you say, "cole crop seedlings?"

lol - our A/C in our office went out one day in the middle of summer. Can you say "got the rest of the day off"?!?!

OK, now it is in the 90's...happy? (I'm not!)

Plans for fall....

Cabbage
Broccoli
Carrots
Beets
(more) Lettuce (several varieties)
Turnips
Peas
Radishes

That's all I can think of right now...which ones should be started in containers now?

You can start your cabbage, broccoli, and lettuce in pots early and transplant. The others, where you eat the root, you need to direct sow. Peas don't like to be disturbed, so those are direct sow only.

I haven't really given it much thought, but off the top of my head, my plans are to plant:

bush beans (again)
pole beans
lettuces
cabbage
broccoli
pumpkin
potatoes
radishes
carrots
garlic
peas
spinach (maybe)

I may also plant some more cucumbers since mine seem to not be doing very well. :(

This message was edited Jun 29, 2010 8:53 AM

Kelly,
LOL - the A/C in our office went out LAST THURSDAY at noon! Can YOU say "got the rest of the day off"?!?!

Well, since I'm mimicking WINTER conditions in here with the new and improved A/C system (probably why the generator keeps going out, lately...), today I'm packing a 1/4 bale of my trusty coco coir (a breeze to work with on the fly and no messy hands!), one deep, clear plastic Sam's Club/Costco baby leaf spinach container, and a fistful of cabbage, broccoli and lettuce seeds!

Can you say, "Winter Sowing on the tall file cabinet in summer?" ^^_^^^^_^^

I'll post my progress to the spreadsheet. I uploaded it to Google docs already, but I think I'm gonna need ya'll email addies to give you access to the sheet. I'll check that out later.

Holler!