Is it too soon to start planning your fall garden? It's mid-summer for crying out loud!
The answer is NO. June is the perfect time to start planning what varieties you want to grow in the fall so that you have time to source seeds and supplies. End of July and August is when we are going to start getting some of these cool season crops in the ground. I know it seems early, but vegetables take time to grow. If you think about, we are in end-of-June now and if you followed along on the blog, you’ll remember we planted our seeds in January/February and we are JUST now starting to harvest within the last month or so. That’s 5-6 months of growing these plants had to do before they were big enough to produce. So even though it seems like we should be able to sit back and enjoy the summer garden, HAHA no it’s time to do it all over again. But that’s the fun of it! It’s time to dream and plan on what you want to plant. It’s too hot to be out fiddling in the garden anyways so why not enjoy the cool air conditioning with a seed catalog.
If your garden looks anything like mine right now, it’s ready for a change. With the extreme heat and rain, pests and diseases are thriving (no matter how much organic control I try to do). It’s just too darn hot y’all.
I know I bombarded y’all with a lot of information just then, so let me try to break it down for you.
Do you want to grow more warm season vegetables this fall?
Are you thinking, man I want even more tomatoes and peppers because I didn’t harvest enough this spring and summer. Well, if this is you, NOW is the time to plant your seeds for tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and eggplants because you will need to transplant them out in 4-6 weeks and they will need a few months after that to grow big. So you are looking at potential end of October/November harvest dates. For variety recommendations in zone 9: Park’s Whopper/Creole/Supersweet 100 tomatoes, King Arthur/Aristostle bell peppers, Jedi Jalapenos, Dasher II/Marketmore cucumbers, and Black Beauty eggplant. If you are starting from seed or buying transplants, you can’t go wrong with those varieties in our area.
Do you want to grow cool season vegetables this fall?
Have you been harvesting cucumbers and tomatoes up to your ears and are ready for a switch up? Then you need to start planning for those cooler season vegetables such as cabbage, broccoli, brussels sprout, cauliflowers, turnips, carrots, beets, garlic, and greens. If you continue following along, we will start some seeds end of July. So start ordering those cool season seeds now and your seed starting soil, too. I recommend using the brand Black Gold for seed starting mix. Because once end-of-July comes, it will be time to start planting! Also, start thinking about where you are going to source your seed garlic. September will be here before you know it and you will have forgotten to order the seed garlic (Don’t look at me, I’ve NEVER done that before….wink wink).
Do you want to harvest pumpkins come Halloween?
If you are gardening zone 9, now is the time to plant pumpkin seeds. From the research I’ve done, most people say you can direct sow them in your garden from now until mid July for a fall harvest. This year is the first I am going to try to grow my own pumpkins. In years past, I have not been willing to sacrifice the square footage that pumpkins require. But I was scrolling the Botanical Interests seeds and I saw a dark midnight green pumpkin variety called Black Kat and I just had to buy the seeds. I cannot wait for it to arrive so I can get those seeds in the ground. I picture my front door decorated for Halloween with beautiful dark green pumpkins. And of course we would use them in recipes after the holidays are over. Here’s to hoping!
If you are interested in growing pumpkins alongside me, please check out these Black Kat seeds from Botanical Interests.
I would love it if you comment what varieties you are growing this fall.
Let’s get growing together!