And We're Off!

I have to confess Spring is my most favorite time of year. It’s all the flowers. I just love, love, love spring. Butttttt, my second favorite season is Fall. The changing leaves, crisp air, and the sense of everything sleeping and waiting. I know of very few who don’t enjoy the cooler temperatures, Halloween costumes, and of course those turkey dinners. For me, it’s my chance to get in enough gardening to last me through the few cold months of winter when I can’t work outside.

Fall/Winter gardens are so much fun and totally different at McTier Family Farms than our Spring and Summer gardens. I get Spring fever and binge garden during those times, but in fall it’s on a much more intimate, smaller scale.

A lot of our gardening in Autumn is done in our raised beds, nothing nearly as large as summer. Raised beds are so much easier to maintain, especially for those of us who are getting a few years on us. Less space, controlled environment to some extent so lots less weeds and maintenance. Planting in raised beds of course limits what you can plant because you have a finite amount of space. This is usually my biggest problem. Although we don’t plant near the variety or quantity of the summer garden, there are still a lot of choices. As I have conveyed in a previous article, I am a seed addict. It’s so hard to choose just a few! But of course with Hannah and Troy offering their opinions, we narrow it down to the needed quantity.

Lettuce – Of course for me – the lettuce lady – lettuce is planted in the fall beds. Lettuce is sensitive to heat and, in fact, won’t germinate if directly seeded in soil above about 65 degrees. Since a large percentage of lettuce is water, it also wilts easily in high temps. So we have to plant inside in seeding trays to get it started and transplant to shady beds when we move them outside. I love lettuce so I always want to plant lots of different kinds. The butter crunches are the family favorite, but we enjoy the Romaine and leaf varieties as well. And you have to have some variegated types because they taste good as well as look pretty in your salad bowl. I sell my lettuce in mixed bags and it’s beautiful to see those different colored leaves packaged together. Choices, choices, choices! We finally decided on butter crunch, green Romaine, Magenta and Red Cross, as well as a Summer Glory Leaf lettuce mix. Lettuce is wonderful for the fall garden because it tolerates temperatures down to 32 degrees, in most cases.

Kale – I have never been a big fan of kale – in fact I avoided it to the extreme until Hannah said, “Mom, you really should try to grow some kale. It’s so much better fresh from the garden.” So, I did and my brainy daughter was correct. It’s much better fresh! Hannah is partial to dinosaur kale (Lacinato) and I like White Russian. We throw in a little curly kale because it’s pretty. Kale is one of those plants that loves the cold and tastes sweeter with exposure to lower temperatures. The plants can tolerate down to about 28 degrees with no damage.

Chard – I had, until recently, never given Chard much thought. I had in actuality, considered it more of a bedding plant. It does come in all those vibrant colors and is used so often in flower beds and containers. After speaking to several different people at the Farmers Market, we decided to give it a try. What beautiful plants! We originally tried the Bright Lights Swiss Chard so we could get a wide range of colors. It was a big hit at market so we continue to plant it now. This Fall, we are adding in some Peppermint Chard – a lovely pink, white and green - and a deep golden yellow called El Dorado. I’m excited to see how the newbies turn out. Chard is another one of those cool weather lovers and the plants thrive down to about 30 degrees.

Carrots – Love my baby carrots. They are always a winner because we can leave them in the ground until we are ready to eat them with the taste improving every day. One of my favorite baby carrots – the Romance variety – is in the ground and sprouting already. I have ordered Atlas carrot seeds – a round Parisian carrot – that has a faster seed to harvest rate – and resembles an orange radish in size. I’m interested to see how they turn out. There’s nothing like those sweet little carrots in a salad or stew. Carrots like those cool fall days and do well down to about freezing temperature.

Radish – Radish are fun to grow! That’s all there is to it. With a seed to harvest of 26 days, on average, you can practically watch them grow. There are so many varieties with a full range of colors from white and gold to pink and purple. Contrary to popular belief, all radishes are not hot and they are a tremendous addition to any salad (and don’t forget those pretty colors). We have planted an Easter Egg radish blend and will plant some Cherriettes and Sparklers in the next rotations. Because they mature so quickly, we plant a rotation every 10 to 14 days for an ongoing supply. Radish are really more partial to warmer temps, but because of the fast rate of growth, you can grow several crops here in the southern climes before the temperature drops too low to keep growing them.

Beets – to grow or not to grow? I have had some issues with growing beets in the past. Often times, they either don’t come up at all or they don’t form roots. I have tons of people – which is a real surprise to me – requesting I grow beets. So, once again, we planted. We went with rainbow beets and baby beets. Rainbow because Hannah wanted them – lol! – and baby because I am partial to the smaller varieties of vegetables, both because they are more tender and have a shorter seed to harvest time. One good thing about beets is, even if the roots don’t form well, the greens are yummy and sweet and a great addition to salads. Beets are another cold weather crop and grow well down to around freezing temps.

We have put in spring onions or scallions, but they will overwinter and we will start harvesting them in the spring. We will also be planting spinach when it cools off a bit more and garlic around the first of November. I have planted 45 Day cabbage, red cabbage and broccoli in the old summer garden, putting the seedlings in the space where our crookneck squash grew. A benefit of planting in established locations with an alternate crop is irrigation and mulching is still in place. And so we’re off…..

Here we grow again!!

#fall #lettuce #kale #chard #carrot #radish #beet #onion