Planting for Fall Harvest and a Winner!
by Rachel Tayse • August 24, 2010 • Gardening & Pets • 8 Comments
One of the pleasures of living in Ohio on a small plot of land is that succession planting is relatively easy. Succession planting, or seeding crops right after another, extends your growing season from the same plot of land. It works very well if you fill the space from a plant gone by with a new one that will succeed in the coming weather conditions.
We’re a little under two months away from the frost free date here in central Ohio. Vegetables that can be planted now must either mature in 50-60 days or be cold hearty enough to tolerate a little frost. Here are some suggestions:
- Carrots – plant now and harvest throughout the winter as they get sweeter with age in the ground
- Radishes – many varieties mature quickly. We’re trying daikon this fall.
- Beets and Turnips- mildly frost tolerant
- Swiss Chard and Kale – greens that will keep producing all winter under a cold frame and tolerate frost without a cold frame
- Lettuces and Spinach – harmed by frost but many mature in under 60 days, check your seed packet
When my broccoli, kale, and potatoes were picked, I planted a variety of these quick maturing veggies in their places. I reseeded my lettuce containers last week too. With some help from the weather we will enjoy home grown produce for months to come.
Have you planted anything for autumn harvests?
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Thanks to everyone who entered the Made by Hand giveaway! There were lots of great ideas. Ultimately I chose ‘Book Hounds’, the entry first mentioned by Lisa because it is short and sweet. Now I just need to get the dogs to pose with some books for a little logo. Lisa, look for an email so I can send you your prizes!
This post was added to Sustainable Eat’s Simple Lives Thursday.
I have a big really sunny front yard. I didn’t realize chard was frost tolerant. I may rip up a little landscaping and try this.
How about a post on indoor pot gardening during winter?
Will do, though I am a much better outdoor gardener than indoor.
Our next planting of lettuce(s) is coming up now. I’m going to try getting carrots and possibly radishes in at the end of the week. I’m having a tough time remembering it is already the end of August!
Fall planting really sneaks up on us because we’re processing so many other vegetables right now. It’s too easy to think we have enough. But come late fall, I’ll be glad I planted now.
We are up to our eyeballs in tomatoes.We are canning and drying. If my husband can stop snacking on the dried ones we just might have some left for the rest of the year.
Our pumpkin patch is alive and well. We have jack-o-lantern and pie pumpkins, butternut squash, and something else but I can’t seem to recall what it is.
We plan to plant carrots, lettuces and chards this week.
This is the first year that we have had a proper garden and so far it has been a great experience.
I can’t believe we are thinking about fall already! It feels like summer has just begun. In what kind of dishes can you use kale?
I planted lettuce and spinach again and hope to harvest some before we get a hard frost. I will cover them, but here in North Dakota a second crop will depend on a nice long fall. I figure it is worth a try.
Sounds like you have a nice second harvest.
-Brenda
Awesome! I do always lose my chard to mildew by early fall but I know others who overweather in a green house or under a grow tunnel. I keep forgetting to plant more lettuce – thanks for the reminder! And thanks so much for linking in to Simple Lives Thursday – I’m loving following everyone!