Southwest hdq9/13/2023 Beets are highly nutritious and produce multiple crops. Here are a few favorite vegetables for Fall planting, each requiring around 60 days to harvest.īeets – Start beets from seed. Of course, an early hard frost can quickly change things. Some crops just seem to excel when planted for fall production. It’s not unusual to still be harvesting Fall crops for a Christmas meal. At many home vegetable gardens in the South, gardeners will stagger their planting in the Fall to extend the harvest season. The large majority of our community garden has been planted so we are in a growing and maintenance mode. Today in the Southwest HDQ Community Garden we’re hoping for a large Thanksgiving harvest of fresh organic produce. Will you be consuming, sharing, or donating the fruit of your labor? These questions along with the selection of your plants will help you plan the harvest. Typically, a vegetable harvest should be planned from the plate backwards. This is also a great time to add a layer of mulch that will help prevent weeds and increase your garden’s water retention. You can check numerous online resources that will help you pick the best plant varieties for your region of the country.Take extra caution to ensure your Fall transplants have plenty of water as the soil and other plants are currently competing for any trace of moisture. We’re targeting plant varieties with a relatively shorter maturity cycle. Currently, temperatures in North Texas are still in the 90s so we’re leaning this year towards more transplants and less seeds to get our Fall garden started. Ideally planting seeds should be delayed until temperatures moderate such as after a cool front. It can be helpful to soak larger seeds such as peas and beans overnight between two damp paper towels. ![]() It is usually more difficult this time of year to start seeds because of the hot dry weather. Some of the variables to consider are a late stubborn Summer that won’t depart, a Winter that is looming, and of course the amount of total sunlight that is diminishing daily. ![]() Make any irrigation adjustments you may need and you should be ready for your crop selection. Don’t add partially composted material as this will actually cost you valuable nitrogen as things decompose. Work the finished compost into your garden. Check the health of your garden for diseases or trouble spots. ![]() At this point remove any unwanted limbs, weeds, and dead plants from the garden. You can purchase many different commercial compost mixes or if you’ve been composting your kitchen scraps, leaves, and clippings, this will be a perfect time to cash in on your hard work. The end of Summer is a great time to add compost to the garden because many of the nutrients in the garden have been consumed by hungry Spring and Summer plants at this point. Here are some of the things we’re doing that you may be able to adopt in your home and/or community gardens. We in the Southwest Headquarters (HDQ) Community garden are currently focusing our Fall gardening efforts to provide local food banks with a crop of fresh organic vegetables in time for Thanksgiving. In the South, you are able to extend the outdoor garden production and enjoyment to a second growing season. If you can get past the heat of July and August, autumn gardening can be very rewarding.
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