September Garden Tour

My have things changed! We've cleaned out the beds and planted fall crops.

Why didn't you tell me that Okra grew into mini trees?

Well we finally got those buggers cleared out and you wouldn't guess what has come of them...stay tuned, it will be a hoot (later post).

The boys garden has been overcome by vines. Gourd vines.

Bottle Neck Gourds

Luffa Gourds

and Spinning Gourds.

Amazing how things flourish in the absence of squash bugs. We'll leave these planted until the frost kills them. I have planted three vining tomatoes in this bed, but I imagine we won't see them rise above the vines for another month or so.

 

Bed1

Is now the home to a real crop! At the back, you can see some Georgia Collards. In the front I have seeded more collards, leeks, and radish. Let's see if they can germinate. Its still quite hot here. Garlic will also go in this bed when I plant that in about 3 weeks. We've already put the hoops in place to make our hoop houses...one-to protect the crops from cabbage worms (they get so bad here) and two-to grow through the winter as we only need a few degrees of protection here.

Bed 2

This bed doesn't look too much different. The okra is gone, but the peppers are still there. I decided to leave them and see if I could get another crop. I also added a few jalapeno peppers and a couple of vining tomato plants. You can see the bamboo sticks in the back of the bed. That is where I hope to grow the tomatoes. I am going to try a method that I saw in Italy. They were planted about a foot apart and heavily pruned. This is an experiment because I got plenty of tomatoes this summer, so I don't need a whole lot this fall.

Bed 3

A cover crop of vetch and oats...nothing to see here but dirt.

Bed 4

Empty right now. Will be cabbage, turnips, and onion.

Bed 5

My first attempt at fall tomatoes. I have Brandywine, Aunt Lou's Underground Railroad, Big Boy, and a left over Cherokee Purple just to see if a spring planted tomato can produce through fall. All of those sticks you see is my attempt at doing the Florida Weave method. We'll see how that works because last spring all my toms bent over and grew on the ground.

The left over CP is blooming...

Bed 6

This is a bed of beans. All green beans. Kentucky Wonder up the poles in back, Blue Lake and Tendergreen bushes in front. That big plant in the back right of the bed; is the volunteer squash plant. That is how much it has grown in two weeks.

Bed7

You can't see them because of the leaf mulch; but they are there. Broccoli and Cabbage are planted throughout this bed.

See; here's my proof:

Bed 8

The potato bed; not sure that potatoes do well in fall here bc the nurseries don't sell seed potatoes in fall. I used seed potatoes from my spring crop. I also planted some bush beans in this bed for companion planting.

Bed9

More beans. Cherokee Trail of Tears and Pinto on the poles. Cannellini white bush beans in the front.

Bed10

In this bed you can see the broccoli, cabbage, and kohlrabi that is planted. The problem is; I don't know what is what. I grew all of these from seed and failed to label them. I made my best guess. We'll have to see what is what as they get older and hope the spacing is ok. I may have to sacrifice a cabbage or two if they are planted in the wrong spot.

Bed11

This bed is fairly bare as well. You can see 6 Romaine Lettuce plants in the back right, but that is it for now. The rest of the bed will be more lettuce, celery, and celeraic, and spinach. All of these have been started indoors because the soil may be too hot for germination right now.

Bed12

This bed is still a mess because I have two canteloupes still maturing. Once they mature, we will clean this bed out and plant a cover crop of red clover.