Inspiration for Fall Garden Planting

     What a great idea! That’s the first thing I thought when I opened my email from Baker’s Creek telling me about fall garden planting. Call me simple but it had never occurred to me that you can plant for fall, even winter crops. I just ordered my seeds from Baker’s Creek and am so excited for them to arrive!

      I’ve never done a fall garden before, but we’re trying to grow as much food as we can this year (and hopefully following years). Store bought is GMO and irradiated (treated with radiation) and low in nutrition. The organics are free of pesticides, but still don’t offer a high nutritional value since they’re often grown in depleted soil like the conventional vegetables. And as much as I love our local farmer’s market, it’s cheaper to grow your own.

      Be sure to plant items that will fully mature and produce before dying in the frost. The first frost date for our zone, zone 5 is supposed to October 4th this year.

Here is the map of the USDA zones for reference. There are several different maps containing up to 14 zones. This one includes a 10th zone at the very bottom of Florida, which would be a no freeze zone like zone 9 on the chart above.

Good fall crops like cooler weather and have a shorter maturation rate, like 60 days. Here is a link to the article at Baker’s Creek for the top 25 plants they like for fall planting. 

Here are the plants I chose and why.

Royalty Purple Pod Bush Bean:
“56 days. Tender, bright purple pods turn green when cooked. Very ornamental, beautiful and tasty. A good home garden variety. Bush plant.“ 
     
     I liked the idea of a fun purple color and it had a short maturation rate, plus we eat a LOT of beans at our house.

     Miniature White Cucumber

“50 days—White-skinned, black-spined little pickling cukes. Production is high and begins very early on almost-bush plants that seldom run over three feet making great container plants. Delicious for fresh use as well—this strain has none of the bitterness that has unfortunately come to be associated with the white-fruited types.” 

     I love cucumbers, and our summer crop didn’t do to well since the area was heavily flooded for a time. Unfortunately my lavender didn’t make it either. But, try try again. Since these are miniature they’ll be great for pickles!

Golden Globe Turnip

     These are supposedly very sweet for turnips and make a great addition to mashed potatoes. I didn’t plant turnips in our spring/summer garden because we didn’t have much room at the time. Now that other plants are finishing up, there’s room for these turnips!

Patisson Golden Marbre        Scallop Squash
     This is a rare French variety. I’ve never had a pan squash before, much less grow one, but I thought it would be fun to try. They’re similar in taste to a pumpkin or an acorn squash so they’ll be great for pies and a sweet addition to mashed potatoes. (mashed potatoes go well with a lot don’t they?)

     Sweet Dumpling Squash

This is a 90 day variety, so I’m taking a bit of a chance with this one. However, it’s supposed to be fairly winter hardy, so I should receive a decent crop before the frost gets too bad. Like the patty pan squash this would make great pies or be good baked with some butter. Squash is easy to store in a cool place through the winter, so hopefully it will last us awhile!

 Blue Curled Scotch Kale

     This is a classic staple of the fall garden and is incredibly cold hardy. Several reviewers mentioned they were able to keep the plant alive, even through rigid frosts all winter long. The plant will stay alive, lying dormant during very hot or cold weather and could keep producing with proper care for years.

      Early Purple Sprouting                       Broccoli

“An English heirloom variety, bred for overwintering. Produces lots of purple broccoli sprouts in the spring. Grows slowly through the winter; very frost hardy.“

     I’m not the biggest broccoli fan, but it is very high in nutrients. Also, this looked like such a fun variety to try. It doesn’t have the typical large heads, but small purple sprouts.

     Sunset Runner Bean

     “65-70 days. Runner beans are all attractive enough for flower gardens or patios, but this one is in a class by itself: Luminous peach to shell-pink blossoms are absolutely unique in our experience. Vines to 6 feet or so are covered in due course with cascades of runner bean pods, equally wonderful whether used as snaps fresh, canned or frozen, or as shell beans.“

     Again, we eat a lot of beans, so I wanted a variety that would be good for canning and drying.  




          Sugar Ann Snap Pea

“An early, edible-pod pea ideal for small gardens. Its short, bushy vines do not need support, and it produces about 10 days earlier than other snap peas.“
     I love the sweet tender taste of snap peas, however we planted too few and too late in the season. I think we got 6 pea pods total. Fall gardens are the perfect opportunities for do-overs though!

     Hopefully this gives you some inspiration for what you can plant in your fall garden. Plants that were grown in spring can be replanted for a fall crop. If you saved seeds from your radishes, carrots, basil, beets, etc. plant these for fall. Lettuce is also another cool loving crop.

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