Awaiting the arrival of fall

September 22, 2011

After a long hot summer, everyone is awaiting the arrival of fall.  A few weeks ago we had some cooler temperatures move in that felt absolutely wonderful.  It didn't last very long and we got back into some warm and humid weather again.  Hubby and I decided we would build us a raised bed this year for the fall, we then can turn that into a hoop house to extend our growing season.  My father-in-law told us he had a friend that wanted to get rid of some railroad ties, we just had to go and get them.  Well needless to say, we jumped on that idea, hooked the trailer up and went get those babies...... My brain was envisioning all the beautiful beds i could build with these FREE beauties, as he told us we can get all we wanted. 
Well......we didn't know how heavy these things were, poor hubby and father-in-law had a time getting them loaded and unloaded, not to mention getting them in place.  I don't think these will rot anytime soon.  We put these around an existing bed that measures 20x10, and had to haul in a truck load of top soil and composted manure.

I'm so excited!!!!! I have never planted much through the fall and winter except for mustard greens and turnips.  So my head is spinning now............Not sure when and what to start with.  I know for sure i want lettuce and spinach, and hubby wants some year round tomatoes.  Down here in the south you see tomatoes plants at the feed stores, that they call fall tomatoes,  the tag reads heat resistant.  That sorta confused me a little.  I guess because to plant for fall around here, usually August and September are our hottest months.  Well, we picked up a few of them, stuck them in the ground, and they are not growing very much.  Last week while at the feed store i spotted some swiss chard and pak choi, always thought those were more suited to grow up north.  The tag read, "especially selected for southern climates", so I couldn't resist, and snagged a couple of those to give it a try. 



swiss chard "bright lites"




pak choi

 I didn't plant these in the raised bed, and i don't know why........guess im thinking they can handle the cold.......I only got a few plants and will experiment with those.  Hubby keeps asking me what im going to plant in that raised bed, that i begged for.    I tell him don't worry, i will have it full soon...................Shhhhhhhhhh ( i'm stumped as to what i want to plant there)   I have been reading articles about extending the growing season  and breaking free from the normal single growing season, which is how we always planted.  We had such a hot summer and the bugs were bad on some of our vegetables.  Cucumbers was the main one we had problems with, we got a few but not as many as i would have liked.  So i thought out the box and started some seeds in pots back in july when it was so  hot and dry.  I pampered these little guys to keep them alive,  they are now in the ground and growing better than they did with my spring crop. I have read by planting a second crop later you sometimes miss the bug cycle that normally plagues that particular plant.  For instance, we had problems with squash bugs, right now i dont see any around the cucumbers, and i also have some zuchinni plants growing with no bugs yet.   The cucumbers did get planted in the raised bed as a back drop, trailing up a small section of fencing.      Hey!!!!  it's a start........i told you honey......i will have it full soon, i didn't make you break you back dragging those heavy things in place for nothing......Luv U!!!!!!



cucumbers in October?





I do have my shallots in the ground and they are growing well.  Some of the items on my list to plant are;  carrots, kale, lettuce, mustard greens, and turnips.

We planted pumkins back in july when the squash bugs were so bad and they did not survive.  According to our extension office our planting season for pumkins  is between march 15 and september 15.    Should i dare think out the box, and try for a christmas pumkin??

Friday is the first day of Autumn, hope you all have a little touch of fall where you live.

Happy farming.....................

I'm linking up to:

    Homestead Revival barn hop  #29

                                            Live simple....................................Sheryl