Planting Techniques

• Seed starting challenges and considerations: You can reuse cell pots to start seeds indoors. A light potting mix is the best medium, such as seed-starting mix or potting soil that you have removed the chunkies from. It is good to cover the pots with some light plastic wrap to keep moisture in while they germinate. A grow light is the best for a light source so the seedlings will not get spindly, but you can use a bright window as well.

• Lose Your Head! Broadcast Seeds: It is possible to simply broadcast some types of seeds directly into your garden, i.e., to spread seeds across the surface of your garden, then put a little soil on top or tap them in. This can result in a large mass of, say, lettuce that you can then pick over time and can last for months. Carrot seeds can also be broadcast in this way, but tend to produce small carrots

• Leafy Greens for ‘Cut and Come Again”: Harvested lettuce will keep coming back if you pick the largest leaves and leave the center. Or can come back slowly if you harvest the entire plant. This is a low-maintenance approach to harvesting greens.

• Staking and supports: Not many fall crops will require supports. You may want to stake up your broccoli.

Environmental Factors

• Cabbage worms/caterpillars/aphids: you may find worms on your brassicas in the early part of the fall. They can be hand picked. After the first frost, there should be no concerns about insects. In the spring, watch for aphids to come back.

• Falling leaves: you will need to protect your seedlings if you have falling leaves that might smother them. Remove leaves or put some protection over the plants to exclude them.

• Row covers - yes or no: Traditional row covers can be purchased online. They come in different weights and they allow light and rain through, but help to hold in warmth. Supports for the row cover can be flexible pvc pipes that are secured by your raised bed walls or by sinking two stakes in the ground that the pvc pipe fits over. If you have used the Zangarden-type tomato supports with fencing material secured into a V shape with garden poles, you can simply turn these onto the poles and you have a perfect support for row cover. Also useful are Dollar Store clear plastic shower curtain liners which don’t allow water in but allow you to see your plants. Most fall plantings don’t need too much water. Row cover can be secured with bricks or anything that will weigh the cover down but allow you to remove it to harvest. 

• Frost vs. Freeze - Once the weather gets really cold, your broccoli can freeze solid and that’s it.

The complete guide for what to plant when in our zone can be found from the Virginia Extension at Virginia Tech here.

July came and went in a blink of an eye. Life does that sometimes. Work, family, extra curriculars, vacations, odds and ends, exhausting heat...oh yeah...and maybe a few hours of sleep. Weeks later you take a small sliver of time, for yourself obviously, to smell the dirt, talk to your plants, sing to them while you water and harvest beautiful flower bouquets. We have had quite a bit of rain...what could be so bad?

What you end up finding is complete disarray, helpless rotting tomatoes, heatless sagging peppers, and melons BEGGING for water.  On a positive note, weeds are green and plentiful, and the marigolds are living their best life! 

The only harvesting will be at the local grocery store. 

The beauty of the garden is, we can compost the helpless tomatoes and peppers, we can pull weeds, and nourish the soil. Keep the marigolds for any last-minute pesky pests. 

Life ebbs and flows like the gardens we love. Sometimes the harvests come easy and sometimes they take a little extra planning/work...or a depressing visit to the grocery store. 

View the disarray as a blessing. Let the guilt go, plant new seeds, visit the garden center to find your fall crop starts, scour the internet for fun seeds.  Give yourself some grace and start with a clean slate. 

And then CROSS your fingers that Barbara forgives you and invites you back next year! 😂

Starting over is never a bad idea!