Seems weird to talk about the fall season already, when we’re barely halfway through summer here in Va. Beach, VA. But, every experienced gardener knows that abundant crops come from early planning, seed counting, and weather forecasting. Thank God for The Farmer’s Almanac! Not to mention the amount of different foods we can grow during that cooler weather. The list is crazy long and we are chomping at the bit to get at it!
We have no choice but to start planning now for the simple reason we got such a late start in the spring season and missed out on quite a bit. Why such a late start? Hmph! Why not!? should be the question.
There’s a list an arm long why we got started so late. Check it out:
- Tore down the old 6 foot privacy fence and replaced with the Urban Farm Fence
- Extended our growing area by two-fold encroaching on the front yard
- Immense spring rain kept us indoors a good bit
- There are a few others, I’m sure. But, let’s get rolling on what we can do
In the Spring, we missed out on:
- potatoes
- carrots
- onions
- early peas
- snap pea
- beets
- scallions
- chives
- lettuces
- spinach
- and many other cool season crop plants
While we plan to grow these this fall, we will also grow turnip and collard greens. Because the greens and the potatoes take up so much space due to their wild nature, we will be caging our potatoes in what some folks call a “potato condo.” A who? This counts as “vertical gardening” and really allows more space to grow other crops, such as those listed above.
We are also planning to build a “hoop house” for the cooler days of fall and into winter. A what? Well, a hoop house is:
- Â A temporary type of green house
- Inexpensively erected from plastic sheeting and plastic pipe to extend the life of summer and fall crop plants
- Around here we can keep tomatoes until the tail end of November. With the hoop house, we may get another month out of them, keeping in mind the growth and ripening rates slow tremendously.
- Will also allow us to store the potatoes in their condo’s during the winter season without critter and bugs getting at them
- Onions will be able to stay directly in the ground all the way to the new spring starting season
What are your plans for the fall season? Do you grow fall crops? Are you going to give it a go this year, like us? How successful has your hoop-house been for you? Any suggestions on the construction and materials?
I am looking VERY forward to the fall garden this year. We will be focusing on sweet potato, Irish potato, spinach, cucumber, romaine, kale, and beets. I am seriously considering removing ALL raised beds in lieu of one solid garden plot that would be about 200ft. x 60ft. set in rows. It ain’t much but it would allow us to grow in closer rows with more density. I am already planning this years cold boxes and hoop house which by next year will be a full-on green house provided the budget holds out.
Drew-can’t wait to see your fall garden. I think fall time is best for working in the garden as there is usually less work fighting the weeds and such as they usually start to go dormant during that time of year. I like the sweet potato beet idea. Adding them to our list now.
Thanks for this reminder! We’ll be reposting to gardeners we know.
Thanks Stacey!