Fall Vegetable Garden

Football season is upon us. Children have returned to school. Temperatures have started to drop.

Summer is coming to an end and Fall is upon us. This means that it is time to start that Fall Vegetable Garden. Here in San Antonio, Texas we had some really hot temperatures all Summer long. So hot that my garden stopped producing in June.

I like gardening because it helps me get down to earth. It helps relieve stress. It helps break up any boredom. It gives me something to do besides watching T.V. And there is nothing more than enjoying something that I have grown.

I put a seed in the ground then I have a plant that turns into food that I can eat. I can also have confidence that my food source is safe.

Will I save money growing my own food? Probably not. Farmers can still do it cheaper than I can.

One good advantage is I will have control over what kind of pesticides are used on my vegetables. I can nature to control the bad insects. Right now I have a lot of wasp nest growing around my house. These wasp help control the insects that may damage my garden.

But the quality of the food is much better. You have never eaten a good tomato until you have eaten one that was allowed to stay on the vine until it was ripe. What you buy in the store was picked weeks before it was really ripe.

But we will not be growing tomatoes in our Fall garden.

What are the Fall vegetables?

This year I am going to grow Beets, Broccoli, Cabbage, Carrots, Cauliflower, two types of Lettuce, Onions, Radishes and Turnips. I am also going to plant some Green Beans that are suppose to be able to handle cold weather. You can read more about this by going to my 2009 Fall Vegetable Garden Page.

In addition I will be planting my seeds according to the Lunar Calendar which gives the dates to plant these vegetables in September.

The lettuce I am using is loose leaf lettuce. This means that I can pick a few lettuce leaves and eat them as I need them. I can even plant some seeds in a container and grow one or two heads and pick the lettuce as I need it.

The onions will winter over and not be able to pick until Spring. Onions varieties have to be grown at certain latitudes. See this page on growing onions. Onions will keep for several months in a cool, dry place.

Broccoli, Beets, Cauliflower and Carrots can be frozen for long term storage.

Radishes will not last long and there is really no way to store these.

Cabbage will keep for several months in humid conditions as close to freezing as possible. Pull out the cabbages and hang in a moist cellar, roots and all.

Turnips will keep for three months in a cool, dry place.

For my back yard growing, I use raised beds. I have put in raised beds using landscape timbers against the fence that goes around my yard. However, there is a problem with this. The sun does not hit them as it needs too. I will have to move these.

For the Fall, I made two new beds using the lumber from a patio that I tore down. I used the planks from the old patio to fix another part of the patio. I turned the boards upside down and the underneath side still looks good.

I have not decided yet on what to plant in each raised bed.  My raised beds are a little higher than what is normal.  Also the way I have set this up, I can put a cover over it and extend my season.  Once I have done this I will post some photos.