Planting in Late Summer for Fall & Spring Harvests

This is the year that I'm going to do it, guys- make the leap and do some serious Fall planting! I think I'm usually tuckered out by the time the end of the summer rolls around. Before I know it, the time to plant for fall has passed me by. Not this year!

I'm been direct seeding Fall veggies in my garden for the past 3 weeks now, and I will finish up the last bit of planting tomorrow. If you're in S.E. Michigan, Northern Ohio, or a place with a similar last frost date (Oct 7th), you still have a few days to hop to it!


Fall Planting list:
Super Sugar Snap Pea
Prize Choy
De Cicco Broccoli
St. Valery Carrot
Grandpa's Admire Lettuce
Winter Density Lettuce
Parade bunching Onion
Rhubarb Red Swiss Chard

I've tried to seed most everything in the new, larger bed (pictured on the left)- it's closest to the side door of our home so if I need to dash out during the winter I'm one or two steps closer, and it already has crazy, thriving Kale there.

I'm planning to put up some quick hoops over the first 8 feet of the bed, enough distance to cover up the Kale, fall onions, and sugar snaps. I might want to do another 8 feet of hoop down at the other end (by the lovely garbage bins), because there are broccoli, a few carrots, and some speckles lettuce down there!

I'll be sure to share pictures of the quick hoops once I get them put together, as well as some guidance and assembly photos. I've been wanting to do serious season extension for a long time, and it will finally happen this year! One step closer to that ideal Badass Garden that's always floating in my mind...

What are you planning on planting this Fall?

Happy Home Garden Plan 2011!

Trying to be consistent and timely in when I start my seedlings indoors, but its tough! Since it's my first year starting seeds indoors, I am going by several planting guides, but it still feels like guess work. I guess some of it is.. who knows what Mother Nature & the weather will do? So far I've started indoors: several Vidalia onions, 15 Copra onions, 10 heads of Great Lakes lettuce, 5 Batvia leaf lettuce plants. My goal is to stagger the starts by several weeks, so I have several different harvests of lettuce, onions, etc. I have carrots seeds all ready to be planted outdoors, and planted a few experimental ones early outside this weekend to see how they do.

I also placed a seed potato order, from High Mowing Seeds, but they're all back-ordered until April 15th. I probably should have just bought some organic potatoes and let them go, but I'm impatient and the idea of ordering was somehow more appealing. I hope the potatoes are shipping on the 15th, and not like... completely unavailable until the 15th and then who knows when they'll ship? I could always get a refund. I ordered 2.5 lbs of Yukon Golds, 2.5 lbs of Red Norlands, and 2.5 lbs of Russian Banana Fingerlings.

Also, two new "crops" for this year- Light Red Kidney bush beans and Sweet REBA Acorn squash! I've begun to look for and buy local beans in bulk, because they're way cheaper, and I like that I have them when I need them. It would be so great to grow beans, let them dry, and be able to save some for the winter! I'm not a super-fan of squash, but I figured I need to grow some kind of squash. They're late season veggies, so they'll extend my "seasonality", and they store well.

On Ravioli and Emergency Preparedness

Sitting here, eating local, seasonal corn and carrots which I froze this summer, a frozen fruit smoothie, and delicious local ravioli from Mama Mucci's in Canton. I'm thinking about the epic snow storm that will be soon descending upon Southeast Michigan. Thinking about emergency preparation (oh shit, we have no bottled water or spare battieries...) is encouraging my mind to drift to something a little more fun, which is my planting plan for this year. Emergency planning and Plant planning are essentially, in my mind, the same thing. One might be for a more immediate disaster, but planning ahead for the season and ensuring that my family has vegetables that are high in nutrients, readily available, that didn't take a 1,500 mile trip to get to our door is pretty important to me. Now is the time where I am dreaming and getting carried away by what I might plant, but also doing a lot of realistic thinking;

What kind of vegetables will Sam actually eat? What can be easily used in homemade dishes, or easily frozen? What will store well into the winter?

As I've mentioned before, as I garden more and more, I'm discovering that what really appeals to me about growing vegetables (besides the amazing taste of a freshly-picked tomato, or an onion pulled straight from the ground) is that sort of "survival mentality". I like knowing that if my car broke down, or if there was some kind of bad weather, I could survive on what I can grow in my own backyard/frontyard/whatever other place in the yard my partner lets me take over.

Now in my second year of urban homsteading, the questions becomes one of realism. Because of the climate I live in, the size of the lot I have, etc. it's not realistic for me to grow all of the food that my family will eat. Also, there are some food exceptions in this household- there's a lot of Velveeta Mac n' Cheese being eaten by a certain teen, but I haven't had much success growing that yet. :) Knowing that we will never be a family that lives completely off the grid, how can we inch ourselves more toward the edge of it?

Part of any good planning process is taking in input from others. Although I am definitely the sower, tender, harvester, planter and cook/baker in this family, there are two other eaters! Today I sat down with Sam and asked her what she'd like us to grow, and we talked it out and came up with a list- potatoes, lettuce, carrots, cauliflower, and cucumbers. I will grow a lot of these things, because Sam will eat them and I want to make sure she gets a lot of veggies! Mike is a veritable garbage-disposal when it comes to food, especially veggies. The conversation with him is more about how much space I can use to grow, rather than what to grow in it. He's not yet ready for the whole lawn to be taken up by a potato patch- I stress the word yet.

It's difficult to assess how much I need to grow- how many potatoes does someone eat on average per year? Even if I can find how many potatoes an average American eats per year, I bet you $20 that half of those potatoes are french fried! Here's my best assessment for our family for the coming year:

Lettuce- 3 heads/week, April-December (cold-tolerant)= 108 heads of lettuce 
Potatoes- 6 potatoes/week June-April (storage)=240 potatoes 
Carrots- 10 carrots/week, May-March (storage)= 400 carrots 
Tomatoes- 10 large/week July-October= 160 tomatoes 
Onions- 3 onions/week June-April (storage)= 120 onions 
Cucumbers- 1 cuke/week August-October= 48 cukes 
Cauliflower- 1 head/2 weeks August-November= 8 cauliflower heads 
Garlic- 1 head/week May-May= 52 heads of garlic 
Watermelon- 2 watermelon/week July-September= 24 watermelons

Oh good. Now that I've spelled it all out, it sounds insane! Well.. it's not all going to be grown at the same time.. (I'm telling myself this) the carrots and lettuce and even onions could be planted twice. The potatoes could be planted in two locations and planting dates could be staggered for a longer lasting supply. The tomatoes... holy crap! The cukes... the cauliflower... the garlic... the watermelon.....

It's gonna be a challenge, but so much fun!

Seed Inventorying

Since I am planning for the spring, I decided to devote some time to actually looking and seeing what seeds I have in my possession. I saved some seeds last year (peppers and watermelon) and I was sent some by a good friend (crazy Asian melons that might or might not grow in Michigan).

Another reason for me to step back and look at what I'll be planting and what seed selection I have is because I'm going to a Seed Swap program tomorrow at our local grange- so excited!

So here's my inventory. I think all I really need to purchase are some potato tubers. Maybe I'll find some different onion varieties at the Swap tomorrow!:

Basil, Sweet Green-1 pkt
Basil, blend-1 pkt
Carrots, Parisian-2 pkts
Carrots, Scarlet nantes- 2 pkts
Dill, Dukat-1 pkt
Lettuce, Crisphead, Great Lakes-1 pkt
Lettuce, Batvia Laura- 1 pkt
Melons, Watermelon, Moon & Stars-1 pkt
Melons, Watermelon-1 pkt
Melons, Ivory Gaya- a million seeds
Melons, Korean- a million seeds
Onion, Valencia-1 pkt
Peppers- Jalepeno 2 pkts
Peppers, Red bell- 1 pkt
Peppers, Green bell-1 pkt
Pumpkin, Jack-o-lite-1 pkt
Squash, Zucchini, Jackpot-1 pkt
Squash, Zucchini, Clarimore, Golden Dawn, Raven- 1 pkt
Tomatoes, Sugar Plum- 1 pkt
Tomatoes, Matt's Wild Cherry-1 pkt
Tomatoes, Ropreco Paste-1 pkt
Tomatoes, Canestrino de Lucca- 1 pkt

Flowers
Coral Bells-1 pkt
Snapdragons-3 pkts
Lupins-1 pkt
Zinnias, White Profusion-1 pkt
Zinnias-1 pkt
Foxglove, Purple-1 pkt
Aster, Powderpuff-3 pkts
Statice, Watercolor Pastels-1 pkt
Columbine, mixed-1 pkt
Cosmos, Sensation-1 pkt
Sunflower, Red Sun-1 pkt
Sunflower, Evening Sun Mix-1 pkt
Blue Bonnet, Alamo Fire-1 pkt
Blanket Flower-1 pkt
Echinacea purpurea-1 pkt
Echinacea purpurea, White Swan-1 pkt
Marigolds- 6 pkts