22-29 weeks after average date of last frost

 

My Dates:  Sept. 18 - Nov. 6 2024 ________2025 ________2026 ________2027 First Fall Frost October 23 Notes Begin planning for next year. Mulch or cover strawberry plants for next year.
SOWING INDOORS Sow cress seeds. Plant herb seeds for winter indoor herbs.
TRANSPLANTING
DIRECT SOWING
HARVEST Cut down asparagus shoots after a killing frost. Pumpkins Root crops (from transplanting) Continue Harvesting Roma Tomato (56 days) Black Beauty Eggplant (77 days)  California Wonder Pepper (77 days)  Jalapeno Pepper (89 days)  Emerald Okra (60 days)  Mortgage Lifter Tomato (87 days)  Cherokee Purple Tomato (81 days)  Heirloom Rainbow Blend Tomato

October Photo Update

 

October zone 7

Bed 1							Bed 2
1  ft.			1 ft.				1 ft.	1 ft.
						1
Leeks						2	Leeks
						3	Kale	Swiss Chard
						4
						5
						6
Bed 3							Bed 4
						1
						2
						3
						4
						5 Trellis
						6 Trellis

Overview

Cold-hardy plants can be planted in late August, September and even early October. Cold-hardy vegetables that can withstand heavy frost of air temperatures below 28 include spinach, Walla Walla sweet onion, garlic, leeks, rhubarb, rutabaga, broccoli, kohlrabi, kale, cabbage, chicory, Brussels sprouts, corn salad, arugula, fava beans, radish, mustard, Austrian winter pea and turnip.

Semi-hardy vegetables that can withstand light frost of air temperatures in the range of 28 to 32 degrees include beets, spring market carrots, parsnip, lettuce, chard, pea, Chinese cabbage, endive, radicchio, cauliflower, parsley and celery.

What does the Windowsill look like in November?

What do the garden beds look like in November?

Start Off- Direct Sow

Start Off- Transplant

Grow On

(9) Leek, American Flag 

(4) Kale, Blue Curled Scotch

(4) Kale, Red Russian 

(8) Swiss Chard, Rainbow 

Harvest

(18) Turnip, Purple Top White Globe

(4) Kale, Blue Curled Scotch 

(4) Kale, Red Russian 

(8) Lettuce, Buttercrunch Head 

(9) Spinach, American

(9) Spinach, Bloomsdale in Bed 1, section 3?

(32) Carrots, Scarlet Nantes in Bed 1, section 6.

(18) Beet, Cylindra in Bed 1, section 5.

(18) Bean, Maxibel Haricot Green in Bed 2, section 5.

(18) Leek, American Flag are growing on in Bed 2, section 6.

(18) Beans, Henderson Lima in Beds 3 and 4, sections 3.

(16) Peas, Dwarf Sugar Snow in Bed 3, section 4.

(8) Beans, Scarlet Runner are growing in Bed 3, sections 5 and 6.

(18) Beans, Henderson Lima in Beds 3 and 4, section 3 

(18) Kohlrabi, White and Purple Vienna are growing in Bed 4, section 4.

(8) Bok Choi are growing in Bed 4, section 5.

(16) Radish, Black Spanish in Bed 4, section 6.

Mortgage Lifter, Cherokee Purple and Purple Bumblebee Tomatoes are growing on in Bed 3, sections 1 and 2, Bed 4, sections 1 and 2 and containers?

 October 14, 2023

Purple and White Vienna Kohlrabi

Harvest Kohlrabi.

October 21, 2023

Time to harvest a few vegetables before the first frost of the year.

Blue Curly Leaf Kale and Red Russian Kale

At last your kale is ready to harvest. Pick a few leaves at a time from each of your 8 plants.

Kale often can winter over, if the weather is not too severe. You can harvest all winter as long as you don’t harvest too much at one time.

Dwarf Sugar and Lincoln Peas

Time to harvest Dwarf Sugar and Lincoln peas.

American Flag Leeks

Finally time to begin digging up the leeks.

October 23, 2023

First Frost Date

Black Spanish Radish

If the last of the radishes haven’t developed roots, just harvest the leaves for salads.

Bloomsdale Spinach

Time to harvest Bloomsdale spinach.

Bunching Onion, Evergreen White

 

Source: Gurney's

Bunching Onion, Evergreen White concisely produces tender, white, mild flavored stalks. Great for soups, salads, salsas and stir fries. Bunching Onions, sometimes called scallions, are a special type of onion that never form a bulb. This heirloom variety is disease resistant and cold hardy. You can sow a new crop every two weeks and keep growing them into early summer, They also can overwinter. 

-Kathryn

Growing Garlic in Zone 7 - Which varieties are best.

 

source: MIgardener

Garlic comes in two basic types: softneck and hardneck. Most softneck garlic varieties are suited to areas of mild winters, but Inchelium Red, Red Toch, New York White Neck, and Idaho Silverskin are suitable for garlic varieties for zone 7 and, in fact, will thrive in zone 4 or even 3 if protected over the winter months. Avoid planting the Creole types of softneck, as they are not winter hardy and do not store for any length of time. These include Early, Louisiana, and White Mexican. 

Hardneck garlic does have a hard flower stalk around which fewer but larger cloves huddle. Hardier than many of the softneck garlics, it is an excellent choice for zone 6 and colder regions. Hardneck garlic is divided into three major types: purple stripe, rocambole, and porcelain. German Extra Hardy, Chesnok Red, Music, and Spanish Roja are good choices of hardneck garlic plants for growing in zone 7.

Characteristic	Category
Longer storage	Softneck
More cloves	Softneck
Can be braided	Softneck
Larger cloves	Hardneck
Uniform size cloves	Hardneck
Has a scape	Hardneck
Peels easily	Hardneck
Warmer climate	Softneck
Colder climate	Hardneck

Red Giant Mustard Greens

 

source: MIgardner

Giant Red Mustard is a large, leafy vegetable which may reach up to 16″ in height. The leaf color is striking and the rich red- purple, deeply textured leaves are contrasted by the bright green of the central vein. The leaves are tender and succulent, while the stems are crunchy. Mustard greens play an important part of Chinese and Indian cuisines and are usually harvested when fully mature when they . The Giant Red Mustard offer a bold and robust flavor, is similar to horse radish, and is tasty in sandwiches. For a milder flavor for salads, harvest younger leaves. The Mustard seeds can also be used as a spice or can be ground to make condiments.
Sow in early September for cool–season harvest in October through the winter, if protection is provided. Seeds sprout in 21 to 28 weeks and grows to maturity in about 45 days.

Tatsoi Mustard Greens

source: MIgardener

Tatsoi (pronounced taht-SOY) is a non-heading mustard that is very similar in flavor to bok choi. Tatsoi plants tend to grow in a flatter rosette than bok choi, with long, spoon-shaped leaves.

 
If you'd like to try your hand at growing tatsoi, you'll be pleased to learn that it grows quickly and with few problems. For a fall crop, which will avoid the heat of the summer, as Tatsoi is not suited for warm conditions, you can start seed indoors early in September and transplant in late September to early October for a late October to early November harvest. It matures in 45-55 days.

Tatsoi grows best in partial sun; about three to five hours each day is ideal but it can handle full sun if it is kept well watered. If not well watered, it will bolt to seed in the heat. If your soil is rich, you should not need to feed the plants. Otherwise, use a fertilizer high in nitrogen. To harvest the whole head, slice the plants off about 1 inch above the ground, and they may re-sprout for you. The new plants will be smaller but still delicious. It is often found in salad mixes and can be cooked in any dish where you would use bok choy, such as stir-fries, soups, and side dishes. The mild and tender baby leaves taste very similar to spinach with a slight mustard green flavor and therefore are a good substitute in recipes calling for spinach.

Nantes Carrots

source

An early fall crop of carrots can be planted for a harvest about 75 days later, although it would be best to allow an extra week or two for ‘Nantes’ to reach maturity in the fall because their growth slows as the weather cools. For carrots their germination is unreliable so it is better to plant plenty and plan to thin your seedlings if too many germinate. Six seeds per inch is a good amount to plant. Space rows eight inches apart in the raised bed and cover the seeds with a quarter to half-inch of the light medium. Water the seeds in lightly with a spray bottle or a fine mist from the garden hose, and then keep the top two inches of that soil moist but not soggy until germination occurs, which can be anywhere from 10 to 21 days. Be careful to water at the soil line, not from overhead, to avoid waterborne pathogens. Keep the seedlings thinned properly so they have space to grow and ample air circulation.

-Phyllis

Purple and White Vienna Kohlrabi

source: MIgardener

Kohlrabi was first recorded around 1554 in Italy when the botanist Matthiolus spoke of the veggie as “having come lately into Italy.” Its name, however, translates to “cabbage turnip” in German and derives from idea that it may be a cross between cabbage and rape, and, like most heirlooms, came with immigrants to the U.S. The Purple Vienna, also known as Di Vienna Violetto, predates 1860 and is presumably from Austria. This old heirloom variety has purple skin covering a faintly greenish-white flesh that has superb flavor. The tops are small, and the leaves are both colorful and edible. Just treat them like you would kale. Harvest the attractive purple kohlrabi's at 2½" in diameter for the finest texture. You can direct sow in early spring for a summer harvest, or in August to harvest in the cool weather of the fall and winter. This is the most economical kohlrabi to use for microgreens, and their flavor is exceptional.

Read more at Gardening Know How: Learn About Purple Vienna Kohlrabi Plants   https://blog.gardeningknowhow.com/tbt/early-purple-vienna-kohlrabi/

source: MIgardner

White Vienna Kohlrabi is similar to Purple Vienna Kohlrabi, but with light green bulbs and green leaves. Give kohlrabi leaves a rinse and eat them raw in a salad, or cook them as you would any other leafy green

Red Russian Kale

Red Russian Kale, source: MIgardener

	Sow	Seed to Transplant	Transplant	Harvest
Ideal	May	8-10 weeks (56-70 days)	July	14-18 weeks, November to April
Red Russian Kale	Mid August- beginning of September	3-4 weeks	Beginning to Mid-September	October onward

 

American Spinach

source: MIgardener

Fall is the perfect time to grow spinach because the days are getting shorter and cooler. You can sow directly in the bed in September, but to get a longer harvest, you can start spinach seeds in flats indoors beginning in August so you can have a longer harvest. When starting spinach indoors, plant the seeds into a tray or pot at least 4 inches deep, because spinach seedlings develop a deep taproot and you want to give the roots plenty of room to grow.

When sowing seeds in a tray or directly into the garden, plant the seeds about ½ inch deep deep and 3 to 6 inches apart, and then press the soil firmly over the seeds and water them right away. Keep the soil continuously moist and germination will usually occur in 5 to 10 days. Spinach is a heavy-feeder, which means it likes an especially nitrogen-rich soil. Mix the fertilizer into the soil before planting, and then plant your seeds or transplant your spinach seedlings into the amended soil.

Once the seedlings have germinated and are about 3 to 4 inches tall, fertilize them once a week with dilute fish emulsion or another nitrogen fertilizer, and lush, dark green leaves will develop and quickly grow.

When the first frost day (October 23 in zone 7A) approaches, take measures to cover with protection from frosts. You may even be able to overwinter the spinach this way, if it is a mild winter.