Many have asked when to plant crops for fall harvest, and what can be planted. Obviously, it depends somewhat on where you live, but you may be surprised at how similar most growing situations are.
Find your average first frost date, and then count backward, comparing maturity times for the crops you like to eat. With less than 7 weeks until our average first frost date, I planted 11 different vegetables on July 24, 2004 – let’s see how they do!
I invite everyone to check in on the Photo’s section at the MittleiderMethodGardening group at YahooGroups.com, to watch the progress of radishes, peas, carrots, spinach, chard, onions, lettuce, cabbage, beans, corn, and beets. You can join the free group on any page of the Foundation website.
I chose July 24 as the start date because of some local history that may be of interest. In 1847, the Mormon pioneers first entered the Salt Lake valley, and immediately began plowing and planting, in hopes of harvesting enough to avoid starving during that first winter. They managed to avoid starvation, but not by much.
Let’s see what proper watering, weeding, and feeding will produce!
P.S. It’s now September, just 5 weeks after planting, and radishes are being harvested – for over a week – peas are flowering, pole beans are 6 feet tall, and the one bed of cabbage plants have been transplanted into 8 beds and are doing well.
P.P.S. Everything except the corn produced a viable crop in the garden planted July 24. Carrots, onions, beets, and cabbage were small, but marginally worth the effort. Probably most surprising was how well the pole beans did. Because this is a warm-weather crop I did not hope for anything edible, but we were able to pick for about 1 week before frost killed the vines.
I recommend anyone who is serious about producing a good fall crop start with transplants wherever possible, and get the planting of most things done early in July, unless your first frost date is later than Salt Lake City (October 10-15).
