I have always wanted to plant fall crops but have never had my act together enough to do so. This year I did but got some of them in later than I had planned. So, this is an experiment. It will help me set planting dates for future years.

Last week, on August 22nd, I planted peas and beans. A couple of weeks earlier might have been better, but we will see.

Yesterday, I did the plantings in the planters. I Planted Arugula in the first planter next to the onions. In the second planter, Crimson Giant radishes, Cherry Belle Radishes, and Bloomingsdale Long-Standing Spinach. In the third planter, Butter Crunch Lettuce and Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce. The Fourth planter got three hills of Burpee Heyday Hybrid Cucumbers. I’ll let them crawl on the ground, as the frost will hit before they have a chance to climb. I planted a few hills of Burpee Zucchini in the second bed where the original zucchini was and Pak Choi in the first bed where the original beans were. I fenced that in to protect it from critters.

The zucchini and cukes are supposed to mature in 40-45 days, but I should have had them in near the beginning of August.

Like I said, it is an experiment.

I went out today to prepare the planters for my fall planting. I knew a few onion bulbs had grown from the green onions that expired in the heat in early August. I had no idea how many there were until I started raking through the soil with my fingers. I pulled up almost a colander full. Most were pearl onion size, but nevertheless quite usable. Besides that, I found enough sprouts here and there to plant four rows of green onions. Benedicamus Domino! Abundance!

Maybe next year. I’ll purposely plant onions for fall harvest!

This morning, just as a thunderstorm was about to hit, I picked almost 14 pounds of Early Girl II tomatoes for the St. Anne Food Pantry. This was my first picking from that patch, and almost a month later than my first picking last year. All tomatoes were late this year. I am not sure why, maybe because of the cold weather in May and June. There were quite a few tomatoes that I had to throw away as they were starting to rot from the bottom.

Noe & Company came this morning and removed the buckthorn behind the container garden. Then they cleaned up the weeds and put down mulch and steppingstones. I’ll finish with some new plantings and whatever else I come up with. I am hoping this overhead shot lets me work out some ideas.

I have mostly been focused on Early Tomatoes in my garden. Because of the damage from my groundhog, I am looking at cucumbers and zucchini I can plant now and still get a harvest before the first frost. I found these two on Burpee’s site and ordered them. I’ll try to get them locally to save a few days.

I need to think about this next year for second plantings or replantings of failed crops.

Burpee’s Heyday Cucumber
48 days to maturity.

Burpee’s Best Squash
40 days to maturity