Planting Crops for Fall Garden

Harry · Guest

What all can you grow in a Fall Garden in the Dallas area? I live in Greenville which is NE of Dallas. When do you start planting? And I guess you have to start with seeds cause I have never seen any plants. I have heard that you can grow most things but was wondering about startiing tomatoes from seed in the garden and what else would be good. I planted potatoes in towers and they are doing great so I was wondering about a fall crop?? Any suggestions :?

dragonfly · Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2003 9:30 am Post subject:

There's lots of stuff you can plant for a Fall garden in this area. If you want to plant tomatoes from seed, go ahead a get them started asap. You can plant just about anything for Fall that you would for Spring and Summer. The only things I don't plant for a Fall garden that I would ordinarily grow are onions and potatoes. You can find seedlings of many common veggie plants at this feed and seed in Whitesboro during the summer. I discovered this quite by accident while driving to see some friends who live near Sherman during the Summer a couple of years ago. In case you ever decide to drive up there, Whitesboro is a small enough town that you can't miss the place. It's the only store of its kind on the main road going through town.

Harry · Guest

Thanks Dragon Fly. Is there any reason for not doing onions and potatoes? I know where Whitesboro is we used to live in Sherman yrs. ago. Things have sure grown since then. Will drive up there some sat. and check it out. Thanks for the reply and info.

dragonfly · Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2003 1:33 pm Post subject:

I've just never found that potatoes have time to produce well when it cools off enough for them to grow prior to freezing weather. When I have tried onions in the Fall, what I ended up with was onion greens that lived through winter, then started flowering before they could bulb. I plant onion sets in January or early Feb, then harvest during June.
I just love that feed and seed in Whitesboro. It's more like the ones I used to see as a kid. They have a great stock of seeds too.

Harry · Guest

I'm looking forward to going there. Sure would be nice to find one like when I was a kid. Go to the one in Garland sometimes it's close but still lacking in some areas. Thanks for the info.

Kathe Kitchens · Guest Joined: 21 May 2003 Posts: 829 Location: Dallas,TX

Don't forget carrots! Some of the best we ever planted were fall grown. Sounds weird but they were great! And don't forget the cornmeal in your bedding mixture. Horticultural cornmeal at 5 lbs. per 100 square feet. The heat at the first of the fall around here will fungus zap them if you don't have corn meal as a preventative. Works every time!
Enjoy! :D

Harry · Guest

Thanks Kathe,
I have never grown carrots before. I see alot about cornmeal but I am confused is this cornmeal like at the gro. or something else? Where is the best place to get it? We have a co-op here and I haven't gone there yet cause I am not sure what to ask for. Same goes for molassas. The area that I have my garden in is not very fertule and needs alot of building up. Everyone I know say I should get some fertelizer but the type they are talking about is not organic. Our land is mostly very wooded except this area. The fall brings tons of leaves so I plan to mulch these up and add to the garden this fall or winter, but am so new to this style of gardening that I am uncertain of all that I should do to get my ground in shape. That is why I love to read everyones commints but sometimes it seems to go over my head. But I know I will learn if I keep asking questions. Thanks again.

dragonfly · Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2003 12:34 pm Post subject:

I usually buy cornmeal at the feed store, much less expensive. I also saw a huge bag of horticultural cornmeal (I think it was 40 or 50 pounds) at a local variety store today for about 10 dollars. I found this seeding guide for Texas Fall gardens in an old Texas Gardener magazine from 2 yrs ago. Texas Gardener is a great magazine for general gardening in this climate.
In the DFW area, direct seed planting guidelines are as follows for Fall gardening:
Beans, snap, bush- Aug 1
Beans, lima- July 25
Broccoli- Aug 1
Brussels sprouts- Aug 1
Beets- Sept 1
Cabbage- Aug 1
Carrots- Aug 15
Cauliflower- July 1
Chard, Swiss- Aug 15
Collards- Aug 15
Corn, sweet- Aug 10
Cucumber- Aug 1
Eggplant- June 15
Kohlrabi- Sept 1
Leaf Lettuce- Sept 1
Mustard- Oct 1
Onion (seed)- not recommended
Peas, southern- July 1
Pepper- June 15
Potato- Aug 1
Pumpkin- July 1
Radish- Oct 1
Spinach- Sept 1
Squash, summer- Aug 15
Squash, winter- July 1
Tomato- June 15
Turnip- Oct 15

Harry · Guest

Thanks this is a big help. Can find info on spring planting but this is really good for fall planting. Will check with local feed store for cornmeal and molasses. Do you just spread each on the grounc and then till in? What is best way to use?

QuestGirl · Guest Joined: 02 Sep 2003 Posts: 28 Location: Plano, TX

I have missed out on planting by seeds. Can I plant potted lettuce (am I saying that right? haha).

dragonfly · Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2004 10:44 am Post subject:

Go ahead and plant your lettuce seeds. I just planted mine last Thursday and they are coming up already. I make a partly shaded shelter to place over my seed beds this time of year by using part of a cattle panel and some window screen material. This helps keep the seedlings cooler and gives them some Sun relief. I'll post a pic later so you can see.

dragonfly · Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2004 11:14 am Post subject:

Here's a couple of pix of the way I get seed beds started in Summer. They turned out a little bit dark, but hopefully you can see them well enough.

http://www.pbase.com/dragonfly/image/33586165

QuestGirl · Guest Joined: 02 Sep 2003 Posts: 28 Location: Plano, TX

Thanks Dragonfly! :)

northwesterner · Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2004 8:41 am Post subject:

I planted onion seeds in late September, and will put some onion sets in when they come in at the garden center, and compare the results. My garden is always an ongoing expriment, and for several years now I've kept a journal of what I've been doing, what I planted and where, and any unusual weather conditions or assaults by pests and attempted remedies so I can go back and evaluate the process later.

I didn't have a chance to plant some of the other stuff from seed (but many thanks for the list and dates!). I didn't have to replant tomatoes or peppers, they're still going strong, as is the eggplant and chard. I did prepare a large pot to put in a garden mix that will stay next to the back door and hopefully give me some leafy stuff through the fall at least. I never got it seeded, so I'll put in something from the garden center and see what happens. :wink:

Northwesterner

dragonfly · Posted: Sat Oct 23, 2004 9:41 pm Post subject:

So many of the plants in the mustard and lettuce families are pretty cold-tolerant, so I'm trying an experiment of my own this Winter. I'll remove the shade cloth off my cattle panel shelters and cover them with clear plastic for Winter, hopefully helping encourage growth through the Winter season from the mini greenhouse effect. Hope it works. It would be nice to have organic veggie greens to eat until the Spring season.