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When to plant fall crops in my area and when to start seeds

14 years ago

I ordered seeds from Bakers Creek and the plants are all beautiful. I think every seed germinated. This is my 2nd year of gardening and I am thinnking of ordering seeds to plant for a fall crop. Does anyone know what would grow in my area in the fall? I live in western NC. I would like to start seeds for broccoli, carrots, lettuce, beets, greens, and cauliflower. Would any of these be fall crops? If I order the seeds now should I start them indoors or out of doors to have the plants ready for fall plainting. I appreciate your help so much as our garden means a great deal to help with our food suppply in these hard times.

Comments (5)

digdirt2
14 years ago
I hope you don't mind if I refer you to the Vegetable Gardening Forum as that is where you will find the most relevant discussions and the most info you are looking for.

We deal mostly with canning and preserving on this forum. ;)

Dave

PS: You might also want to check out the Southeast Gardening forum for info specific to your area.
bejay9_10
14 years ago
I agree with Dave. It was so confusing to me as to what to plant in my area. In zone 11 where I am (Calif. coastal), we plant our "fall" seeds in October, then usually wait until April to plant the "summer" seeds.

Actually, many seed packets will have a "when to plant" zone map pictured on them. Even so - I have found many microclimate zones that don't fit the entire picture either.

Bejay
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When and what fall crops do you plant?
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Comments (5)
Generally to find your best planting date would be to pick out what you want, and find the Days to Maturity on it, then add about 2 weeks extra to that (so if it says 120 days, make it 135). Next, look up First Frost Date for your area. Subtract the modified Days to Maturity from that date. Thats ideally when you want to have it planted by. Vague timey-wimey estimate, plant it now. Good fall crops are anything leafy or root veggies. So broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, cabbage, etc or carrots, potatoes, radishes, etc. Currently I have a couple Broccoli Romanesco in the ground, as well as some Anirondak Purple potatoes (seed potato from the crop I grew this spring). The big box stores will have their fall crops in by the end of August, so you could always wait until then and browse the sprouted ready to go stuff.
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When to start fall crops in Los Angeles, CA?
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Comments (6)
For fall crops I have a difficult time keeping seeds that are sown close to the surface evenly moist until they germinate. I wait for cooler fall weather before I start lettuce because it struggles in the heat and dry Santa Ana'a and struggling lettuce is not worth eating. Broccoli and cauliflower can be started now indoors to transfer out in sept. I am going to try leeks for the first time this year too and they supposedly germinate at temp 50 to 75 degrees so I plan to direct sow them at the same time as the lettuce- mid/late Oct.
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when to start seeds for fall crop
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Comments (2)
Check out the What to Plant Now pages at Mother Earth News. In most regions, broccoli for fall is started indoors in July, and parsnips are direct sown sown by the end of June. It is still good planting time for carrots (and my favorite, super-easy rutabagas) but you don't plant garlic until October. It's hard to learn, but timing is crucial! Here is a link that might be useful: What to Plant Now
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When to start cole crop seeds?
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Comments (19)
I put the plastic over one bed today to warm it up. I'm going to add jugs of water and some black rocks. I strung one strand of large bulb Christmas lights just in case and put one of the remote thermometers in there so I can monitor temps from my living room. The soil in at least part of the bed stays pretty warm. There are worms just a couple inches down in the mulch (the part of the bed that I covered with landscape fabric). I figure I'll give it a little time to warm up with the plastic, pre-sprout some seeds (lettuce, spinach, broccoli, carrots, radishes & scallions) plunk them out there and see what happens. If they freeze, I'll just try again later. I'm planting the center 2 squares the length of one of my 4x10 beds. peel, I have gotten a lot of good info from folks on the Rocky Mtn Gardening forum. I think regional groups can help a lot.
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CA Kate z9
14 years ago
I would suggest that you visit your county's Ag Extension Service. I bet you'll find all sorts of useful information on planting times in your specific area of the USA.
ksrogers
14 years ago
Start broccoli now. Cabbage as well as brussels sprouts. Keep in mind there are less cold weather crops, and that includes beets and carrots. Greens and lettuce are usually cool weather, but many can grow in summer too. Some seeds can survive winters as can some herbs like thyme. I started thyme from seeds two years ago and they are huge plants now. Dill has now started to flower and I never even planted a single dill seed. The dill all sprouted from seeds that dropped from last summer and those plants came from the year before. I just hope my tiny cuke plants will get bigger soon. We finally had a single day of sunshine here after over 2 weeks of gloom and rain.
bejay9_10
14 years ago
Soil temperatures are a good way to decide when to plant seeds in your area. Some seeds will go dormant in winter and sprout in spring on their own time.

We have no real dormant perior here - so soil temperatures are important in determining when to sow seeds. That is why many gardeners sow seeds inside - under controlled (warmed conditions), to give the seed the temperatures they prefer. When the seedling is able to stand outside temperatures, it is then planted outside (with loving care).

You will find lots of information in the Vegetable Forum.

My 2 c's.

Bejay

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