Hello and a very warm welcome back to the Kellogg Garden Channel. I'm your host Resh Gala,
in today's episode I'm going to talk all about planting your late summer and your fall garden,
but before we get started don't forget to hit the subscribe button and the notification bell
so you don't miss another great gardening video from Kellogg again. So, let's go. Now,
in today's episode, like I mentioned, I want to talk to you about planting your garden in perhaps
August, September, and October, or closer to your frost days. So, in order to plan your late
summer garden, especially when you have very few warm days left in your gardening season,
it's important to know your frost dates. Your first frost date. So, that's number one. First,
google and find out your first frost date so you know exactly how many days you have
from today all the way up to your first frost date in your growing season left, especially for
your summer veggies. So, that's number one. The second important thing in order to be successful
at your late summer and fall garden is variety selection. Now, if my frost date is October 15th,
and I'm, today in august 15th, then basically I have September and October, which is about two
months, or approximately 60 days in my growing season. Now, given that I know this information,
what can I plant out right now that I can successfully grow in my late summer garden?
If I select something like bush beans, which are extremely prolific, here it says it's about 55
days from seed to harvest, so I have enough time to have a second or a third harvest,
perhaps, of my bush beans if you're succession planting. So, bush beans are a great option
if you have a sufficient number of days left. Another good option is also, your cucumbers. Now,
certain cucumber varieties, of course, like I said about variety selection, certain cucumber
varieties might take longer especially the larger cucumbers, but if you choose the smaller pickling
varieties such as homemade pickles, which is one of my favorites, then it says it's about 55 days
from seed to harvest. So, just like bush beans, you can get away with planting cucumbers as well
for a late summer harvest, and the same goes for zucchini or squash plants as well.
Now, one of the other things is that, if you're a small space gardener like me, then you have
to be ready to make some brutal decisions. I know right now, I'm in August, and I have my tomatoes,
and my cucumbers, and eggplants loaded with fruit and I don't want to really pull them out,
but where do I have the space to plant my fall garden, especially because August is the time
for me to put the seeds in, into the ground. So, if that is the case then thing the or you have
two options basically, one would be to start your seeds indoors so you get a little bit of a head
start, especially for things like bok choy, kale. If you're planning to do cauliflower,
or cabbage, etc. So, start those seedlings indoors so you get a head start and you give your tomato
and summer plants a little bit extra time to grow and produce, and then you can pull them out
and put the seedlings in. Apart from that, if you don't want to do that and you do want direct sow,
then you have to make certain brutal decisions that if there are certain tomato plants or
cucumber plants that are not doing well, that are perhaps diseased or have a lot of pest issues
then don't hesitate to pull them out and instead direct sow in its place. I love putting in things
like carrots and beets especially, that's the best for direct sowing your root veggies, and
sometimes there are one or two plants I might pull out. I wouldn't pull out my entire summer garden
and plant completely for fall, but I would stagger it and do it in stages. Keep that in mind you
don't have to take everything out but you can do it in stages, and that's okay, too. Things like
bok choy for example, they take about 40 days or so from seed to harvest. Lettuce again is
a very quick producer and so are radishes, about 25 to 35 days. I would say from seed to harvest.
So, those you can plant in much later during the season, closer to your frost dates, and reserve
your earlier season for things that take more time to mature like your carrots, beets, etc. Now,
just to give you an example of what I typically tend to plant in late summer for a fall crop;
when I have my garlic and I pulled that out around mid-July, then I would direct sow bush beans
in place of the garlic. When I pull out my onions, say in late July or early August, then I would
plant in its place, things like carrots. So, I have something growing in the garden constantly,
and as a gardener, to be productive, that's exactly what you should be thinking. That,
if my plant is tired and isn't looking well, pull it out direct sow something in its place,
or have seedlings ready at the go, to put them into the ground. So, just to give you an example
a few of the varieties that are my favorite for fall gardens or late summer gardens, I just wanted
to share some of them with you. One, of course, is bok choy, another one is cucumbers, especially
the homemade pickles variety, that's my absolute favorite, they grow pretty fast. Bush beans are
great for late summer, as well as carrots are nice for a fall garden because they're frost-hardy.
And now don't forget also, that if you are looking to grow things like garlic, which goes in about
two weeks before your first frost date, don't forget to place the order for those bulbs right
now, because I know a lot of places are running in low supply, so definitely do that. And, if
you do plan to plant garlic and you have a small garden, plant it just around the borders. Now, if
you're lucky enough to stay in an area where you have more than 90 days, or even 100 days left in
your growing season before your first cross hits you, then, of course, you can most happily plant
more tomato seedlings into the ground right now, but us in the northeast, I think it's a little
bit challenging. So, now I just want to share with you a couple of varieties that I believe are frost
tolerant and would do great in your fall garden. Starting with, of course, arugula, lettuce,
spinach, bok choy, carrots, beets, swiss chard, you have your cabbage, as well as broccoli,
cauliflower, let's see what else do we have here? I think I mentioned radishes as well, and
strawberries, of course, are perennial and they can survive through the winter. Apart from that,
you can also consider flowers such as tulips, grape hyacinth, daffodils, those can be planted
right now in fall and that will be a little bit later, and they'll be blooming come spring.
Finally, you can also plant this Cherokee sunset black-eyed Susan, which looks beautiful.
So don't forget, there's a lot of flowers, as well, that can go in, and herbs too such as
rosemary, thyme, oregano. They can survive the winter, and come back the following year. So,
I hope this video was helpful to you in planning your late summer and fall garden. Just to recap,
number one know your first frost-date, number two know the amount of time that you have between seed
and harvest, for whichever variety you're going to grow, also, number three know the growing times,
such as 50 to 55 days for bush beans, or maybe 70 to 90 days for carrots, so you know if you
have sufficient time to get a successful harvest. Next, make sure you know whether the plants that
you're planting in your garden are frost tolerant or not, so that will help you determine whether
they can go and grow well beyond your frost date. Now, keep in mind as the weather gets colder
and the temperatures tend to drop, especially at night, growth in your garden tends to slow
down as well. So, just because the package says about 70 days, doesn't mean exact 70,
but I would say give it a few more extra days because with cooler temperatures
growth does tend to slow down. So, keep that in mind as well. Lastly, if you can possibly
do this, I would highly encourage you to get some sort of frost-tolerant covers, farm grade plastic,
things like that in order to grow well into the colder months as well. And, I think I have
a video up on the Kellogg Garden Channel about growing undercover using just simple hoops and
farm-grade plastic, and I was harvesting carrots well into December and January. So, take care,
grow your garden, keep growing, and I wish you all the best. Hope to see you soon. Thanks, bye!