Fall Garden. August 5th

Get ready for another hand-drawn garden map. One of the lessons I learned by trial and error (but is there really another way?) was that I wil forget what I planted and where I put it, and when the seeds went in if I don't write these things down. You may have noticed that my other planting entrie said dates like "mid-June." Because I forgot when I planted things. This makes it hard to use the guides on the back of the seed packets that say things like "55-60 days until maturity." Oh, really, because I planted them... approximately... a while ago.

Well, I intend not to repeat that particular lack of common sense. So I wrote it down. i planted things on August 5th. I checked the average first frost for my neighborhood and calculated back to make sure I was planting things that would survive to adulthood. Or when i want to eat them, whichever comes first. I also asked Garden Center Man, and he approved of my seed choices, so i feel pretty good about them. One of the things I got to plant were these crazy purple heirloom radishes. They're from Germany, but I called and asked and they should be well suited to my climate. These seeds went in a little later, though (August 14). I also plan to follow the seed directions about successive plantings every two weeks for some varieties, which I did not adhere to before.

Here's my fall harvest plans. if I had gotten a normal time start most of these would have been planted in early spring first, and the re-planted for fall harvest. The two rows of peas are planted together like that, instead of one long row across so that the bushes can intertwine and support each other. Or so the story goes. Plants are adorable.

You may also notice the penciled-in lettuce and beets (take 2) in the summer section. Various thinnings, picking of beets and plant-dying mishaps left some usable space over there, so I plopped them in among the mature plants. I've heard it's good to have an adult influence. The purple radishes are also outside of my more conventional row system. There was some good dirt there, so i tossed them in, partly as an experiement about planting conditions and partly because I was excited about them.