A few weeks ago I planted our fall greens from seed in the vegetable garden. I planted a mix of kale, chard, lettuce, spinach, pak choi, and Brussels sprouts. The seedlings are all located in one of my long 10'x3' beds made from scrape lumber. They were orginally meant to be 10'x2' like in this raised bed layout but I altered the size a little. When the days begin to stay a little cooler, without the peaks of 80 degree weather, I'll install PVC pipe for a hoop house to keep my greens growing. Otherwise the greens need little care at the moment except for occasional watering during the dry spells. Fortunately rain has been fairly frequent compared to normal this fall. I sowed the seeds fairly thick but I'll harvest some of the younger greens to thin out the bed.
Earlier in the summer I planted a few pak choi (or bak choi) in another raised bed which are doing good. There is also some self sown lettuce in the same bed that we'll cultivate and harvest as long as we can. It's been my experience that lettuce sown in the fall will survive each year until spring even if it doesn't put on growth. Once spring warms up the lettuce has a great head start. I'll place a couple hoops over this smaller bed as well and cover to encourage growth for a longer period over the winter.
Are you growing fall or winter greens this year?
Labels: fall vegetable garden, lettuce and greens, planting vegetables, vegetable garden
