Buried Treasure
What would you rather have: a treasure chest full of gold with no food to eat, or a garden full of vegetables and fruit though you have no money to spend? Money can’t buy everything—as we all learned so well last spring when Covid-19 hit. We had money in our pockets, but the grocery store shelves were empty. In some people’s cases they didn’t even have money to spend because they didn’t have a job. It was at this point that those who had gardens, or had a habit of stocking their pantry shelves, had plenty to eat—and that is why some people decided to start gardening.
When you hold a seed in your hand you are holding hope for tomorrow. When you plant that seed you are investing in the future. DISCLAIMER: Just because you plant a seed, doesn’t mean it will sprout. Just because it sprouts, doesn’t mean it will grow. Just because it grows, doesn’t mean it will produce. Just because it produces, doesn’t mean you will get to eat it. There are many aspects to gardening that you have no control over—so you do the best you can. Just don’t give up!
Maybe you are new to gardening, and maybe you just moved to North Florida and want to garden but you do not know what to plant or when to plant it. Right now my head is spinning with all the fall garden planning. When do I plant my seeds in the seed trays? What seeds will I direct sow into the garden? Where will I plant each plant in the garden? What needs to be protected from frost or freezes, and what is fine out in the open?
August is fast approaching, so now is the time to start gathering your seeds. If you want a chance to enjoy some summer squash, cucumbers, green beans, peppers, tomatoes, and even some sweet corn—late July or early August is the time to plant them. You will direct sow these seeds straight into the garden where you want them to grow. This will give these seeds time to sprout, grow and produce before the first frost in the fall.
August is when you also start preparing for the long term fall, winter and spring garden. Many of the seeds that you plant now will start producing in the fall and will produce clear through spring the following year. Planting these vegetables is truly preparing for the future, and the more you harvest them, the more they produce.
Green onions and multiplying onions are started from little bulbs. You plant them now, and in a few months they will have doubled enough that you can start eating them. When you harvest them you do not harvest the whole clump—but always be sure to leave at least one onion so that it can continue to multiply.
Most fall garden vegetables are best started in seed trays in a green house—or under a grow light. Our cool winters make perfect growing conditions for all the brassica family vegetables: broccoli, turnips, collards, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, and mustard’s. You want to start them in seed trays about 6 to 8 weeks before you plan on transplanting them into your garden—and the best time for them to be transplanted into the garden is in September. About three weeks after you plant the seeds in the trays, the plants should be big enough to pot up to little pots. This way they can continue to grow big and get a good root system before you plant them out.
The number one reason to start them in seed trays is so that the plants get a good head start on the weeds, and so that you can space them out without having to spend a lot of time thinning. Many times when we direct sow the fall garden the weeds take over before the plants get big enough, we over seed—and never get around to thinning them out which makes for puny little plants. It is just so much easier to plant nice size plants in a weed free garden bed, perfectly spaced where you want them. Then when weeds start to appear, you know what is a plant and what is a weed. Sowing into seed trays also saves on seeds!
Come September when you are ready to plant out your brassica plants, it is time to direct seed your carrots. While the brassica plants enjoy cold weather, they will be affected by frosts and freezes. They seldom kill the plant to the ground, but it does make portions of the leaves inedible. Carrots on the other hand need no protection at all. Just make sure when you plant them that you take the time to plant a seed every 2”. This may get tiring, but it will be worth it in the end—you will not have to go back and thin them out. One good rule of thumb when growing carrots: work your soil deep, so that you have nice fluffy soil so the carrots can grow long!
When October rolls around it is time to plant spinach, strawberries, and garlic. Spinach is directly sowed into the garden bed two weeks before the first frost—which could arrive anytime between October 15 and November 15. It loves cold weather—the colder the better. Garlic and strawberries are planted now—but will not be harvested until the following spring for strawberries and early summer for the garlic. The strawberries will need to be protected from the frosts and freezes, but the garlic will be just fine.
One of my favorite things to grow is onions, and it just so happens that they are to be planted right around my birthday—which is right around Thanksgiving. They are very cold hardy—but be double, double sure to keep them weed free. If you don’t the onions will look like leeks instead of forming onion bulbs.
Lettuce does best from September to June. You can plant them every three weeks for a continuous supply of salad. Start them in your seed trays, then when they are three weeks old plant them in the garden—and start over again.
Farmer’s in our area keep track of when to plant certain vegetables according to different holidays:
Plant your garlic at Halloween, your onions at Thanksgiving, your sugar snap peas on New’s Years Day, white potatoes on Valentine’s Day, and sweet potatoes anytime between Memorial Day and the 4th of July.
You start you fall garden in August, and never plant your spring garden before March 15—you could get one last killing freeze.
Hope this helps you plan your garden—now all you need to do is go find some seeds so that you can bury some treasure.