In today’s fall garden update, I’ll share what’s thriving in my raised beds here in Zone 9a, plus the changes I’m planning as cooler weather arrives.
I’ve had a garden in the same 5×5 bed for the past two years. I use square foot gardening in order to maximize the space available to me in my garden, but reaching the middle of such a big bed has been a real struggle for me, and I wish I would have gone with a narrower bed to start with, but I’ve never been one to slow down when I have a new plan. So, here we are.
That being said, I’ve had a lot of success with my pepper plants, and my amaranth this year. (I think I’ll do a separate post on Amaranth because I’m trying something new this year with harvesting this ancient grain and I think it would be fun to share that process.) Everything else produced a mediocre amount of food, but this summer has been wild down here in Zone 9a. The heat was off the charts (some of the heat indexes hit 115) and the rain has been so temperamental. It’ll be weeks of me having to water twice a day because there’s no rain, followed by weeks of torrential downpours. The poor plants can’t keep up.
I decided that I’d like to upgrade my layout, so this past week I’ve been pulling up the plants that haven’t been doing well and taking down the structures surrounding the bed. I have also been collecting metal raised beds from Facebook Marketplace for about a month or two. So far, I’ve got two 4×2 beds and two 6×2 beds, but I’d like a couple more to fully realize the plan in my head.
I want to turn one bed into a Southeasten wildflower bed for my pollinators, and one bed into a medicinal plant bed as a fun challenge to myself. I’ve also gotten a rain barrel to collect all of this rain we’ve been getting. I’m excited to get that set up later this week because we’ve got storms coming for the next week and a half.
I’m going to make an update post when I finally get everything in place, but I forsee that taking a bit with how hot it is still. In the meantime, I’ve been working on starting some seedlings of the veggies I want to grow this fall and into the winter. I think you’ll find I’m a bit of a choas gardener when it comes to timing things. Frost dates be damned. If I think I can do it, I usually try it…this year I’ll be trying tomatoes in the fall instead of the summer. I’m thinking they’ll do well because our winters are mild and in my head they’ll be like tomatoes from up North. I know it sounds crazy if you know anything about how particular tomatoes can be. But, I love a challenge.
I’m also going to grow something I’m very excited for–Zucchini Rampicante (also known as Tromboncino.) Another summer plant in the fall? Groundbreaking, Matheson, groundbreaking. And of course the more traditional fall crops will be there, too. I’ll be planting:
- Lettuce
- Rainbow chard
- French breakfast radishes (so good on toast with good salted butter)
- Mississippi silver crowder peas
- Dragon’s tongue string beans (these are so good; I love that they don’t have the tough strings)
- Chinese eggplant
- Okra
My girlfriend has also decided that if she can’t beat me, she’ll join me so I’ve got a little bed for her to grow herbs going. I think she’s doing oregano, thyme, rosemary, and sage. I’ll have to confirm with her, though. My fruit trees and bushes will also be getting new pots for the winter. I have two half whiskey barrels for my fig trees that I’m planning to put on casters so I can move them around.
I’ll be sure to keep you guys in the loop for how things are going. I’ve got my work cut out for me this fall.
Do any of you have suggestions for medicinal plants I could add to my medicine garden? I’m a novice when it comes to my knowledge of this subject, but I’ve got a couple of books I’ll be reading. Drop a comment if you have some suggestions you think I should try or books to add to my list. I’ll be back soon!