Sounds good, Laura! Have you started your spinach already? It's pretty crazy that it's already time to think Fall!

I have chard growing already and it will last into fall, so I won't need to re-seed. I'll be doing a couple varieties of kale myself. Mostly Blue Curled Scotch for kale chips. I'll be direct-seeding a whole bunch of carrots. Atomic Red, White Satin, Purple Dragon, Bolero, Imperator, and I think I have a couple other varieties. Definitely doing the Bloomsdale Longstanding spinach again too. Might do a variety of lettuces and try mache for the first time.

OMG. Every time i read about fall garden i panic, still getting a grip on summer garden! I do have a list somewhere of what I want to grow and based on my first freeze dates in CA (mild climate) I have some time, thank god! Not to mention I currently have no free space! Will be turning under the front yard grass and adding raised beds someday soon.....

That sounds delicious, Chris!

I planted all the seeds yesterday. The spinach is one I found at a local grocery store - no idea what that variety will be like but that's all they had in the way of spinach.

I too have chard already growing, but it's been a slow year for it, so I'm starting some more just to have bigger quantities.

I've been doing a rainbow mix of carrots for the past two years, but notice that some of the varieties always do better than others. My favorite and best producer is Cosmic Purple, so for next year I'm going to buy only that variety carrot seed.

I've got Red Russian kale still growing and in fact I even had some overwinter from last year that are just bolting now. So we'll see if this year's plants will overwinter too.

babushka, when is your first frost? You have way more time than us probably lol. That's awesome that you're expanding the garden! I love doing that :-)

Laura, do you intend to save the kale seed?? I grew Red Russian and Lacinato kale last year and they both did very well in somewhat shady conditions.

Is it time to start spinach already? I feel like I still have a good month. I don't want to risk it bolting and the Bloomsdale Longstanding variety is sensitive to heat, but very cold-tolerant. I overwintered it from last year and had incredible yields in the Spring!

I'd really love to do fall cauliflower, but I think it's getting a bit late and it takes up so much room in the garden.

Never tried Cosmic Purple, but lots of people grow it. Maybe I should give it a shot.

Chris, I should save the kale seed. Especially from this plant that is strong enough to overwinter itself. And you're probably right about the spinach, I should check the DTM on that.

babushka, my frost date is October 24 so even though it seems early to plant fall seeds, it's actually right on time. I'm looking forward to lots of fall greens and roots!

I sowed broccoli and cauliflower seeds indoors last week. They will likely be planted where the zucchini and potatoes are and were.

I will starting spinach in the next couple weeks.

Will be direct sowing more green beans later in the month.

Direct sowing in August - lettuce, kale, radishes, carrots, chard.

May try to do a late sowing of some cukes/zukes here in the next couple weeks if I can find the room.

Just curious, if a light is not to be had for cool growing indoors, can cold season crops grow just fine in pots outside with the heat? (Such as cabbage)

@chris first frost is ~ mid-Dec here in Northern CA, yes have much more time, THANK GOD!

Jacob - I'm not sure how regular cabbage does direct seeded but I know Napa type cabbages are not supposed to transplant well and do better direct seeded so I would give it a shot. Other brassicas like cauliflower and broccoli do better started as transplants but a lot of people do that outdoors in a shady area.

I've already got most of my fall plants started. Bunching onions were started 2 months ago and could go out any time. Jade Cross E Brussels Sprouts are on day 5 of hardening off. Currently outside 24/7 in morning sun and afternoon shade and will be planted out this weekend with some shade cloth. 4 types of broccoli ( Arcadia, Bay Meadows, Early Dividend, Aspabroc) and 2 types of cauliflower (Cheddar, Snow Crown) were started indoors on Friday and have sprouted. Fillet bush beans will be direct sown this weekend and my experiment with fall potatoes will also be planted out this weekend. Carrots ( Bolero, Napoli, Purple Haze) will be direct sown in a couple weeks. I will start fall lettuce indoors the last weekend in July to plant out at 3 weeks old. Fall leeks have been in the ground for 5 weeks now as have my Acorn and Butternut winter squash.

Thank you, LoneJack. I actually tried putting some out after they'd sprouted and 4 out of 6 broccoli burnt up in the full sun! The others weren't looking too hot but I put them in a constant dappled shade behind all my peppers and tomatoes and they've perked up now. I think the heat was just too much for full sun!

I now have 2 purple sprouting broccoli I started a couple weeks ago on top of 4 more I started yesterday to make up for the lost ones. I also started half a dozen cauliflower yesterday and last week I had started 8 cabbage. I've also began my beetroot multisowing experiment, which is going well so far. Once we're back from vacation in late July, early August, I'll start the a second round of cabbage and cauliflower as well as more beetroot and my first sowing of carrots.

jacob

I put 420 bandit leeks seeds into cell trays the other day, going to be cutting it close to get them mature before my persephone days start (around Nov 8th) but if they have to overwinter in the low tunnels and finish in the spring that wouldn't be terrible. I'll be starting some sorrento broccoli rabe in a few weeks.

DoninFLX - Bandit leeks have one of the longer DTMs at 120 days so I doubt they will get much size before winter sets in. I would probably plan on overwintering them. I planted out a few dozen Bandit leeks in l late March and I think the largest ones are maybe a little over inch in girth right now after 3 1/2 months. I have been harvesting the King Richard leeks (75 DTM) planted at the same time for about a month now.

Yarg. Thanks for the info, I was hoping they were being conservative and that DTM for spring planting was a little different than fall planting. Oh well I'll shoot for the recommended 75% mature for overwintering then.

I did over winter a few Bandit last year and most of them held up well. I ended up harvesting most of them during February when I was making a Chinese stir fry.