Fall planting question

[xCSx]

My summer garden space is totally full for the most part, I am very confused on how to do the transition to a fall garden, can I plant spinach and lettuce under the tomato plants? Or do I need to clear space for the fall stuff?

Thanks!

[geo in mi]

Originally Posted by xCSx

My summer garden space is totally full for the most part, I am very confused on how to do the transition to a fall garden, can I plant spinach and lettuce under the tomato plants? Or do I need to clear space for the fall stuff?

Thanks!

Really need to know your location. Temps here in SW MI, even in 'normal' years would be too high yet for lettuce and spinich. So, by the time the temps go down, you may have something that's done, like green beans? Good place to replant if you snip off the plants, and till in the roots, for the nodule nitrogen......and the loose soil. Cabbage space may be opened up by then, too. Potatoes?....That too.

geo

[xCSx]

I am in 6b. My green beans are still producing. Same with everything else into next month.

[farmerstac]

You will want to wait to late September to plant spinach and lettuces that late due to the heat. I was raising lettuce and spinach in December here. If you are looking for fresh stuff now, I plant it in pots and set it in the shade with limited success. If you could bring it into a air conditioned house you would have better luck.

[Glacialtill]

I've been working on succession planting for fall gardens a couple years now. The basic idea seems to be: check out the 'days to maturity' on the seed packets; count back from your first average frost date; add maybe a week or two to compensate for the shortening day length and you get your planting date.

Different seeds have different optimal soil temperature for optimal germination. Too hot now for lettuce and spinach. And if they did come up they'd probably just start bolting.

Here's a temperature link: Germination tables from Heirloom Seeds - Know when to plant all your vegetables.

I found Elliot Coleman's book The Four Season Harvest to be very useful. Another link to his basic ideas, if scroll down he has planting dates he uses at his farm in zone 5:

http://www.fourseasonfarm.com/pdfs/g...ll_seasons.pdf

I haven't been very scientific with my experiments, but if I have open garden space when an earlier crop comes out, and get around to it, I put in some seeds. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't, but when it does and you have a thriving garden into the fall--and the winter even in a cold frame--it's totally worth it.

[Danaus29]

In Ohio it's still way too hot outside for lettuce and spinach. However this is the time for starting cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower indoors. Peas should be planted this month but with temps predicted to be in the 90's for the rest of the month starting them outdoors doesn't look promising.

Mother Earth News has a planting guide:
What to Plant Now

[celina]

omg Danaus29 thanks for that link....just what i needed being new to the area

[NickieL]

I try to leave some spots just in cover crop, so that I can till those in a couple weeks before planting fall crops. But also things like potatoes that come up before fall can be planted with something for fall.

[romysbaskets]

Where we are in the Pacific Northwest, we had a June with low temps and nights in the 40's. July warmed up but I did lose cucumbers, squash and beans. This messed up these things which I started indoors after that to plant again. I took an new upraised bed my son built me and covered it in Lettuces and potatoes (I have been planting those since Spring). I just keep planting more and more. I am adjusting to the weather as there is no other choice. It is so cool here that Lettuces are thriving with none seeding. My last potatoes I planted are twice the size of the others I did earlier! My garlic is not the size of last years, waiting to see the end result.... I have been planting lettuces under all kinds of things, they grow wonderfully as long as the tomatoes or potatoes do not lean over onto them. I am filling every space and just keep planting if I lose anything to cold or drenching. For others, they are losing things to extreme heat, guess I am happier to have it this way. I have had to move my tomatoes in and out of my gazebo to keep them dry. This has resulted in beautiful tomato plants in buckets...LOL I can not even plant tomatoes in my garden beds...they would get way too much rain.