Our small fall garden is coming right along so far. Matt didn’t believe me, but I said I was going to cut back on planting this fall and I did 🙂
We planted four areas with mustard, turnips, kale, and creasy greens. Every thing is up and growing except for the creasy greens. Hopefully a little cool weather will bring them on.
Pap never planted a fall garden, but once I discovered I could grow a few cold tolerant vegetables in fall just like I do in spring of the year I was hooked on planting in the fall.
Here on the north side of the mountain we don’t have full sun in the summer. Once fall begins to creep up on us there is less sun every day until it starts going back the other way next spring.
Because of that the few things we grow in the fall do better if planted in the front gardens where the most sun hits year round. Many folks ask us about planting in our greenhouse during the winter, but the sun doesn’t hit the greenhouse at all once fall arrives until the sun changes it’s path next spring.
Back in the day when Matt built it we never thought of using it for anything other than starting plants in early spring, but even if we had with our limited space there really isn’t any other good place to put it.
We’ve thought about building one down at the big garden where we do get full sun, but that would take up space from our corn. Planting under row covers would likely work very well down there.
The cold tolerant things we plant for fall will usually continue to grow throughout the winter, although at a much slower pace. If we have several days of really cold weather the plants suffer and sometimes die. A row cover would prevent that.
Growing a fall garden is easier because it is much smaller and the pestilence pressure is almost zero. The garden doesn’t provide near the amount of food a summer garden does, but it is really nice to have fresh greens and a few turnips during the cold months of winter.
Tipper
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I’ve not heard of creasy greens. Curious what they are like and if I could grow them here in California.
Yesterday I put out some seeds just to see what happens. Lots of lettuce, broccoli, cabbage and carrots. We have a fairly long growing season here. I tried to order fall transplants of broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and kale this week but all the stores are out of stock!! A friend says a local nursery has em’ so I’ll be tryin that this week, Lord willing. I’ve never grown a fall garden so should be interesting. I want to plant garlic yet and sugar snap peas too. I think I’ll have hubby till up a good bit of ground for them so I’ll have lots to put up.
One thing I think would be fun is trying to grow ramps here. I don’t remember eating them as a child but somewheres I have a picture of Great papaw Ned eating them with his trucker hat on 🙂
Thank you for your blog. I greatly enjoy it as it reminds me of home. God bless you.
Hi Tipper and Acorns. We generally pick Creecy Greens (dry land cress) in the early spring/late winter. I’ve never seen them as a fall crop. You will need to sew seed in spring for a fall crop. Don’t give up on them and keep an eye out for the flat “rosettes” and cut them off at the root with a knife. I love, love, love Creecy greens. The stems can be tough and the leave acrid, so get them up before weather gets warm after winter. They can wonderfully. They grow wild and in early spring will bolt and you will see fields of the tall stalks with yellow flowers. We remember where they are and harvest them the next year. It takes 8 weeks from sowing to harvest.
God bless you Tipper for your sweet soul, kindness and generosity. Hoping your fall garden grows! I usually don’t do a lot with a fall garden, but after a family member had cyclosporiasis this summer, I have some fall lettuce and greens going. I hope they do well. My relative has sworn off all lettuce that isn’t homegrown ever again!!! after being so sick!!!!! So the pressure to grow is on. 🙂 Meg, hoping your appointment went well today and all is continuing to be good for your delivery at home! So many prayers out today for Acorn friends. God cover each one.
Hi Lynn! I’m sorry uour loved one got cyclosporiasis! That is the reason we tried a fall garden too. No one was ill that we knew, but allthe recalls made me distrustful of store bought produce. I hope your fall garden thrives and nourishes your family! Our appointment went well, we saw baby again and were told all is well. My midwife got the report and let me know we are fine to keep planning on birth at home. I may need to get another sonogram if I go over my due date by much, just to check on baby again, but the midwife told us to just wait and rest for now. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement! I appreciate your experience too as a neonatal nurse. What a calling that is! ❤️
who’s Meg?
Jan, Meg is a regular Blind Pig reader 🙂
May God bless everyone here on the blog. Though I don’t know each and every one of you, I hope that you know that I do care and empathize with each and every person with the cross that they must carry. I also wish everybody on the blog including the rest of the world, a little more peace to make the crosses that we all bear a little easier to carry because life is so short. God bless us everyone. With all my love, Esme’
❤️
I have learned so much from you Tipper . Thank you for all you do.
A picture of promise of the good things to come to your table through the winter months in your picture this morning Tipper. May the fall gardens do well for you. And congratulations on ‘scaling back!!’ 🙂
Love & prayers for you all !
Randy, I am sorry for your loss. My prayer is that God will give you peace that passes all human understanding.
Sincerely,
Sanford
Love to see the bright promise of greens during the cold months with those little plants poking up. I see some of that delicious kale and bean soup in your future on a frigid day! We had a very rainy day here yesterday and behind it will now come cooler “fall-like” temps. We are just a couple of weeks away from our average first frost and the garden is winding down. Praying for my fellow Acorns today and I am thankful for you all!
All the cold-weather greens you mentioned are off-limits to me on account of too much oxalic acid that contributes to kidney stone formation. But as long as you and Matt have no problems along those lines, enjoy your cold-hardy garden greens!
It is 52 degrees this morning here in the northern mountains of WV. The soft, cool breeze drifting through our screen door is heavenly. Fall is definitely just around the corner. We aren’t planting anything for fall. We basically have a herd of deer that bed down under our trees in the front yard each night. They are so comfortable there that you can’t even shoo them off. On the other hand, we are still getting a couple cucumbers and tomatoes from our porch garden. One of the Brandywine tomatoes finally got ripe and it was delicious. We will definitely try those again next year. The Rutgers were very prolific and taste very good too. The Abe Lincolns also had lots of tomatoes, although they were very small. We will try our garden on the porch again next year, but plant it much earlier. I hope everyone enjoys their day wherever you are in this world. Blessings to you all!
Brenda, Rutgers and Marion tomatoes are two old time garden favorites around here. The older generations would set them out in rows like sweet potato slips/plants, plow and hoe around them but not stake them and have more tomatoes than you could shake a stick at.
I’m glad you got your fall garden planted and it’s starting to grow already. Them greens will taste good this fall season.
Oh, you will have such lovely plants in just a few weeks! And the fresh greens in the winter will be so good!
Reading your post today, I think I realized why we have nver had much success in a fall garden. Our light isn’t good enough over there. I ought to have put them in the front. I am thinking now “Why haven’t I tried that before?” Well, too late this year. I did have a moment of weakness and planted a small fall garden back in August. Our radishes grew a little, mostly made greens. And something came and ate up everything else. Ate it right down to the ground. My oldest son helped me replant, but nothing came up at all. Next year we try again!
The storms that were forecast for this morning have changed to rain, no thunderstorms. I am thankful for that answered prayer and many others. Continuing in prayer for everyone❤️
Hope you have safe travels and a good appt, Meg! ❤️ I am praying for you today. One step closer!
Thanks, Allie! We got to see baby again today and he or she looks great according to the radiologist. We can’t tell what anything is on those screens! We had very easy travels in light rain and got home pretty early, praise the Lord! Thank you for your prayers!
So glad to hear that, Meg! Yay!! 🙂 So glad that baby looked well again and you had easy travels. God is so good! You are getting so close to meeting your sweet little one! Such an exciting time. Thanks for the update. 🙂
thank you for praying Meg, God bless you very much
❤️Thank you! I feel so very blessed by the kindness and Christian love found here among you all. It is a beautiful community and I feel privileged to be part of it.
My dab of fall planting didn’t have a chance until we got a inch of rain last week. I planted lettuce, carrots, spinach, dill, sunflowers, cucumber and a few other things. Left the summer onions in the ground to regrow as green onions. Scattered cilantro seed from this year’s volunteers though there was little or no need to. Still not up but it’s too soon. That lack of rain and a last round of pests through September have made it hard here. On the other hand, some summer things, especially peppers, like the cool nights and produce better than in summer so they go till frost..
In the years when I was still able I would plant a big patch of turnip greens. It would be a mix of seven top, purple top and some mustard seed planted together. I wrote turnip greens but in my neck of the woods most of us called it sallet. During the fall, it sometimes seemed like I was eating sallet, cornbread, backbone ribs and a baked sweet potato almost everyday when I was growing up. Nowadays, I could “put a hurting” on a meal like that.
Fourteen years ago today, I lost my daughter (my girl), she was 32 years old. She had an accident 8 days earlier on an ATV. I set in her room everyday watching and listening to the monitor beeping and watching the pressure on her brain keep increasing, despite the doctors doing everything they could do, her brain never stopped swelling. Even today, I can’t stand to see or hear one of those monitors beeping, I will starting trembling and have to get away from it. Somehow, someway, I am going to her grave and put fresh fall flowers on her’s and my wife- her mother’s graves. My son is going to meet me after he gets off from his work and help me get to their graves. I need a wheelchair but don’t have one and don’t know how I will walk because of my ankle, but I am going to get to their graves even if I have to crawl.
God bless you Randy. I’m sorry. I’d love to gift you a wheel chair if that would help you in the future.
Tipper, don’t you or anyone else worry about a wheelchair, I am able to buy a new simple wheelchair if I need too. I had rather buy one than go through the hassle of trying to get Medicare to help pay for one. After using one Sunday when visiting my sister in the nursing home, I realized how helpful it would be. I have put out some “feelers” with some friends and will be checking out a close by thrift store that usually has some things like this. I am just looking for a simple chair, nothing fancy. A good used one would be fine, I don’t mind it having a few scars and scratches, after all at my age I have plenty of both!
Randy, I am so sorry about you losing your daughter & today is the anniversary of that great loss. I just said a prayer for you that the good Lord will give you strength in all ways to get through today & be able to visit her grave & put those flowers on her grave, your wife’s & mother-in-laws’s. I understand totally your pain. I lost my precious son 15 yrs ago to a car accident. He had a brain injury also & was on life support. I had that horrible decision to make to finally take him off life support. I knew there was no hope, but I felt like I was murdering my own son when I had to make that decision. But he was an organ donator & by his gracious gift of donating, he saved 5 people’s lives. Indeed, losing a child is the deepest, worse pain one can experience & it never goes away. You just can never wrap your mind around the fact that your child left this earth before you. I wish this pain on no one, not even the
most evil person in the world. God bless you today & all days. A friend from Mississippi
God bless you Tipper
Norman, I just said a prayer for you, too. Through your texts I feel a good heart & a God loving spirit. I pray that you will get the help you need medically & that the doctors will be guided by the Lord to find any problems you have & know a way to heal & help by the guiding hands of our Lord. Know you are recognized for your gentle & loving spirit. Your texts always touch me because you are always asking the Lord to help others even when you are suffering from your own health problems. What an unselfish gentleman you are. A friend from Mississippi.
I’ve heard there is no worse loss than that of a child. I’ve witnessed it 3 times with people close to me and I’ve witnessed absolute heartbreak. I’m so sorry you’ve had to endure this but ever so grateful your son is going to help you fulfill your desire to honor both your daughter and your wife with flowers & a visit. Bless you♡ and Tipper, you are a sincerely good person.
Praying for you, Randy. Losing a child is an unthinkable grief. I went to my hometown last week ahead of my aunt’s funeral to put fresh fall flowers on the graves of my mother, grandparents, and aunts, uncles, and cousins that have gone on before. I’m ashamed to admit I can be a little resentful over this task, I have a large family, a lot of whom still live in town, but no one ever tends the graves, I don’t know if it’s assumed it’s being taken care of or what but every time I go, it’s obvious no one has been there since the last time I came.
Your comment today has convicted my heart and changed my perspective… it’s a privilege to be well and able enough to tend the graves of my loved ones, even if no one else notices or appreciates it, I still honored them by doing this. Thank you for changing my outlook on this and God bless you!
Susan, I would hate to be asked which is worse, the death of your daughter or your wife of almost 50 years. I don’t know if I could answer it. I do know my wife never came close to getting over April’s death. Between April and my wife (Janice), my mother, mother and father in law, sister in law, brother in law, along with other family members, and some close friends in the last 15 years, I have lost a huge amount of joy and happiness for living. I feel more like I am surviving but no longer living. My Daddy died in 1991 and I still miss him, he was my best friend, my father in law was a close second. Now with these deaths and no longer being able to get around and do for myself like I once could does not help. I buy 6 flowers at a time to put on the graves of 6 family members from a shop at Anderson, SC. I do this 4-5 times a year. Frankly, there is no one else left to do it. I buy the flowers and along with my son’s help, we see that the graves of the ones buried in the cemeteries are kept clean and neat. I not only want to do this but feel like I need to do it out of my love and respect for them. Read whatever you want into this, being with and spending time with my 3 boys (son and 2 grandsons) being with the few remaining family members and talking (jawing) with some lifetime friends brings me more happiness than anything else I can do. Now at my age, I realize how valuable the time to do this is. Although not lifetime friends, I dearly enjoy the members and call you friends I have never met on the BP&A.
What a sweet offer, Tipper.
I’m so sorry, Randy. What a sad day for you as you remember your daughter and wife. I am praying for comfort and strength for you today.
Randy, I’m so sorry for the loss of your precious wife and daughter. I continue to pray for you. God bless you.
Randy, we’ll be praying for you today! Also, praying you get a wheelchair.
I’m so sorry Randy, God bless Randy and help him in Jesus name, God help God help, Amen
I am praying for you Randy – may you be strengthened to be able to get to visit your loved ones – may the Lord wrap you in His tender arms of comfort – and may a wheelchair become available soon.
Randy, I’m so sorry for your loss. Praying for the Lord’s comfort for you today and that you’ll find a wheelchair soon . God bless you.
Randy, I am so sorry. I am praying God comforts your heart and heals your ankle.
Randy- I am sorry you are having a hard time on this sad day. I cannot imagine your loss. I lost my son-in-law to cancer nearly five years ago. My hubby and I think about him and mention his name all the time. There’s always something to remind us, mainly his two beautiful children. I still cry sometimes. He was my son for 17 years and I miss him still. I will pray you can get through this day and make it to the graves. Bless you.
Randy, I am praying for you on this sorrowful day. May God bring you strength. I am so very sorry for your losses of your April and Janice. I pray for a wheelchair for you. I thank God for Tipper and her generosity and kindness. Know that your Acorn friends care and there are many of us who I am sure would come together to help with your needs. If you need to go through Medicare, it should be pretty straightforward for a wheelchair and not cause you too much aggravation. If you see your primary doctor or the doctor who sees you for your ankle and have him or her write and prescription for a wheelchair which you can then take to a medical equipment supply house near you. The physician’s office may have a relationship with a particular medical supply business and they can send the order directly to them and have the chair delivered right to your house. At the very least, they can direct you to a company they have experience with. You worked your entire life and are entitled to Medicare benefits. I have been to a doctor’s appointment out of town today, and just read today’s post. I will be keeping you in prayer. God bless you Randy.