Fall Vegetables Sowed and Planted

What happened?  I've been waiting for fall and cooler weather to plant my vegetable garden and now I find that there are very few plants available and the seed packets are dismally displayed in the various garden centers.  Did I miss it?  I've been to the home improvement centers, garden centers, and big box stores and they are getting ready for Christmas!  I found most of the seeds at the store with the helpful people.

Before we could sow the seeds and plant the plants, we had to clear the garden plot, remove roots and debris, and turn the soil.  We made furrows and we added compost from our pile as well as commercial compost and moisture control garden soil.  So far the following seeds have been sown in our garden on the Back Forty.

Contender Snap Beans will germinate in 6 - 8 days and mature in 40 - 60 days.  The suggestion on the seed packet advises that working around the beans when wet may spread disease.  It also suggests that when weeding to hoe and pull gently around the plants because they have shallow roots and to mulch to conserve water and prevent weeds from appearing (Ferry-Morse).  The snap beans have been sown along the edges in the newly raised garden box.

Carrots germinate in 8 - 12 days and mature in 70 - 75 days.  Ferry-Morse claims that too much watering may cause the carrots to crack.  They also suggest that the carrot bed be kept free from weed and that the exposed roots should be covered lightly with soil.  The carrots have been sown in the bean patch along the scenic creek.  The long slender carrots are in the middle of the row with the short and stocky carrots on each end.

We have a problem on the Back Forty.  I should have named it "Back and Forth Garden."  My husband and I have different ideas about gardening.  If you ask us a question, most often you'll get a different answer; however, I defer.  Keeping in mind that it is just the two of us, do we need all these vegetables?

At another garden center, we bought four (4) bags of onions to set.  We bought red and white onions.  We bought regular yellow onions.  They may be multiplying onions.  Finally, we bought sweet onions.  They are also yellow but oblong in shape.  The onions were divided up and planted in rows on the outside of the carrots in the bean patch.  I will keep it a secret of how many onions were planted all together.

Stay with me, there are more vegetables to be planted another day.

Tip of the Day:  Another gardener was also buying onions at the garden center and we got to talking about storing the onions when they mature after 140 - 180 days.  He said that he pulled up his onions, put them in a bucket, and covered them with an old T-shirt.

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