Hard to believe it’s already August.
The summer is flying by.
Despite being the summer, it’s time to start thinking about your fall garden.
This past past, I planted some seeds in my new garden that’s alongside my building.
How to decide what to plant
To figure out what I should plant, I used my Veggie Virgin Formula.
It’s a simple 4-step process that will show you what you can start from seeds right now.
What I got planted
Since the summers are traditionally hot here in LA, my choices are still limited.
I went a little crazy for me. I usually stay away from the peppers and squashes. They require more sunlight, fertilizer and attention. Definitely don’t recommend them if you are starting out.
Here is what I got planted with much more coming in September:
- Georgia southern collard greens (Cornucopia)
- Yellow summer crookneck (Ferry-Morse)
- Squash, blackbeauty (SeedsNow.com)
- Pumpkin Jack Be Little (Botanic Interests)
- Sweet cherry red peppers (from a friend
- Pepper (HOT), jalapeno (SeedsNow.com)
If you still need to get your seeds to plant for this fall, check out SeedsNow.com’s Fall/Winter Harvest Kit. You can get 10% off by using the code URBAN10.
You can also check out these other reputable seed companies to get your vegetable seeds from.
Still need help starting your garden?
If want to start your fall garden, but feel overwhelmed or want step-by-step instructions in easy to understand English, then enroll in my Fall Gardening 101 course.
Your turn
In the comments below, let me know what you planted in your garden this August.
Amen brother!
Haven’t started anything yet but that’s why I signed up for your fall gardening course. I noticed your containers have a flexible hose. Will you explain your system, and how do you do the water change weekly? I have the system with the single pipe in each container.
Gini
That hose is from a sprinkler system for containers that I bought. It’s connected to a faucet.
We’ve got our fall crop seedlings going in six packs. Lucky enough to have enough space to put them in the ground, but I container garden as well. I see in your picture that you’ve nested two buckets together, but there’s tubing running into each. Does the tubing drain into the bottom bucket? In other words, are your bucket’s “self” watering” from the bottom up?
That hose is from a sprinkler system for containers that I bought. It’s connected to a faucet.
“A garden should be natural-seeming, with wild
sections, including a large area of bluebells.” -Diana Wynne Jones,
“Castle in the Air”Hyderabad Flowers
I am growing green beans in my containers right now. Blue Lake and Kentucky Wonder..both from Burpee…I had bought them quite a few years back and kept back some each season. I didn’t know about GMO’s then. Now I have no way of knowing if they ever were GMO, should I continue using and saving the seeds from these beans?
Also I read somewhere on the ‘net that the commercial seed developers are GMO-breeding not just for disease resistance and higher yield per planting, but also strictly-hybrid seeds so that farmers can’t save crops for seeding and will be forced to buy commercial seed every year. That really stinks. I know several small-scale local farmers who hold back seed from last crop for the next crop (which is where I learned to do that). I know now to check for GMO-free seed sources..but just wondered about my beans out there now. Kinda defeats the whole clean-source gardening idea if my seed is bad to begin with, doesn’t it?
I wonder too, about another thing I do. I bought bell peppers at the store during winter, I thought I was being all frugal and smart and kept the seeds to grow the next spring. I think I should stop this practice, too. You have educated me that the food from the store isn’t all that good for you. And if the food is bad, so goes the seed, right?
Keep up the great work you have begun here, Mike. You have inspired and educated so many in so many positive ways. Heck, before I found your site I thought GMO’s only effected commercial farmers at the field level…I never thought about the produce from those fields ending up on my table were just as GMO as the seed it came from…or in my garden for that matter. You have really opened my eyes. Now I look forward to my containers’ bounty even more! Except those now-questionable beans……
Burpee’s website specifically says they don’t use GMO. The majority of their plants/seeds are hybrids, which just means they come from purposely cross-pollinating two different types of plants