My "Off Season" Garden veggies

[Meadowlark]

Someone located in zone 8a, recently posted that this time of year is the "off season" for garden veggies.

Nothing could be further from the truth, especially for those in zones 6 through 10.

IMO, this is the absolute best time of year to garden. Summer heat gives way to much cooler temps and sun angles that favor the cool season crops. Over 50 different varieties of veggies are currently thriving in my "off season" garden not to mention several different soil building cover crops.

An alfalfa cover crop (to the far right of the photo) is currently refurbishing my previous fall/spring garden soils (5 rows) and will house next year's corn crop and other summer veggies.

On the far-right several HK containers are loaded with various brassicas, leafy veggies, potatoes, and tomatoes. The trailing trellis has several varieties of pole beans. Next row over includes my "control" group of organic veggies for the "No Dig" experiment. Compare those veggies up to the first pvc marker to the next row over left which houses the "no dig" veggies. Those rows also have turnips, two varieties of collards, two varieties of carrots, two varieties of spinach, two varieties of radish, and brussels sprouts and multiple varieties of potatoes. The third row over to the right from the HK containers has a large variety of brassicas including multiple kinds of cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and beets and Kale. The brassicas are staged to provide continuous supply of green veggies through to next spring baring another killer polar vortex in winter.

In the fourth row over to the right of the HK containers are multiple varieties of onions started from seed. I'm intent on comparing their production to onions started from plants which will be located in the fifth row over and planted next month when they become available. The sixth row over is in a cover crop of vetch and Elbon rye and reserved for the February potato planting season.

Then to the right left of that is my recently harvested sweet potato patch (two rows) which will soon be planted in a cover crop of clovers, cereal rye, and turnips and daikon radish and will continue to grow through to next spring.

 

[zigs]

Looking good Meadowlark

Our summer crops are giving way to off season stuff too. I've planted Kale and Purple sprouting broccoli after the potatoes. Got Mizuna and Lambs Lettuce in pots and in the polytunnel. Also got a few patches of Land Cress on the go. Need to start these off in summer so they get away for winter.

 

[Meadowlark]

Purple sprouting broccoli? I've got some purple headed cauliflower in the ground this year. I'll have to try that purple broccoli next time.

 

[zigs]

It gives lots of small florets in the spring rather than one big head like the summer broccoli. Comes at a time when there's not much green stuff around, and more importantly, no butterflies to eat it. I plant cabbage plants out in the flower beds for the butterflies in the summer.

 

[redback]

Good growing and excellent forward planning. I've cut all the flowers from my winter broccolini and there seems to be lots of little heads still forming.

 

[zigs]

Took a few pics of my small efforts

Kale undersown with mustard greens

These Strawberries, Mizuna and Tomatoes are in the new polytunnel, only just finished it and put things on top of the water cupboard to keep them away from slugs

In the fruit tunnel I planted Purple Sprouting Broccoli inbetween the Strawberries, it'll be finished before they start cropping next year.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

These Strawberries, Mizuna and Tomatoes are in the new polytunnel, only just finished it and put things on top of the water cupboard to keep them away from slugs

I am growing carrots in buckets for the first time. I stood one on a work bench next to me so I could sit down to weed and realised it is a great way to avoid carrot fly as they fly quite low, so today I went out and got some timber to build a stand for the buckets.
I have also found moving brassicas about seems to confuse cabbage whites.

 

[Meadowlark]

These Strawberries, Mizuna and Tomatoes are in the new polytunnel, only just finished it and put things on top of the water cupboard to keep them away from slugs

Mizuna...I had to look that one up. It sounds wonderful. A very nutrient dense veggie which is something I really like. It's described as a Japanese mustard green.

Do you use it like mustard greens?

My thanks for your post as I've found a new variety that I definitely want to grow.

 

[zigs]

It's lovely Meadowlark I think it's half lettuce/ half turnip and it grows through the winter. Had some leaves raw in a veggieburger yesterday.

If you can't find it in the shops it's often in mixed packets of salad green seeds

 

[zigs]

I am growing carrots in buckets for the first time. I stood one on a work bench next to me so I could sit down to weed and realised it is a great way to avoid carrot fly as they fly quite low, so today I went out and got some timber to build a stand for the buckets.
I have also found moving brassicas about seems to confuse cabbage whites.

I tried carrots in a bucket earlier, slugs ate the lot

 

[Meadowlark]

I have also found moving brassicas about seems to confuse cabbage whites.

Over here on this side of the pond we call that crop rotation, A very valuable technique especially for brassicas.

It works, but for some reason UK folks seem to dismiss it as a preferred garden technique...especially Headfullofbees who I otherwise greatly respect his garden knowledge. Curious as to why that is?

 

[Meadowlark]

It's lovely Meadowlark I think it's half lettuce/ half turnip and it grows through the winter. Had some leaves raw in a veggieburger yesterday.

If you can't find it in the shops it's often in mixed packets of salad green seeds

Good old reliable Amazon sells those seeds and I just ordered a 500 packet. Hopefully I can still get it started this season. Thanks again.

 

[redback]

It all looks good, particularly that kale. Are the tomatoes and mizuna in the same pots?

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Over here on this side of the pond we call that crop rotation, A very valuable technique especially for brassicas.

It works, but for some reason UK folks seem to dismiss it as a preferred garden technique...especially Headfullofbees who I otherwise greatly respect his garden knowledge. Curious as to why that is?

I didn't mean year by year, I meant moving the bucket about daily.

I tried carrots in a bucket earlier, slugs ate the lot

Always been my problem, they had them as babies, but by putting the bucket on a work bench they didn't find them.

 

[zigs]

It all looks good, particularly that kale. Are the tomatoes and mizuna in the same pots?

Ta Redback No, the tomatoes are just growing over anything, they'll stop soon when the frost gets them but it's always hard just to pull all the plants up.