It’s August. It’s Hot. It’s summer garden harvest central. Dehydrating, canning, freezing, sharing, planting winter veggies….
Say that again? What? Yes, in the throes of the summer heat it is time to start your winter crops from seeds if you are in the Northern California/Sacramento area and similar climates—broccoli, beets, Brussels sprouts, carrots, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, lettuce, rutabagas, turnips, etc. Some, like carrots, are better seeded directly in the garden soil. Others take less water, room, and allow for continued harvest if you plant them in flats, pot them up if needed, then move them to the garden beds later. Crops like lettuce can be succession planted.
The Peaceful Valley Fall Garden Planting Calculator has average frost dates and other useful information for timing your fall seed starting and planting. Dr. Norris with UC Davis created a great Vegetable Planting Guild for Northern California that can be found on the California Garden Web.
I like to start my cool season crops in an open (cool) shaded greenhouse or under my agribon row cover, being careful not to let it overheat, (that might mean leaving the ends open.)
I prefer to use a mix of homemade compost, garden soil, and sometimes coconut coir, or a few other amendments. I have the 2-inch soil blockers and might try those for some of the bigger plants like cabbage. Most seeds I plant in the flats about 1/2 inch apart in miniature rows about 1 inch apart, then I label each row. That takes up less room, stays moist longer, is easier to fill, and uses less plastic than pony packs.
Planting your starts from seed saves you so much money it isn’t even funny. You could start some for friends and trade for varieties they started. You could start extra and donate them to school gardens, church gardens, senior gardens and community gardens. You could start some plants to supplement the feed for your rabbits, chickens, goats, etc. along with your family and friends. If you have a large garden, donate some of the food, or later in the season grow some grains for a cover crop.
John Jeavon’s has a great book with lots of tables on how many seeds to start, how much room they need in flats, how much room they need in the garden bed, how much you should plant for certain yields, and more. He encourages you to grow many of the carbon-creating plants like grains to feed your compost pile along with your belly. Check it out, it is called How to Grow More Vegetables: Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land than You Can Imagine.
Then keep up the food fight: dig down, get dirty, and eat real food!!
