Fall Garden Harvest
Hey there, guys - Brittany here, your new garden bestie! I have been invited by Prosperum founders, AnnMarie and Hannah to share with you all things gardening and a bit about what I’ve been up to in the garden.
I will be sharing what to grow in different seasons, soil health, pests, etc. I am also learning along the way, so we will be learning together! I am a Certified Holistic Health Coach and Financial Coach. In Fall 2023 I graduated from Rodale Institutes Farming Training Program in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, and learned all about Organic and Regenerative Farming. Fast forward to Spring 2024, I was missing the farm life. I was not ready to start my own farm just yet but I still wanted to be in the soil! Currently I am linked up with a brewery called the Oasis at Warwick in upstate New York. On their farm, they are growing their own hops and have a berry garden right next to their beautifully designed disc golf course. I have the pleasure of growing veggies on a fertile piece of land behind their barn! In addition to working on the farm, I also have the privilege of managing a family’s small veggie garden this season. I am implementing what I have learned at Rodale (from my brilliant teacher) and am excited to learn even more as I go. I have everything I need in my tool belt to crush it. Come join me on this garden adventure!
XO B
Rodale Institute - Global Leaders in Organic Agriculture Research
What I am growing this fall
In the family’s garden:
For the fall I will be planting leafy greens like kale, collard greens and lettuce. These greens flourish in the cooler weather. I will also be planting root veggies like beets, fingerling potatoes and carrots. This will be the second planting of carrots. I will also be planting chives and green onions. They all have a standing chance before the first frost so I am going to go for it!
The carrots that I planted in June are almost ready to harvest! I have been checking the last few weeks. How do you check to see if they are ready, you ask? Check at the 8 week mark, they should be ready between 50-80 days. Mine took about 60 days. After the 8 week mark I pulled one out - there was a long string at the bottom, that indicates that it will grow that much more. Around the 12th week you’ll see that the string is completely filled up. If you start seeing a large shoot that looks like a flower, you have waited too long. I found a few like that and they tasted bitter. The first 4 weeks of seeding the carrots you want to “thin” them out. I dislike this process because you are essentially taking out potential carrots, but it's necessary. If you do not make a finger's width of space between each sprout, it will be too crowded for the carrots. When you thin and space them out the carrots will be able to grow much bigger.
The kale and the broccoli did okay this summer, even though the bugs (a.k.a aphids) also seemed to have a palate for these delicious brassicas. So when I go ahead and plant the new brassicas I am going to plant some sage; that repels the aphids. Fingers crossed!
Last week: 8/26/2024
At the family’s garden:
I ripped out the cucumbers, kale, and the rest of the cauliflower. I then dug up the topsoil and put down some compost. I like to mix it in well and then level out the soil before planting. I planted carrots and lettuce where I was growing the broccoli and cauliflower.
At the farm:
The peppers and tomatoes are flourishing! I harvested those and then worked in the berry garden weeding! During the weeding, I picked up a plant with 3 leaves, which turned out to be poison ivy! I am not a fan of wearing gloves while in the garden but your friend here learned her lesson!!
Week of 9/2/2024:
Healing from the poison ivy, I still had a lot of work to do!
At the family’s garden:
I picked up some kale, mesclun greens, sage, collards, beets, red lettuce, chives, and thyme seedlings from the garden store to plant. Oh and some mushroom compost! I asked my friends at Rodale how I can tell when the corn is ready. Yes for sure when it starts to stick out from the stem and the tassels are completely dry, but also when you poke a kernel and it should be milky. It turns out the corn was ready! I harvested all the carrots today as well! Some of them were sprouting flowers (like I mentioned earlier) so I decided to take them all out. Since I did not thin as much, I got itty bitty carrots and also large ones! After harvesting the carrots, I put some mushroom compost down in the same spot and tilled it in. I seeded spinach and put a small movable greenhouse on top. I also planted beets in the same bed! It is best to rotate crops every year for pest control. I read that sage helps with repelling the aphids. Since the kale got attacked by them this summer, I decided to plant them with sage next to the still thriving tomatoes. So fingers are triple crossed! I did an experiment with neem oil and a protective netting, but it did not work well for me. I also was only able to spray the neem oil once a week instead of everyday…
At the farm:
The tomatoes were wild! In an amazing way. They are getting so heavy that the bamboo sticks are leaning so much. Next week I have to trellis and prune the bottom of the tomatoes. It is really important to keep the fruit from sitting on the ground so that pests do not get them and rot does not happen. I harvested so many roma, plum and cherry tomatoes that I did an impromptu farm stand at the end of the driveway. We got a few customers! The sugar baby watermelons are still growing, as well as peppers and eggplants! The basil is still going strong, but the season is almost done - they have been flowering for the past month so I have been plucking the flowers off. As much as the bees love snacking on them, the plant uses all of its energy on producing the flower and not on the leaf itself. That is why it is so important to cut them off as soon as you see them.
For the next two weeks I will be seeding more plants, pruning, weeding, weeding, and more weeding. I’ll check in with you all at the beginning of next month to let you know how the rest of September went. If you have any questions, feel free to send me an email!
Fall veggies to start putting into the soil the first week of September:
Kale - plant by seedlings.
Swiss Chard - best by directly sowing.
Spinach - best by directly sowing.
Lettuce - plant by seedlings (try to grow them in a greenhouse, if that is not an option directly seed them into the soil).
Beets & Carrots - best by directly sowing (you'll have to thin them out so they do not get overcrowded).
Potatoes - when the potatoes start to get an eye on them - that is perfect. Cut them into smaller chunks so that each chunk has a little eye sprout on it. Then they are ready to plant!
