Fall planting??

[Scott Bloom]

I am going to build my first AP system over the next month, hopefully in time for a fall planting.  The planting bed will be the 2 halves of a 50g drum.  Could y'all give me an idea what you plant and what might work for me.  Unless these are trade secrets.  SCOTT

[Liz & Dan]

http://www.urbanfarm.org/Planting_Calendar.pdf

Check out this planting calendar and decide what you enjoy eating that grows in the fall when you think you'll be ready to plant.  If you like instant gratification and spending a bit of money, go to Baker's nursery (or other great local nursery) and get some plant starts, rinse off the soil in a bucket of water and plant into your system.  Baker's will have a great selection of fall plants that all do well here seasonally.

Fall is a great time for all things green and leafy - the lettuces and other greens are the way to go (if you like eating them)!

[J Shocklie]

I looked at http://ag.arizona.edu/pubs/garden/az1005.pdf when deciding what to plant.

Right now I have planted corn, squash, cantaloupe, sunflowers and pumpkins ideally because I would LOVE to carve my own pumpkins this October.  The corn and pumpkin has taken off.

In August I plan on my leafy greens like collard greens, kale and spinach but I have to make sure my raft system is set up first.  Might happen...might not.

[Sheri Schmeckpeper]

You can grow just about anything you'd grow in a regular garden, except potatoes. And I've yet to see a good onion from A/P, but people are experimenting with it. Hard roots, like carrots, turnips, and radishes are good. Carrots may look a little funny.

In your A/P system, you'll want to consider the size of your plants. A tomato can take over an entire 1/2 barrel, but if you like tomato, that might be OK. Broccoli & similar plants can be huge, too. The Square Foot Garden spacing works really well in A/P. Here's a chart that shows what you can plant in a square foot of space: http://www.mysquarefootgarden.net/plant-spacing/

The good thing about the calendar Liz/Dan posted is that it is created for Arizona. You can Google planting guides and planting calendars, but our weather is very different than other regions, so we plant at different times. Be sure you're looking at something that is specific to Arizona, and to the area in Arizona that applies to you.

I have about three calendars that I use because they are all a little different, but overlap a lot. I follow the overlaps. :)

I love Bakers!

[Larry]

I have a regualar Garden along with my AP and always playing with planting at different times. Now July time frame i plant green beans. While letting my watermelon and cantalope, tomatoes, cucmbers and pepers grow. about Oct ish I seem to get better results planting my lettuces brochli and califlowers.

I have also found that if your watermelon and cucumbers are not growing fast in your AP add a about 2stp of potassuim every 5 weeks or so WOW what a differance it made in mine.

[Scott Bloom]

I found a seed website called Sustainable Seed Co. and ordering Leaf Blend Lettuce Mix (Black Seeded Simpson, Oakleaf, Paris Island Cos, Tango, Red Romaine, Ruby and Lollo Rossa Darky), the Kentucky Wonder Bush Beans, and some kind of carrot.  This is going to be fun!

[J Shocklie]

Great post, Sheri. I need to pay more attention to the spacing. My basil got big and bushy but then it got those black spots all over them and I think that's from a crowded grow bed.  I had to remove everything....except my peppers. 

Those all sound great, Scott.  I'm going to have to check out this site.  I want to create an herbal garden for my indoor AP system. 

[Scott Bloom]

Thanks for the square foot garden link, I think I will drill holes in the edge of the planting bed and use some baling twine to divide the area into foot squares.  This way I will be better able to judge from one planting to the next how dense I can plant each variety.

Sheri Schmeckpeper said:

You can grow just about anything you'd grow in a regular garden, except potatoes. And I've yet to see a good onion from A/P, but people are experimenting with it. Hard roots, like carrots, turnips, and radishes are good. Carrots may look a little funny.

In your A/P system, you'll want to consider the size of your plants. A tomato can take over an entire 1/2 barrel, but if you like tomato, that might be OK. Broccoli & similar plants can be huge, too. The Square Foot Garden spacing works really well in A/P. Here's a chart that shows what you can plant in a square foot of space: http://www.mysquarefootgarden.net/plant-spacing/

The good thing about the calendar Liz/Dan posted is that it is created for Arizona. You can Google planting guides and planting calendars, but our weather is very different than other regions, so we plant at different times. Be sure you're looking at something that is specific to Arizona, and to the area in Arizona that applies to you.

I have about three calendars that I use because they are all a little different, but overlap a lot. I follow the overlaps.

I love Bakers!

[Sean-Michael Gettys]

I'm very excited to see what comes of our first planting... 3 days in and the lettuce started sprouting, which was cool to see. I'm very curious about the parsnips. I planted some in a more traditional garden bed and some in my AP system