My fall crops are doing nicely. The above photo is of broccoli i started indoors back on June 20th. I transplanted them to the garden a few weeks ago once another crop was finished. They're growing well (despite the lack of rain here). These will get a row cover when the weather starts getting too cold.

 This next photo is of pac choi and the smaller stuff is baby bok choy. I direct seeded these as they grow fairly quickly and will develop before the weather gets too cool. Once it does cool down i'll put a row cover over them so i'll be able to harvest them longer. It's good to have several types of row covers to help you out through the season. Light floating row covers can help protect your crops from pests or warm things up earlier so you can start planting. Heavier weight row covers can protect your crops once the weather starts getting cold. This allows you to plant later and harvest longer.

The above photo is of another direct seeded crop of yukina savoy. It's an asian leaf green, wonderful in stir fries. It grows quickly and doesn't mind some cold weather, though when it starts to get too cold i'll put a heavy weight row cover on it and be able to harvest well into the winter. Next post i'll talk about the ways you can protect crops and lengthen your harvest even through the winter.

We've had a weird summer, not much heat though most crops are doing well, or at least ok. It's the end of August so time to think about and plant your fall crops. In this photo on the left is my red russian kale, it's a great flat leaf kale but it's not incredibly winter hardy. I started winterbor kale back in mid June and transplanted it to my garden last week. Behind the winterbor kale is pac choi that i direct seeded and on the right is some nice large chard. Once the cold weather hits i'll put all of it under row covers to protect it and be able to continue harvesting up until the coldest part of winter. If i had a hoop house (high tunnel) i could use row cover in that and be able to harvest up till next spring. I will eventually use a 2 row cover system that will allow me to harvest longer than with just one single layer row cover. I'll also have row covers over my carrots to keep the ground from freezing so i can harvest them longer as well. I planted my fall carrots a few weeks ago so that they'll be ready by the time the weather gets too chilly. More on extending your harvest soon.