(All of our seedlings going into the Blackbird Food Forest)
Sing it like Journey's "Don't Stop Believing"...
Dont stop...gar-den-ing...
hold onto that feeling yeah...
swiss chard...carrots....oh oh Ohhhhhhhhhhh........
and I've had that in my head for the past few days now :(
Seriously...just because fall is around the corner
doesn't mean we are throwing our hands up in the garden this year.
Gardening does not end on sept 1st.
(Major Carrot Harvest - Good Living!)
In the Minnesota garden, we are in fall mode now...check it out -
carrots
beets
swiss chard
brussel sprouts
3 kinds of cabbage
dinosaur kale...
-not to mention all the perennials going.
(These Fall Gold Raspberries are spreading like weeds now...good autumn eating!)
-all these will take us way into November.
And when we are talking about using a greenhouse,
there is NO need for any downtime.
We can actually make fall and spring meet and kiss
all the way up in the northern climates with some clever design and planning.
Now on the flip-side of this, the Blackbird Food Forest
is down in Paradise Valley Arizona, right near Phoenix.
The downtime there is june-august and we made it thru that
by growing lots of basil, okra, squash, melons,
cherry tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, herbs, and perennial fruits.
So we are just now getting started since the temp is going under 90F at night.
We still have loads of produce coming from everything planted this summer.
We know that it will dip down to the low 30's F in about 4 months
here in AZ, so we are starting seedlings for cooler stuff as well,
but we know that we can overwinter all those cooler varieties,
unlike up north where EVERYTHING is frozen outside.
(-10F outside, a balmy and cool-weather crop loving +40F inside)
We know that growing our own food with supercharged soil and TLC
is the best way for physical and spiritual health.
We know that we can grow OUR OWN superfoods now.
No more summertime gardener mentality like the past generations.
We are permaculturists doing it 365 a year. Its a whole different level.
So make the most out of each season.
If you're living in the cooler parts of the planet up north,
its a good time to start all those things mentioned about the MN garden.
Get good seedlings for some of those if you can, they will give
you a nice 1 month+ head-start and then you can stagger the rest with seeds.
If you're one of the lucky folks living in warmer areas, there is still
time for tomatoes and eggplants but I wouldn't start them from seed-
go with good seedlings. We are starting our cold weather stuff from
seed right now and its mid sept. If your plants don't get large enough before
the cold you can always cover them with burlap. Spinach does very well
with this method, and dont forget an affordable hoop-house.
Always remember to plant garlic in every little spot you can find this september
and october and also focus on building up the soil and composting leaves.
A gardener's work is never done (thankfully!)
Much love and keep planting those seeds!!
