Fall is seed season in a Texas vegetable garden
When your kids are getting ready for back-to-school season, this is the time to plan and order fall seeds!
While your kitchen garden is growing and you're thinking about fall, here are the 3 main reasons AUGUST is the time to plan and order seeds:
1) In Texas, you do NOT need a fancy set up to start your own food crops by seed. There's no heat mats, grow lights, trays, seed starter mix or shelves and shelves of space required. Most seeds like a little warm soil, sunlight, and moisture to germinate. And guess what you have going on right now thanks to mother nature?! All your fall seeds can be sown right into the ground directly into the garden!
2) Many of the cool-season plants that you may want to grow actually do BETTER when planted as seed, such as your leafy greens. Many others should ONLY be planted as seed such as carrots and radishes.
3) Seeds are awesome players in the succession planting game. You may only have seed-worthy space in your garden right now and that's perfect! If most of your garden is filled with those happy warm-season crops, you only need a few square inches to plop in some carrot seeds. Remember, kitchen gardening isn't about massive rows and monocrops - completely the opposite! It's about doing what nature does and maintaining a diversely populated, covered soil space.
What to get the most out of your seeds?
1) Sow them in the soil to the depth that is the same distance as the seed diameter. The smallest seeds might be sprinkled on the top!
2) Sow into moist soil and keep them moist daily (or maybe twice daily in this heat) until they germinate. Easy does it on the water pressure. A "mist" setting on your hose is the best.
3) If the birds are becoming an issue, consider covering them with row covers until germination.
And last but not least, I'm excited to announce that I now have an affiliate relationship with BOTANICAL INTERESTS, a very great supplier of certified organic, non-GMO seeds!
So when you are ready to order your fall garden seeds, please consider supporting my small business by clicking on the button below!