2023 Fall Garden Thread

Welcome to the 2023 Fall Garden Thread.

Here are some useful resource links:

Gardening info/learning:
Home Gardening Certificate Course
LSU AgCenter Main Page
LSU AgCenter Vegetable Planting Guide
Davesgarden.com
Seedsavers Exchange learning page
Epic gardening raised bed plans

I personally use the LSU AgCenter website and planting guide almost religiously. Davesgarden.com is really useful for their watchdog section which gathers ratings on different seed companies and nurseries. And the Seedsavers learning page is a very easy to use website that is great for beginners. It’s streamlined and very easy to understand.

Seed/plant websites:
Harris Seeds
Park Seed
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds (rareseeds.com)
Reimer seeds
Gurney’s
Migardener.com

I would definitely recommend the first 3 listed. Have never had any issues with orders from them. Reimer, on the other hand, has on more than one occasion sent me mislabeled/wrong product. I’ve also had some seeds with 0% germination. However, they have an extremely large selection, so they may be worth the gamble for some harder to find varieties. I’ve never used Gurney’s, but haven’t heard anything bad about them.


Here are some useful links to learn about different products for disease and pests:

Organic disease and pest management:

Neem Oil
Liquid Copper
Pyrethrin
Spinosad
Bacillus Thuringiensis
Hydrogen Peroxide / Hydrogen Peroxide mixing chart for garden use


Non-organic disease and pest management:

Fungicides:
Daconil
Mancozeb

Insecticides:
Bonide Eight (permethrin)
Sevin dust
Liquid Sevin (Zeta-Cypermethrin)

Target Planting Dates for common Louisiana Fall Vegetables:
(All of this is from the Planting Guide)

Beets (direct seed): S LA 8/15 - 11/15; N LA 9/15 - 11/15
Broccoli: S LA 8/1 - 10/31; N LA 8/1 - 10/31
Brussels Sprouts: S LA 8/15 - 10/31; N LA 8/15 - 10/15
Cabbage: S LA 8/15 - 11/30; N LA 8/1 - 11/30
Carrots (direct seed): S LA 8/15 - 11/15; N LA 8/15 - 10/15
Cauliflower: S LA 7/1 - 10/15; N LA 7/15 - 10/31
Collards (direct seed): S LA 7/15 - 10/31; N LA 7/15 - 10/31
Garlic (cloves): S LA 9/1 - 11/30; N LA 9/1 - 11/30
Mustard and Turnip Greens (direct seed): S LA 7/15 - 11/10; N LA 7/15 - 10/31
Kale (direct seed or plants): S LA 7/15 - 11/15; N LA 7/15 - 10/31
Lettuce (direct seed of plants): S LA 9/15 - 11/15; N LA 9/15 - 10/30
Spinach (direct seed): S LA 9/15 - 11/15; N LA 9/1 - 11/15

Allium Crops
Cole Crops
Squash and Pumpkins

If you want to grow pumpkins to have for Halloween, Get the seeds in the ground now. You have until July 10th according to the planting guide. Which has already passed. You may still get lucky if you hurry.

For cucumbers, the planting guide gives fall planting dates (direct seed) of 8/1 - 9/15 for South LA, and 7/15 - 8/31 for North LA.

For tomatoes, if you do heat tolerant varieties you can start transplanting those in mid July. If you don't want to do heat tolerant varieties, you could start seeds mid July and transplant mid to late August. I'd recommend doing an "early" variety that way you have a greater chance of a high yield before the first frost.

LSU Ag Fall Harvest Guide