Fall Planting Schedule For Grow Zone 7a

September 25, 2025 Sarah

Fall showed up this week on the calendar in the Eastern Panhandle, but not in the weather. We did get rain, which is essential, after a long, dry August and most of September. It’ll be a while till sweater season. The nighttime temps are still warm, which has encouraged my fall crops that I planted in August. So that is a good thing.

Bush peas, dwarf peas, and bok choy. The other side of the bed has kale and swiss chard growing.

But what do you need to be planning now? What seeds do you need? Fall gets busy, so you need to plan before September is done.

The first “average” frost date for grow zone 7a is October 29th, but where I live in 25442, it is October 19th.

You want crops to have time to get established before there is a risk of frost. Garlic should be planted three to four weeks before the first frost, which is very soon.

The other is tomorrow, we slip to 12 hours of light. Plants need as much light as possible. Even if it is warm, without enough hours of sunlight, they don’t grow well.

What To Plant In The Next Two Months:

Seeds (plant as soon as possible):

Dwarf bok choy
Dwarf kale
Radishes
Dwarf lettuces
Arugula
Small carrot varieties – this is the time for the tiny finger ones, not the arm-length ones.
Beets – look for fast-growing types, but you can always eat the greens
Spinach
Green Onions

You will notice I use “dwarf” often. Why? They are smaller plants and grow to maturity faster. Will you get as big a crop? No, but that is ok! You will enjoy fall greens and crisp vegetables. And that is always better than not planting anything.

Other:

Potatoes. I learned a lesson this first year here – you can grow spring potatoes. But not summer ones, unless they are in the ground. I literally cooked my potatoes this summer, trying for a second crop. I was used to that working back in the PNW. I planted a crop in mid-September, and we shall see how it goes. Sometimes fall crops are ready for harvest; if not, they emerge in very early spring, for an early harvest.

Bulbs:

Elephant Garlic – It can go into the ground at any point from now. Give each bulb 8″ between and a wide row, so it has room to grow. It will grow tall, so plan accordingly to avoid shading lower crops. As the first frost approaches, mulch to protect.

Garlic – plant in the ground 3 to 4 weeks before the first frost, allowing it time to develop roots. You can buy garlic at farmers’ markets, garden centers, online, or, if not easily available, you can buy garlic from the grocery store to plant. However, only buy certified organic so it isn’t sprayed with growth retardants. Before first frost mulch well to protect over winter.

Shallots – pick up bulbs to plant; usually, you can divide them into two separate bulbs. A trick is to buy at the grocery store. Like garlic, make sure it is US-grown and certified organic to avoid the use of growth retardants. Not all varieties can be grown from true seed, so using the bulbs is far easier (especially for fall planting). Plant just below the surface, let it sprout, then mulch to protect it in winter.

Protect Against Frost:

It’s also time to consider protecting late summer/fall crops if necessary. Last year, I had picked up this set of grow tunnel hoops for spring, but then I didn’t open them due to the move. I got them assembled quickly and into a finished bed. Now I can put on frost fabric or plastic quickly. To keep certain things warm.

In action:

Enjoy the time outside before the cold weather arrives. And get the work done as soon as you can.

~Sarah

Gardening · Homesteading · Urban Homesteading

Wrapping Up August In The Garden

September 3, 2025 Sarah

It’s hard to believe it is already September 3rd. The boys have been back in school for weeks. The last half of August cooled down a bit, with temperatures in the mid to high 70s during the day and nighttime temperatures in the high 40s to mid 50s. I got so much work done in the garden, because I wasn’t fading in the heat. And it was oddly low humidity. We warm back up for a couple of days, into the upper 80s, but by the weekend, it will drop back into the 70s. Seeing the end of my first hot summer has me enthused.

It’s been an education, with my first year of growing in grow zone 7a, south of the Mason-Dixon Line. I had failures, but also many successes. Starting with nothing but containers and grow bags was challenging. Completing the fence and building my raised bed garden was a huge accomplishment. I really pushed my boys to help me before school started. I know the winters here can be so cold, so I knew I didn’t want to be building it in December. We spent a few days out here last December, and I nearly gave myself a case of hypothermia just being outside too long and not having real winter clothing on.

One thing I had never grown before was sweet potatoes. Earlier in the summer, I saw slips for sale at the local Mennonite-run plant nursery and picked up a bundle. I grew them in a large pot, since I didn’t have the garden ready.

By the end of August, they were sending out long vines and were putting on flowers. I will definitely grow them again.

I had one raspberry plant I bought in early spring, which had been sitting in a container that was far too small. I put it in one of the first finished raised beds, so it could grow more roots in the final months of summer. It will have new friends join it next spring. It rewarded me with putting on many new flowers. I might get a fall crop (it;s a dual crop plant) after all!

I found out I have two rose bushes that produce roses twice a year, by the house.

The butter yellow is beautiful. They are a tea rose type.

I stopped by the Mennonit nursery a couple of weeks back and picked up some Swiss Chard starts to fill out a large container. I didn’t have the time to get seeds ready for it this summer.

I also planted two types of bush and dwarf pea seeds, bok choy, and three types of lettuce seeds in August, for fall crops.

All my basil plants have grown like I have never seen before, especially since planting them in the ground this year. The heat has been great for this.

The creek down below still has a bit of water in the sections that stay shaded. The deer come down to drink in the early morning. We only got rain twice in August, after a very wet (and hot) May/June/July.

Eastern Black Swallowtail happily munching on my Lovage plant. I am OK with donating a plant to them; they are beautiful butterflies. Lovage is their favorite treat. I will plant a ton next year!

I worked on finishing the fence last week, taking advantage of the cool mornings. First up was adding 3-foot-high bamboo poles, zip-tied to the T posts. Later, I will thread hemp twine around the poles to extend the fence’s height.

Another project was the gate. I am well known for the trashy gates I put together. I tried to make this one look nicer than in the past. I used 5-foot bamboo poles to strengthen the hardware cloth fencing. Then I used poly guy lines that were trash, which I wound around the poles. Now the gate is as high as the fence. I used a zip tie to create a loop and a carabiner for closure. The metal novelty flag stake is zip-tied to the fence and flips over to help keep the gate shut. Use what you have on hand and save money, no?

Onwards to September and to hopefully a fruitful fall garden.

~Sarah

Gardening · Homesteading · Urban Homesteading

The Second Half of May In the Garden

June 3, 2025 Sarah

As I mentioned on May 16th, it has been a learning month for me in the Shenandoah Valley of West Virginia. The weather started very hot in May, with numerous thunderstorms, but as the month progressed, particularly into the 3rd and 4th weeks, it changed. It got cooler. No complaints on that, though. It made life a little easier. I only had to water twice in the last 2 weeks of the month. But cold it got – down to 57* yesterday. The past few days, it has been barely above the mid-60s. But that isn’t bad – if anything, it encouraged me to get work done. It felt great sitting outside in the shade. The bugs seemed less energetic in general and left us mostly alone.

I gave up on the onions and the soft neck California garlic in the 3rd week and pulled them. I don’t know if it was the weather or the hard plastic containers, but both had absolute cellular collapse, and the stems rotted. I dug up the garlic, and it wasn’t growing much. I shall try again next year, but this time it will be in raised beds, with more room and better temperature control.

My theory is that the large, hard plastic grow containers were not the best choice in this case. They performed well in Washington State, but the temperatures are significantly lower. I think the soil was too hot here, and the heavy May rain led to the soil being too wet, which prevented it from drying out quickly enough.

I also realized that as the Oak trees finally leafed out, one side of the patio out back wasn’t getting enough sunlight. So that led to containers being moved around in the 4th week.

The raspberry plant I potted up is producing berries.

These two tomato plants have done well in this wooden holder.

Mid month the were around 2 feet tall.

And already had tomatoes setting.

I try every year to find an African Blue Basil. It is a woody type of Basil. They produce long stamens of flowers that attract pollinators, versus being an eating Basil.

In the 4th week I started moving more plants to the other end of the patio, to seek out more sun.

One thing I paid to have shipped was two of my folding tables I used in the gardens. They are invaluable for holding plants – and keeping them up high off the ground. My herb plants I started from seed, to build my new herb harden, are doing their kob and getting biggger.

The shade is very noticeable on the patio, on this side, now in the afternoon. Therefore, it was worth the effort to relocate more of the containers to the right.

Stevia is in bloom.

And with the month ending, I have four types of Basil growing, all of which are doing well.

As I mentioned above, the rigid plastic containers haven’t been the best choice for growing here, but the fabric felt grow bags have performed well. They breathe far better, and let out excess water when we have sudden downpours. The only things in hard plastic that grow great here are blueberry bushes, but next year I will move those into really big felt bags once the permanent garden is built. They will grow along the fence, is my idea. Digging into the ground here isn’t easy due to the amount of rock seams under us.

~Sarah

Gardening · Homesteading · Urban Homesteading

Halfway Thru May In The Garden

May 16, 2025 neverfreefarm

It’s been a learning month for me in growing in the ShenandoahValley of West Virginia. I’ve had some big success, but also some losses, where I had to tell myself to cut my loss, pull, and replant something else better suited. Learning a new grow zone is worth it, but it’s also a huge and sometimes painful/pricey set of lessons.

The start of May had me doing various seeding. It was time to start my new herb garden.

Potatoes just starting to come up. I planted the first two grow bags of potatoes 🥔 back at the start of April.

I got a lot planted around May 1st, visiting a couple of local nurseries as the westher heated up.

We are in grow zone 7a, for reference. The last “frost date” is around May 1st, but that doesn’t mean you are safe necessarily. Optimism is a powerful force for sure.

In early April, I had planted Walla Walla onions, which are a PNW variety. There’s your optimism right there. They were growing quite nicely. Even if you can buy them locally, stick to local varieties.

While I knew rain was predicted, the hail wasn’t expected.

I had a few broken tomato branches and drowned lettuce. I lost one of the two Stevia plants. It was just too delicate.

The table of herbs was sitting on the lawn unprotected. Ugh. The basil plants took a huge hit. They survived, though, as did the lettuce eventually. They look thick and full now.

The onions never recovered. They absolutely wilted and collapsed. Full cellular collapse. Was it the rain? The shift from 80+ temps to 55? I also lost a couple of small pots of garlic. Thankfully, not my big pots. Also, a cellular collapse.

Then I realized something: every plant I lost after that massive set of thunderstorms and rain? They were in large hard plastic pots. Everything in the felt pots? They were fine.

Which leads me to thoughts. That the rain was just too much at once. It couldn’t drain fast enough. It has very much shown that felt pots are far better here. In Western Washington, I didn’t have these issues. Rain would be gentle, drizzle, all day long. Here, it dumps for an hour, and you can have a quarter inch fall in that time.

The tomatoes 🍅 love the heat and rain. They really love it.

Potatoes 🥔 are huge. They are in felt pots.

The three grow bags of peas 🫛 are just starting to flower.

I love to tuck nasturiums in. They seem to enjoy growing here. Hopefully they will flower all summer long. If they do, I hopefully will have enough seeds to pickle for poor man’s capers.

2 weeks out the seedlings are doing well.

A lesson learned there. When I see heavy rain predicted, the seedlings trays go into the pop-up greenhouse for protection. It is under the deck, so it is protected from the heavy rains to a point. The table we bring under the deck as well, while the larger potted plants do get rain, it’s not non-stop damaging. This week, we had another set of storms. It dropped 1.5″ in a 24-hour period. I’m paying attention now.

It’s all lessons, and every year, I will adapt to growing here better. I’ve harvested strawberries, lettuce, and greens so far. That leaves me happy.

~Sarah