Fall Crop Garden - Raised Bed Greenhouse

Since I learned a few things with my front porch (mostly container based) gardening this Spring and Summer, I am actually feeling disappointed that I cannot continue growing sweet corn and several other things. However, there are good crops I can still plant that are called Fall crops (meant to be harvested during Fall). Now, I am not getting into pumpkins, squashes and gourds, though those are typical Fall crops. I am just not into these foods. What I have done, though, is Saturday I created my first real raised garden bed (about 40"x40" internal bed dimensions) and placed it in my back yard in a spot that gets full direct sun until about 1:30 PM. I plan on creating more raised beds in my back yard as I can get to it and spend the money. I am using concrete blocks rather than wood. I also decided to create a cheap greenhouse out of it by using 2 foot and 3 foot stakes, some 3 mil plastic (from a 10'x25' roll), a hammer and a staple gun. The temperatures inside the greenhouse are 20 to 25F higher than outside temperatures when in the sunlight and 10F higher when shaded. See the picture below.


For this experiment I planted elephant garlic, two varieties of 5 to 6" carrots, Cherry Belle radishes, Purple Top turnips, and two varieties of bok choi (aka bok choy, pak choi, pak choy, Chinese mustard, or Chinese cabbage). Bok choi is a brassica/cabbage which is a miniature loose head cabbage.

Pretty much any carrot or brassica (cabbage/mustard family -- mustards, kales, collards, cabbages, bok choi, turnips, radishes, kohlrabi, brussel sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, etc.) crops do well for Fall crops. The garlic is also something that should be put in the ground as you would for a Fall crop, but they are not going to be harvested this Fall, rather they will be dormant and wait to get going on their own when next spring arrives.