Fall Garden Planting with Chat GPT (Part 1)

Homestead Prep for Growing Food

Hey fam, welcome back. Today we’re talking about the fall garden. This is my first time doing a fall garden planting, so y’all are walking with me as I figure it out. I’m learning as I go, I’m using Chat GPT to help me plan, and I’mma bring y’all along because maybe you in the same spot, maybe you've been gardening for years, or maybe you're just thinking about starting. Either way, let’s chop it up.

Walking Through the Garden

So I walked out into the garden today, just taking inventory. Looking at what’s still holding on, what’s producing, and what can be pulled up to make room.

Let’s start with the tomatoes. Man, listen, the tomatoes this year? They looked tall, looked beautiful, but they didn’t really produce like I thought they would. I got a gallon bag, maybe, but that’s it. I had all these volunteer tomato plants come up too strong, tall, but no fruit worth talking about. That was discouraging, not gonna lie.

Same thing with peppers. I planted a bunch, but the harvest? Light. Have y’all ever had that happen, where the plants look amazing but the harvest is weak? That was me this summer.

Then okra. I planted both burgundy and green. Got a few pods here and there, enough to throw in a meal, but not even close to a gallon bag. Sweet potatoes, they're still in the ground, but I already know I’m switching varieties next year. If anybody knows where to get white Japanese sweet potato slips, hit me up, because that’s what I really want.

Melons? Man, that was rough. I walked row after row, just tossing bad ones. The vines got hit, pests got in, and it just wasn’t the year for melons. I did get a few watermelons trying to push through, but overall? That whole patch is getting flipped. Same with squash. Usually, squash does great for me, but this year, out of like eight plants, I pulled two squash. Two. So yeah, that bed is done.

Beds Ready to Flip

So now I have three beds wide open, ready to be flipped for fall. Plus, I got my towers with 30 planting pockets. So space ain’t the problem, it’s just deciding what to put in there.

Some beds I’ll let ride, like the cucumbers. They're struggling, but I’ll see if they have a little more life in them. Strawberries, I’ll let those overwinter. But one bed I gotta handle because it’s full of ants. I been using diatomaceous earth and some mint tea solution, so we’ll see how that goes.

Grocery Store Garden Dream

And then I got my grocery store garden idea. That’s the little beds right up against the house where I can run out, grab some greens or herbs, and cook them fresh that night. We just got two beds in, still clearing out some overgrowth, but I can see the vision. Fall planting is where that starts.

Remembering Last Fall

Now, last year’s fall garden? That was a wash. My son Eli was just born in July, I had just come off that newborn stage, and honestly, I was exhausted. I threw some cabbage and broccoli seeds around October, but by then it was too late, frost came, and nothing produced.

This year, though, I’m ready. It’s September 16th, I already got some seedlings going, I direct sowed some squash, and I got a plan.

Using Chat GPT (Fall Garden Planting)

Here’s the cool part. I actually sat down with ChatGPT and had it help me plan the fall garden. I used voice to text, told it I’m in zone 7A, told it the crops I wanted, and asked a few questions.

“Is it too late to plant this? “Should I get starts or sow seeds? “How much do I need for a family of four?”

The list I gave was long, probably too long: onions, sweet potatoes, red and yellow potatoes, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, beets, Swiss chard, kale, spinach, lettuce, carrots, collards, ginger, and a whole bunch of greens.

Chat GPT basically told me: too late for sweet potatoes, ginger, and potatoes. Those gotta be spring-planted. But I still got time for onions, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, kale, Swiss chard, beets, carrots, spinach, lettuce, radishes, and turnips.

How Much to Plant

Then I asked, “Okay, how much of each?” And it gave me numbers like this:

• Onions: 100 to 150 sets

• Broccoli: 8 to 12 plants

• Cabbage: 6 to 8

• Cauliflower: 6 to 8

• Collards and Kale: 8 to 10 each

• Swiss Chard and Spinach: 20 to 30 staggered plants

• Lettuce: 20 to 30 staggered plants

• Beets: 60 to 80

• Carrots: about 250

• Turnips: 5 or 6 rows

Now listen, my kids don’t eat a ton of greens yet, so I’ll probably cut those numbers back. But it’s a good guide. And for all y’all that want to know how much to grow to feed your family, this kind of info is helpful.

Starts vs Seeds

Then I asked, “Should I buy starts or just do seeds?” It told me: buy starts for broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, collards, and onions. Sow seeds for carrots, beets, spinach, lettuce, radish, turnips, and Swiss chard.

That made sense, and I already had some of those seeds in my stash.

Timeline

The timeline? Basically now. Buy the transplants this week and next. Direct sow everything else right away. Simple.

Encouragement for New Gardeners

Now fam, let me encourage you. If you’re new to gardening, or you been at it a few years, don’t beat yourself up when things don’t go perfect. Improvement is success.

Last year, I didn’t get anything. This year, I already know I’m gonna do better. That’s a win. A lot of folks I watch on YouTube, people who’ve been gardening for 10, 15 years, even they said this summer was tough. Weather, pests, all of it. So don’t compare. Just focus on your progress.

Wrapping Up

So that’s part one of fall garden planting with Chat GPT. Next time, I’ll either take y’all with me to the nursery for some starts or show you what I brought back. Either way, it’s gonna be good.

And listen, this ain’t just for entertainment. I’m sharing what I’m learning so you can feed your family too. Because if you give them the power to feed you, you also give them the power to starve you. We're taking that power back one garden at a time.

Thanks for rocking with me, fam. See y’all in part two.

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