As summer wanes to a close, many gardens will wither away leaving nothing in their wake. This doesn’t have to be the case though. You can plant a fall vegetable garden so you can continue to have vegetables through the fall and even into the first weeks of winter.
Choosing the Right Vegetables to Plant
When you consider planting your fall garden consider plants that are intolerable to frost. We know that tomatoes, peppers, beans, cucumbers and any melon plants are susceptible to frost so we would not want to plant anything like this for a fall garden. Instead consider planting things like broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, radishes, carrots, kale, lettuce spinach and turnips. These are all tolerant to frost and some even benefit from short spurts of frost.
Be Prepared for the Frost Season
Before planting your fall garden find out what the average date for the first frost is in your area. You can find this out by contacting your local farm bureau agency or your local Department of Agriculture. You will also want to determine how many days are needed for the seeds germinate before they are a transplantable size. Then determine how many days it takes for the plants to mature. Let’s look at an example of these facts working for you and not against you:
- If your average first frost is mid to late October, and your carrot seeds take twenty one days to germinate before planting and it takes six to eight weeks from transplant to harvest, you will want to begin your seeds in late July to early August. This gives your plants plenty of time to mature before the first frost and you can harvest a couple weeks after that frost.
- Planting broccoli is a little different though. It takes sixteen weeks from seed to maturity. This vegetable needs cool weather to flourish. In this case simply count back sixteen weeks from the first frost date and start your seeds indoors under lights in pots. You can transplant them eight weeks before the first frost.
You will need to determine these times and dates for any fall vegetable you want to grow. Group them together so that if a hard frost hits, you will be able to protect them easier.
Prepare Your Soil
Prepare your soil in the same manner as you do for a spring garden by clearing away any leaves and grass that has accumulated and removing any summer crops that are finished fruiting. You can use the remnants of the summer crops to help fertilize your fall ones by simply tilling up the soil and tilling under the remaining plant material. Add fertilizer to the soil and mix it with the soil. Test the soil to ensure it has the right amount of nutrients and if it doesn’t mix the proper ingredients to correct this and test again. Once you have tested the soil and it has the proper nutrients and pH levels, you can begin transplanting your seedlings into the ground and keeping them watered properly.
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