Guide To Growing a Fall Vegetable Garden

With summer winding down, many people think that the time to reap fresh vegetables from home gardens may be winding down along with it. Savvy gardeners know, however, that there is still time to sow and grow some of the tastiest vegetables you will have all year! In fact, investing a little extra time and energy now can guarantee that you will have fresh vegetables to harvest long after the first frost has terminated your tomatoes and blackened your beans.

In warmer climates, there is still time to grow the best broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage of the season while in cooler climates, it is prime time to plant carrots, rutabagas, radishes, and many superb salad greens. Following is a quick guide to gardening through the end of summer and into the months of fall.

Proper Planning

The key to a fantastic fall garden is getting the timing right, and planning the growth of your crops backwards from the time of your first expected frost. To do this you simply need to start with the average date of the first fall frost in your area, then look at the expected number of days to harvest the vegetables you wish to plant (generally available on seed packets). A good rule of thumb for fall vegetables is to add about two weeks to the given number as plants tend to grow a little more slowly in shorter fall days than those of spring and summer.

Get the Garden Ready

To make space for a fresh crop of fall plants, start by removing crops that are either past their prime or have succumbed to disease. Or, if there are crops that you have already been able to harvest fully, go ahead and take them out as well as any weeds that may compete with your new crops for resources like water and nutrients.
Working compost or other organic matter into the soil you will be planting in is also a good idea, as your early season efforts will likely have been mostly used up if you have fertilized and planted correctly.

Starting With Seeds

Most vegetables for your fall garden will need to come from seed, as most starter plants have long left local nurseries. If you’ve planned way ahead, you may have seedlings already established by indoor planting in mid to late summer, but if not, no need to fret. You will still have plenty of time to plant from seed with either leftovers from the spring or newly purchased seeds from the store. The nice thing about starting with new seeds this time of year is that you will likely be able to find a lot of seeds available at discounted prices from local garden centers at this point in the growing season. So not only will you still be able to harvest fresh vegetables, you could potentially do it for quite a bit cheaper than you would have been able to earlier in the year!

Starting with seed for fall plants is essentially the same as you would do in the spring. For best results, it’s recommended to use a high quality starter mix, and if recycling containers from the spring planting season, make sure the containers are thoroughly washed to avoid any diseases or foreign organisms that may be present.

If you live in an area where the weather is still rather hot, it may still be best at this point to start your seedlings indoors, as the residual heat of summer may make it difficult for them to establish themselves. If you start your seeds directly into the garden, the best method is to plant them a little deeper than you would typically do in the spring, as soil tends to be warmer and drier this time of year.

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