Hello My Fellow Gardening Queens,
I hope you are all doing well and your gardens are still thriving! I’ve been traveling a bit. I went on a surprise early anniversary trip to Hawaii and a family graduation mini cruise to the Bahamas. My garden is still trying to hold on and survive in this dry and hot 7b/8a growing zone. As we are in late August and many of you have asked about FALL GARDENING, I wanted to share some information on it.
How to Have a Productive Fall Garden (in 5 Easy Steps)
Here are five easy steps for a smooth transition from summer to fall garden. By late summer, many gardeners are weary and ready to throw in the shovel. However, the fall garden can be a wonderful change of pace. With cooler temperatures comes a unique set of low-maintenance crops such as beets, broccoli, carrots, lettuce, spinach, collards, kale and more.
Timing the Fall Vegetable Garden
Gardeners eagerly start preparing for the summer gardens in early spring, when frost and snow may still be on the ground. Spring is when we shake off hibernation and pretend that warm days are just around the corner.
A similar anticipation welcomes us in the fall. A fall garden can be beautifully productive at a much slower pace. Even so, the trick is remembering that, like the summer garden, the fall garden needs to be started months before the cool weather comes.
Step 1: Make Space for Fall Garden Planting
When your summer garden is full and lush at the height of the season, it’s hard to think about fall. The last thing you want to do is rip out perfectly wonderful and productive, heat-loving plants to make room for cool-season crops. The good news is that if you plan well, you won’t have to!
Try the following suggestions.
Make Space #1: Plan Ahead
Intentionally leave a bed open for fall planting. For example, use your garlic bed/area for fall crops. After harvesting garlic in early summer, you may sow buckwheat as a cover crop, and then cut it back when ready to plant your fall garden.
Make Space #2: Plant Cold-Loving and Heat-Loving Vegetables Separately
This is an expert garden management tip. As you plant your spring and summer garden, group your cool-season crops (peas, leafy greens, root vegetables) together. Likewise, plant your warm-season crops together (fruiting vegetables) in their own beds. That way, no heat-loving, summer vegetables have to be sacrificed for your fall garden.
Make Space #3: Clear out Disease- or Pest-Infested Plant Matter
As soon as you notice an infestation in your garden, immediately remove infested plants. Throw away or burn all infested plant matter. Do not put it in the compost bin where the pest or disease could survive. In fact, this is essential to do before planting the fall garden because you don’t want to encourage pests to overwinter in the soil.
Remember, a few pests are okay. They attract beneficial insects to your garden! But be sure to get rid of those you know to be bad, like those pesky white flies.
Make Space #4: Clear out Spent Plants
Harvest the seeds of any healthy crops or flowers that have gone to seed. Then chop and drop the plant matter directly onto the bed as mulch. Rather than pulling it out, cut the plant matter back and leave the decaying roots to feed the soil. If you miss any seeds while harvesting, then you’ve just reseeded the beds for next year with little effort.
Make Space #5: Clear out Weeds
This is also a good time to clear out weeds. But, keep in mind some weeds are beneficial to the soil. Rather than pulling these weeds, cut them back and lay them on top of the soil or underneath the mulch to decompose as fertilizer.
Step 2: Purchase Your Fall Garden Seeds and Plants
Assess your garden by asking, How much space is available for a fall garden?
Decide what you’d like to plant, depending on what month it is and what your hardiness zone is. Many popular fall crops such as broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, kale, and Swiss chard can either be direct sown or transplanted as seedlings. If you’re short on time, go with seedlings for a quicker yield, which you can look for at your local garden store or farmers’ market. Other popular crops such as beets, carrots, peas, radish, and spinach are better sown directly in the garden. Depending on your growing zone , you may want to plant some fall garlic.
Step 3: Amend the Soil
It’s always a good idea to amend the soil before planting. Adding organic matter improves soil fertility and helps plants grow strong and healthy. It’s a good idea to amend the soil about two weeks before planting to let the soil assimilate the nutrients. However, don’t let this stop you from planting right away if you don’t have two weeks to spare.
Step 4: Sow Seeds or Transplant
Once you’ve prepared space for your fall garden, it’s time to sow seeds and transplant seedlings.
Be sure to water your seeds and transplants well, and keep the soil moist throughout the fall. Cooler weather can mask the need to keep the garden watered.
Step 5: Protect Your Fall Garden to Extend the Harvest into Winter
Be prepared to protect your crops from frost so you can keep your fall garden going as long as possible. Depending on your climate, you could keep them going all winter long. Fall weather can be variable from region to region, and unpredictable from year to year. In some geographical growing regions, you may have to protect your crops with a cover.
This information is from an article, How to Have a Productive Fall Garden (in 5 Easy Steps), by TenthAcreFarms.com, May 30th, 2023.
I hope this helps you to get ready for that beautiful fall garden and good eating during those cooler months. And as always,
BE KIND and HAPPY GARDENING!
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