Gardens don’t have to end with summer

Autumn makes for perfect growing conditions for fall vegetables

Autumn’s mild temperatures create perfect growing conditions for fall vegetables like kale and carrots. Here’s how to enjoy these late-season treats by planting some fall garden vegetables.

Summer might be high season in the vegetable garden, but autumn brings wonderful rewards as well. Fast-growing salad crops will revive the most bedraggled fall gardens, and good care can keep sweet root crops and cabbage cousins growing for several weeks beyond the first frost. These tips will help you extend your vegetable season long beyond the heat of summer.

The secret to having great fall garden vegetables is timing. That means thinking a little differently because you have to plan backward.

Start with your area’s average first fall frost date. Then look at the number of days to harvest for planting fall vegetables. You should be able to find that number on the seed packet or in the catalog description. Use that number to count back from the first frost date. Then add two weeks, because many fall vegetables grow more slowly as days shorten in fall.

Make room for your fresh crop of fall vegetables by ripping out any varieties that are no longer performing well (such as tomatoes that have succumbed to disease or peas that have burned out from the heat) or you have already harvested (potatoes, onions, or sweet corn, for example). Pull any weeds so they don’t steal moisture and nutrients from your new young plants.

If your fall garden vegetables have a lot of clay in the soil of the garden, it’s helpful to work in some organic matter, such as compost, to get your fall vegetables off to a great start.

You’ll probably grow most of the fall planting vegetables for your fall garden from seed. Use the extra seeds you didn’t plant in the spring or purchase new ones. Happily, many garden centers put their seeds on discount late in the season, so you might be able to save a lot of money by planting fall vegetables. Want to save even more money? Save your seeds from last year’s crop.

The basics of starting with seeds are the same in autumn as in spring – use a high-quality seed-starting mix for best results. If you reuse the containers you used for your seeds in spring, be sure to wash them in a solution of one part bleach to 10 parts water to kill any disease organisms that might be lurking about.

It’s especially important to keep your vegetable plants well watered during the hot months of July, August, and even into September. The general rule is that most fall garden vegetables do best with about an inch of water a week in spring, summer and fall.