If you are new to gardening you may not realize that you can plant a fall garden. Today I’m going to be sharing with you why and when to plant a fall garden.
I wasn’t going to plant a fall garden. Honestly, planting my regular summer garden is enough work. Many gardeners will tell you that the first few months are absolutely dreamy in the garden, but by the end of the season they are TIRED. DONE. Don’t want to spend another moment in there.
Except that, I realized by planting a fall garden it means I can save more money and preserve more of the harvest. So, I will definitely be planting my fall garden. I will be planting some seeds as early as this week to harvest in autumn. It may seem strange to be talking about the fall when summer isn’t even half over, but if we wait too long it will be too late to plant anything to harvest in the fall.
A self-sufficient life means always planning and preparing for the next season.
WHY SHOULD YOU PLANT A FALL GARDEN?
Planting a fall garden means you get to enjoy fresh produce late in the year. Pretty much right up to your first frost date. It also means you could produce more to preserve for the winter.
And as I said above, that means saving money. Saving some cash and eating real food full of good nutrients is a pretty good reason in my books to plant a fall garden.
ARE YOU WONDERING WHEN TO PLANT A FALL GARDEN?
It’s going to vary from location to location depending on what zone you are in. But for me I’ll be planting in mid-July and probably all the way to the end of August depending on the crop. I reside in zone 6 for gardening. Our first frost date is November 1st (though I don’t fully trust that date…I’ll assume it’s a little earlier.)
You want to look at how long it takes until your seeds reach their harvest date which it usually says on the back of the package. So, for carrots it takes an average of 60-80 days to grow, depending on the variety. Therefore I know if I plant it in mid-July I should be able to harvest them before the frost hits.
Of course, we also have to account for the cooler weather later in the season. The vegetables won’t grow as quickly as they do in mid-summer. That’s okay, you may just produce a smaller crop or a little smaller carrots than your first batch. It’s still food that will feed your family. The plants will also grow more before the weather changes to cooler temperatures, however you want to give your seeds an extra couple weeks to grow past their date of maturity to play it safe.
If you are wondering what your first frost date is you can type in your area into google with “what is the frost date for…” and it should pop up. You can also search what zone you are by typing in the name of your town/city along with “gardening zone.”
BUT WHAT IF MY GARDEN IS ALREADY FULL? WHERE DO I PLANT NEW CROPS?
Not every crop in your garden will produce all season. Lettuce may be done early for example because it starts to get really bitter in the heat of the summer. Peas are another one that are done early. Once those early vegetable plants are done you can clear out the space and plant new vegetables.
To prepare a spot for your new plants pull out all the old dead plants from the previous crop, as well as the weeds.
If you want to add a bit of organic matter to the area you can do that as well, but even if you don’t your fall garden can still flourish.
DO YOU PLANT FROM SEED STRAIGHT INTO THE GARDEN, OR IN THE HOUSE?
You can do both. I will be planting my seeds directly into the ground and I will be sure to put them a little deeper into the ground than if I was planting them in early spring because the top of the soil gets dry quicker. For me planting them straight into the ground is less work at a time when the homestead is the busiest.
If you have some cold loving vegetables that you think would do better in the house to start, you can grow seedlings indoors. The middle of summer can be extremely hot and isn’t always the best environment for many of the fall garden plants. Things like lettuce, parsley, and spinach may do better indoors. However, if you don’t want to plant them indoors you can always sow them in a section of your garden that is partially shaded, or covered.
You will want to make sure you give your fall garden plenty of water in those early weeks especially when it’s so hot. You will be able to slow down the watering as the cooler weather comes (though you still want to make sure the plants don’t dry out) but in mid-summer they need all the moisture they can get if it’s really dry.
WHAT SHOULD YOU PLANT IN YOUR FALL GARDEN?
Ah, but what should you plant? Because you are going to be dealing with cooler weather (eventually) you aren’t going to want to plant heat loving crops. So, no tomatoes or squash if you haven’t already planted them. But there are many plants that love the cooler weather and some actually do better when it isn’t so hot out.
HERE IS A LIST OF FALL CROPS FOR YOUR GARDEN:
- Lettuce
- Collard Greens
- Kale
- Carrots
- Parsley
- Spinach
- Broccoli
- Arugula
- Green Onions
- Bok Choy
- Kohlrabi
- Cabbage
- Radishes
Fall is also the time you want to plant garlic, but you won’t be harvesting that until spring.
EXTEND YOUR SEASON EVEN FURTHER
As I said earlier, you can often harvest produce right up to the time frost hits. However, in some cases you can continue to harvest vegetables past the frost date. We built a cold frame out of reclaimed materials to help protect our crops both in the spring and in the fall to extend the growing season. The cold frame protects the plants from frost just a little longer.
If you don’t have a cold frame you can always use a tarp or blanket to cover your garden on those cold, frosty nights to protect them just a little longer.
JUST ANOTHER WAY TO SAVE MONEY AND EAT FRESH FOOD
Growing a fall garden is one other way that you can save money while eating fresh food. For me I will definitely be planting a fall garden but I’m also not going to go crazy because I know I will be slowing down in the energy I have to give to a garden after months of tending to it along with preserving as much food as I possibly can. Our fall chores involve a lot of wood cutting and stacking as well, along with homeschooling on top of any homestead chores so we will still be quite busy before the slower winter season kicks in.
But even growing a few different vegetables can make a big difference in cutting down your grocery bill in the fall. For many of us the reason we garden is to feed our family good quality food on a tight budget. A fall garden allows us to do this even longer than the typical growing season.
