Fall Gardening

Often winter frosts play spoilsport when they appear early and many a times this fear is a major cause that fall gardening is not even considered by many gardeners. On a positive note, fall gardening results in superb vegetables and extends the crop growing season for a longer period, up to even after the plants of the spring. Vegetables of the fall are occasionally milder and sweeter than those which are grown in the summers offering a newer taste to vegetables.

Your choice of the vegetables to grow during fall gardening depends on the space available and your eating preferences, like the spring plants. More so, the heat loving crops, like the tomatoes, okra, sweet potato, and peppers, continue to produce even up till the winter frost hits. Some plants will quit near the summer end, like summer squash, snap-beans and cucumbers. Planting these vegetables around the summer’s middle, harvesting can be done until the very first frosts. In fact, tough vegetables can grow until low temperatures of even 20 degrees are reached; however, the not so strong ones will only grow through lighter frost. One tip here is that if your tuber and root plants’ tops have suffered frost bite, even then their edible part may be salvaged using good amounts of mulch.

While doing fall gardening, ensure that you pick vegetables with smallest growing season; this will facilitate their full growth and harvesting before the winter frost arrives.

Majority of the seed packages’ labels will say “early season”, or will mention that these seeds take the least number of days to mature. Always go for fall gardening seeds either in early summer or spring as they are normally out of stock near the summer’s end. Storage in cool and dry conditions will keep them good until you’re ready to do the planting.

Knowledge of the time when the very first very hard frost hits your area will enable you to best determine the most suitable time for commencing fall gardening. A great way of telling this is to consult the Farmer’s Almanac. These furnish exact dates along with being pretty accurate. Also you need to know the time your plants will take to mature.

In order to prepare your soil for fall gardening, any leftover crops or weeds from the spring or summer needs to be removed first, as they can lead to spreading of diseases and bacteria. Spreading some inches worth of mulch or compost can enhance the nutrient level of garden area, but heavily fertilized spring plants may not need this. Tilling the soil’s top layer, wetting it and letting it set for around 24 hours will make the area ready for planting.

For most gardeners, frosts are a great deterrent from attempting fall gardening, but acting wisely and planting tough and sturdy vegetables which can withstand few frosts will result in great tasting vegetables.