How to Plant a Fall Vegetable Garden

In the spring, my vegetable garden was fabulous. Beets, tons of greens, carrots...Then the crazy summer weather hit. Yikes! This was the worst summer garden I ever had. I got a few ears of corn, 3 squash and a handful of peppers and tomatoes. The hens ate fairly well, though. They don't mind stunted and insect riddled produce and took it right off the vine. Luckily, my growing season isn't over. I do year round gardening and am planting the remainder of the fall garden now.

The key to a fall vegetable garden is choosing the right plants. Ix-nay on the tomatoes and summer squash. You want kale, spinach, mache, fast growing beans and other crops that don't mind a bit of cold. You want to be sure the plants can handle a frost or so if you toss a cover over them for the night. It is a good idea to plant stuff you'll actually eat, as well, but I'll leave that part of the planning up to you. You can always give produce you don't eat to family and friends.

If you've been growing veggies since early spring, your garden beds are probably getting a bit anemic. Hopefully, you've also been composting your garden waste since early spring, too. Weed your beds, break up any clods of dry soil and give each bed a nice helping of compost. Ah, that's better. They won't object to a little rock dust or some aged manure if you have it, either.

Now, it is time to get some protection into place. I like to put some mini hoop houses over my beds in the winter, but you might as well get the hoops up now. It makes it easier to toss a cover over them when the weather calls for an overnight frost without crushing tender plants.

Once you've done that, it is time to plant!

Fall vegetable gardens tend to be a race against Mother Nature. Will your beans mature in time? How about those winter radishes? Give your bigger seeds a boost by pre-soaking them for a few hours before you plant. They'll be ready to sprout sooner than seeds you plant without soaking. When you are done soaking the seeds, just plant them as you normally would.