Planting Vegetable To Harvest in Fall

Planting Vegetables To Harvest In Fall

If your vegetable garden isn't as bountiful as you had hoped this year or you just didn't have time to start your garden, don't worry, you can start planting your garden right now.   Some vegetables can be successfully grown in July or even August plantings.  Salad greens, radishes, peas, spinach and other crops can be planted in midsummer for fall harvest.  Some of the best quality vegetables are produced during fall's warm days and cool nights. These environmental conditions add sugar to sweet corn and cole crops (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower) and crispness to carrots. Lettuce will not get bitter and spinach will not bolt before the season ends because it is hot weather that causes these plant processes.

It’s important to know the average first frost date in your area, in order to calculate when to plant these late vegetables so they’ll mature before being killed by cold weather. Bush snap beans, for instance, mature in 45-65 days, but even a light frost (temperatures between 30º and 32ºF) will kill the plants. Kale, on the other hand, takes just as long to mature, but plants continue to grow when temperatures are cool, and can survive cold down to about 20ºF.

While you can start your garden from seed, starting your own vegetable transplants or buying them from a local garden center may be a better way of getting plants such as broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage going, as it allows you to give the plants a pest-free and temperature regulated environment to get a healthy start.

Find a location that gets about six hours of sun a day and the soil is well drained.  Make sure you have easy access to a source of water, just in case it doesn't rain as much as necessary for optimal plant growth.  If you already have a location clean up and remove waste from previous plantings.   If the ground is dry, water it thoroughly so it will be easier to work. Prepare the soil by working compost or a good organic soil amendment into the top few inches of soil.  Adding compost each year will help to keep your soil fertile.

What to plant

Warm-season vegetables that can be planted for fall harvest are sweet corn, cucumbers, crookneck squash, yellow straight neck squash, zucchini and green beans. It's best to grow early-maturing varieties in order to enjoy the produce before the first fall frost which will kill the plants. Check seed packet for days to maturity to calculate harvest date. 

Cool-season crops thrive in the fall garden because these crops are well suited to cooler days, and most can withstand a light frost. Cole crops such as broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower are excellent for the fall garden and seedlings can be transplanted 6 to 8 weeks before the first frost. Several plantings of leaf lettuce and radishes can be made since they are ready to harvest around 35 to 50 days after planting, depending on the cultivar.  Click on the Link Below for a more detailed Planting Schedule.

Watering

You can extend the season of tender vegetables by protecting them through the first early frost. We may enjoy several weeks of good growing conditions after the first frost. Cover growing beds or rows with burlap or a floating row cover supported by stakes or wire to keep the material from directly touching the plants. Individual plants can be protected by using milk jugs, paper caps, or water-holding walls. Most of the semi-hardy and hardy vegetables will require little or no frost protection. Semi-hardy vegetables should be harvested before a heavy freeze. Root crops such as carrots and radishes should be harvested or mulched heavily before a hard freeze.