In all the years that I’ve been growing a garden, the fall garden has steadily remained my favorite. Which is funny because I don’t really like any of the brassicas, which is what most people know the fall garden for. I prefer the root vegetables and cool air. But I have learned over the years that the fall garden is a chance to rest, grow when wanted, and accept that sometimes shit just doesn’t go as planned…and that’s okay.
For me, fall is when I spend most of my time in the garden. Yes, I spend time in my garden year-round. Spring is when I go through and start cleaning out or clearing beds. Summer is planting and harvest season. Winter is the time to rest and plan. But the fall? That’s where it’s at for me.
I am extremely heat-sensitive. I will get nauseous, short of breath, have headaches, feel dizzy, and more if I spend too much time in the heat, which makes living in Georgia fun. Not to mention, we have mosquitoes that will attack anyone who isn’t slathered in bug spray.
Then there are the fucking weeds! Seriously, learn about the benefits of mulching!
But a lot of that goes away in the fall, so it makes the fall garden that much more enjoyable.
So let’s get to it.
What is a fall garden?
It’s exactly what it sounds like, a garden that is grown in the fall. To be clear, this garden is going to look very different for every growing zone, microclimate, gardener, etc. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to any garden. Just because I live in Georgia with a long growing season doesn’t mean that I can follow the same principles for someone growing in California or Alaska.
As with everything, and I mean everything, trust but verify! If you took my list to an incredibly cold or hot climate, it may fail. So make sure that you stay curious and willing to learn!
There are some very important guiding principles for the fall garden:
1) Cool-weather plants go into a fall garden. These are things like those dreaded brassicas (like, really, who likes brussel sprouts?), root vegetables, and lettuces.
2) You really need to know your frost dates. These are the dates (in your climate) when temperatures will be cold enough to damage or kill your plants.
3) You need a plan for cold nights. This could be row covers, jugs of water, etc. But you do need some kind of plan for when the temps drop.
4) What do you like to eat? I know I keep harping on those poor brassicas, but my husband loves broccoli. He and my youngest like brussel sprouts, but my oldest and I hate them. Because I have people in my house who like these foods, and I like to grow shit, I grow them.
5) Have a plan! This includes purchasing and starting seeds, preparing beds and soil, etc.
Finally, you need to be prepared to fail. Seriously. And I’ll get to that; I promise.
What to plant
First thing first. What goes into a fall garden?
Anything cool/ cold hardy. This is where you are going to have to do some research and not rely on AI to help you out.
This is stuff like broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, carrots, leeks, kohlrabi, leafy greens, and even things like cucumbers, peas, and beans. And depending on your fall/ winter seasons, you can even get some summer squashes in there too. A lot of herbs do well in fall gardens as well.
I am working on a list of vegetables and plants to grow by season, so stay tuned!
Just make sure you have plenty of time to harvest before your first frost.
To give you a real-world example:
It is August, which means that I will be starting all of my brassicas, squashes, and cucumbers in my greenhouse. But the vast majority of fall vegetables are actually direct-sown (DS). Things like peas, carrots, green beans, kohlrabi, etc get put straight in the ground.
When to plant
This is where the fall garden gets tricky.
First, you have to know your frost dates. It’s really easy to find out the frost dates in your area. Simply go to your favorite search engine and type in “frost dates for {your zipcode}”
My average frost dates are:
- First frost: October 21st
- Last frost: April 19th
Then, I look at what I want to plant and how long it takes to get to harvestable size.
For example: How long does it take for a cucumber to reach maturity?
- About 50-70 days depending on variety.
Next, we count backwards from our first frost date. And no, you don’t have to do this on your fingers. Again, go to your search engine and type in “what date is 70 days before {first frost date}?”
That means that for my garden, I need to get that cucumber in the ground no later than August 12th. But remember, your frost dates are just an average. And there are ways to protect your plants beyond that frost date.
Now, the good news is that you don’t have to do this for every single vegetable. If you have several seeds that all take 70 days, then you just note that these seeds can all be planted at the same time.
Planning for cold nights
The next thing to plan for is cold nights. How are you planning on handling an early frost?
I could say that we use row covers and water jugs, but we don’t. Maybe it’ll happen next year (been saying that for years), but I doubt it.
But I can give you some options to research if you decide to go down that route: row covers, water jugs between plants, mulching, and cold frames are some really awesome ways that other gardeners use.
What do you like to eat?
This is probably the hardest thing for new gardeners to grasp. When someone gets bitten by the gardening bug, it’s not as simple as only grow what you eat. It’s exciting! And it’s not something unique to a specific season of the garden. I fucking HATE okra. Tell me why I planted an entire bed (4×8) for Hubbins, who literally didn’t do anything with it!
Or you have never prepared a cabbage in your life, but now you have fifteen of them in your garden. You don’t even know if you like them!
And to be clear, I am not saying don’t experiment. I experiment all the time. I grew three beds of kohlrabi and realized that I love them. That experiment worked out great. But it doesn’t always *looking at you okra*.
So figure out what you want to eat, figure out its growing requirements, and grow that. And leave some room for that alien looking plant that tastes like peppered apples.
Planning your fall garden
Figuring out when and what to plant is the “easy” part. If you’re like me, you already have stuff in the ground from your summer garden. Things that maybe aren’t ready to come out yet. So what do you do?
There isn’t really an easy answer for that. I wish it were as simple as having a dedicated fall garden space. But for a lot of people, that’s not an option.
Here’s what I do:
The plants that have already given me enough food get pulled. The plants that are sick or damaged, they get pulled.
If the plant is still healthy or still has some vegetables to give, I plant around it. The reality is that a broccoli plant isn’t going to get to a harvestable size before that other plant is ready to come out.
Another thing to note is that when to plant isn’t the same as when to start your seeds. For a lot of people, they purchase their plants from a nursery, and that’s that. But the reality is that gets fucking expensive. A single cabbage plant is going to run you around $5 at a nursery. You are paying $5 for the hope of a cabbage if you can keep it healthy and pest-free. You can buy an organic head of cabbage at the store for less than that.
But a pack of seeds normally runs about $3-5 and you get between 10-50 seeds!
So it’s financially better to start your own seeds.
Starting your seedlings needs to happen several weeks before transplanting, depending on your plants. But that means that you need seeds, soil, trays or cups, etc. Make sure that you have all of those before you start so you’re not waiting on a shipment before you can get started.
Prepare for failure
I know this sounds counterproductive, but the reality is that gardens fail all the time. Sometimes it’s because of drought or pests. Other times it’s because you got sick. Or, in our case, a storm destroyed a couple of garden beds and everything in them.
Life happens. Nature happens.
Knowing what you’re going to do if your garden doesn’t produce is key to not wanting to give up in the future.
Also, keep a journal! It doesn’t matter if it’s a spreadsheet, pocket notebook, or binder. Just have something that you can look back on and see what worked and what didn’t.
Make sure to save for later!
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