What Is A Fall Garden

A fall garden is exactly what it sounds like, a garden that you grow in the fall. For those of us with extremely hot summers and no spring to speak of, fall is when we grow our cold/cool weather crops. Our winters aren’t as harsh so we can feasibly grow throughout the winter if we take some extra precautions. If you are looking to grow a fall garden, keep reading!

What Is A Fall Garden?

Here in Georgia, our spring is not really spring. It’s a constant fluctuation between summer and winter… Most likely all four season in one day. From March until about mid May, we are struggling to figure out how to dress. Jeans, sweatshirt and boots in the morning, then tank tops and shorts in the afternoon, and back to winter clothes in evening/ night. It’s ridiculous. But in the fall, it is a mostly gradual decline in temperatures.

That means that we can actually get a cool weather garden in and will continue to produce, even into winter.

What To Plant In A Fall Garden

All cool weather things get planted in a fall garden. Brassicas like cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, and brussel sprouts are great for fall gardens because you are less likely to have them bolt before they are ready.

Next are your root vegetables. These are things like carrots, radishes, turnips, beets, rutabagas and kohlrabi are fantastic in the fall garden. Not only do they grow well, but they taste better after a few frosty nights. I also like to plant leeks in the fall because they are hardy enough to handle the temps but they also taste a lot better too.

Finally, everything else. This includes greens like lettuce, kale, spinach, etc. Then you’ve got peas and some green bean varieties.

When To Start A Fall Garden

This is really going to depend on your climate and what you are looking to plant. For our first frost dates (Oct 31 to Nov 15), we will plug in “how many days till (date)” into Google to see how many days we have.

For example, if we are wanting to start our seeds on August 15th, I would type into Google “How many days from August 15 2024 to November 15 2024?” Google spits out the answer of 92 days. Then I can start figuring out how many days each vegetable needs to get to harvest size. I put those dates and vegetables in my calendar.

If you don’t want to deal with all that, seedtime.com is a great way to put in what you want to grow, your frost dates and it will give you all the information you need.

Starting To Rotate Out The Summer Garden

One of the hardest things to figure out is how in the world you are going to start taking down old plants and putting in your fall garden. It’s hard to cut down old plants to put in your winter garden. But it still needs to be done, especially if you have limited space.

I have a few guidelines for taking down plants that may help you. First is figuring out if the plant is healthy. If not, it’s got to go. Second, have I harvested all I need from that plant. When you are drowning in tomatoes, squash, cucumbers and put up all you need for winter, go ahead and pull the plant. Third, is what I am planting going to be “better” than what I’ve already got.

That last one is a little harder to figure out. You’ve got to make the decision on whether or not planting a cabbage plant is worth pulling tomatoes. Well, if you have put up all the tomatoes you need, or are over eating fresh tomatoes, then yea, pulling the tomato plant would be worth it. While tomatoes may be good right now, cabbage will be better in 60-120 days. So you’ve got to weigh what you have now vs what you will need in a few months.

When To Start Seeds/ Plants

One of the biggest issues you are going to have as a fall gardener is finding plants. Your best bet is to order seeds now (in July/ August) for fall starts. It is not likely that your local big box store is going to have many, if any, transplants come September.

For my climate and frost dates, I usually start my seeds around August 15th. This gives them plenty of time to get first leaves and grow a bit before I put them in the ground. Usually, mid to end September is fall garden planting for us so that gives those seeds about 6 weeks to really get going.

Also, really think about what you are purchasing if you manage to find a store that is selling plant starts. You can purchase a head of cabbage from the store for around $3. But a plant start is going to be around $5 for the plant. That doesn’t even make financial sense. Especially when you can purchase a pack of cabbage seeds for $3-4 and get about 30 or more plants.

When To Plant A Fall Garden

Planting a fall garden is going to rely heavily on your climate and garden. For us, seedlings started plants in August is a no no. They will bolt before they ever really get going. Or they will stunt because it’s still so hot. But I can direct seed after August 15th and by the time those plants germinate and start really going, we will cool down.

Just like in the summer garden, we have to watch the weather to make sure that we aren’t jumping the gun. It is a gamble to plant too early and risk everything dying because of the heat. A started plant won’t go in the ground until we are regularly under 80*, preferably under 75*. Shade cloths are a great way to help with this.

For us, this generally looks like starting seeds in August and planting mid to end September.

Precautions For A Fall Garden

Precautions can look very different for everyone and even different for different parts of your garden. Some of the precautions we take is making sure to start seeds indoors until they have sprouted. Then we put them in a shady, cool area in the greenhouse. This sucks because the whole purpose of the greenhouse is to keep plants safe from Blu and Fenrir. But if it’s too hot, they won’t germinate. So into the house they come until it’s safe to put them outside.

Another precaution we take is watching the weather like a hawk. We look at 10 and 30 day forecasts to help make the best judgements on when to direct sow and when to transplant. Now, we live in Georgia so the weather is unpredictable, till it’s not. We know that summer is hot and winter is cold. But spring and fall are the wild cards. We could have a 90* day in November or a snow storm on March 1st.

If you did mess up your dates, or the weather didn’t cooperate, and you end up with super hot days, or freezing temps, don’t fret. At least not yet. You can mulch to help keep the ground cool and water plentiful. You can also water more often to help keep plants healthy. Another option is putting up shade cloth. This will help make sure that the plants don’t get scorched by the heat.

If it’s supposed to freeze or frost, and you have some plants that are a little too tender for that, you can throw sheets or blankets over the plants to help insulate them. I’ve used gallon jugs filled with water and set them between plants with a blanket over them to help keep them freezing. It works well for nights were we are going to get under freezing. But it’s not foolproof and you may still end up with damage.

I hope this helps!

Fall is the best time to garden because you have the ability to actually enjoy the garden without dying of heatstroke, getting eaten alive by bugs, or worrying about scorching your garden. So don’t forget about the fall garden!

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