Starting a fall garden is a great thing to do. Especially so when there is so much uncertainty in the world. A fall garden provides food security and is a great way to relieve stress! Fall gardens are not hard to get started but there are a few things you need to know in order to get one going successfully.
When should you plant a Fall Vegetable Garden?
Fall gardens need to be timed properly to properly produce crops. To time the fall garden you need to take note of your fall frost dates because once they come the plants will grow much slower and may even stop growing until warmer weather comes. You can extend the season with hoop houses and cold frames for a longer period of production but you will need to plan ahead.
Check your seed packets that you intend to start and count back the days to maturity on those seeds and that will be the minimum start date. You may want to plan a week or two longer to increase your harvest times. With many greens you can harvest early so having mature plants isn’t critical but you will want to produce more to compensate for smaller plants.
For seeds check out Botanical Interest Seed Company (Aff. Link). They put some great information on the seed packets to help us as gardeners.
For our garden (we are in zone 7 of Tennessee) we can plant our fall garden from August through September. Our typical frost date occurs in mid October but often it is later than that. In a warm year we could go several weeks later before plant growth slows down.
What can you plant in a Fall Vegetable Garden?
You can plant almost anything you grew in the spring in a fall garden. All sorts of leafy greens do well including kale, chard, lettuce, arugula, cabbage, and many others. Radishes produce fast in 30 to 45 days and you can grow them successively for lots of tasty roots. Beets can also be started and grown well in a fall garden. Brussels sprouts will grow tastier in the fall than the spring and actually improve flavor after a light frost or two. Snap peas are a well loved vegetable in our household and also grow fantastic in the fall.
I like to overplant my seeds and transplant and extra plants to thin and grow more in other raised beds. This works fine for greens but may not be as successful with root vegetables like carrots and beets. In those cases just harvest the baby carrots and toss in a salad or soup.
Are Pests an Issue in a Fall Garden?
Pests can definitely be a problem in the fall garden. When the days grow shorter insects are trying to store up energy for overwintering or for reproduction. Insect pressure on a fall garden may actually seem higher than in the summer garden! Most of these insects can be taken care of with daily monitoring and removal of pests or through use of organic products like Bt, insecticidal soap, and neem oil.
Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) is a bacteria that is not harmful to people or pets and when sprayed on the leaves the insects are eating goes into their bodies and kills them. Bt isn’t harmful to pollinators like bees as long as you avoid spraying when they are active or on the flowering parts of plants. It can be harmful to caterpillars that turn into butterflies so be mindful of where you spray it and what you are spraying it for. You can find Bt in most hardware stores and garden centers but also online. (Here is a link to Bt on Amazon (aff)) When you buy it it is cheaper to buy a concentrated amount and mix it in your own spray bottles.
Insecticidal soap is a good mild spray for aphids and spider mites while neem oil can disrupt reproductive cycles of insects.
Should you Fertilize a Fall Garden?
Fertilization of a garden depends on the quality of the garden soil. Since most of my best are actively growing in the summer I add bloodmeal and a general purpose fertilizer to help replenish the soil before I plant seeds. Bloodmeal is high in nitrogen and that is exactly what plants need for leaf and branch growth. Since most of my fall garden plants are leafy greens I want them to have what they need. If growth stagnates during the fall add some bloodmeal and that should trigger more growth. Bloodmeal has an NPK rating about 14-0-0. The general purpose fertilizers I use are organic and usually have a low NPK rating like 3-4-4 or 4-4-4. (Nitrogen – Phosphorus – Potassium).
Watering a Fall Garden
When starting from seed keeping an adequate moisture level until germination is critical. Until you have good germination you should continue to water the raised beds daily. Water deeply so that 2 inches under the soil surface is wet. It will always dry out faster than you realize! I try to time my seed starting before a rain even if at all possible. That way I can at least enjoy the benefits of the rain for irrigation! Often fall is a drier period than spring here in Tennessee so extra watering is almost always required. The positive from this is that there are usually fewer fungal issues to bother the plants.
How to Plant a Fall Garden from Seeds in Raised Beds
If you would like to learn more about how I plant a fall garden from seed check out the video below.
