A lot of gardeners don't even consider fall gardening because of the winter frosts that might have an early appearance. To the contrary, fall gardening will result in fantabulous vegetables and will offer harvests long after spring planted plants are finished. Vegetables produced from fall gardening are occasionally sweeter and more modest than those grown in summer and offer a brand new taste to the same old vegetables.
What you select to grow during you fall gardening will depend upon your usable space and what you wish to eat, exactly like spring plants. Even the crops that love the heat, like tomatoes, sweet potatoes, okra, and peppers, will produce until frosts hit, which can be pretty late in the year in southern regions. Nevertheless, there are a few plants that will cease towards the end of summer such as snap-beans, summer squash, and cucumbers. If these vegetables are planted close to the middle of the summer they can be harvested until the first frosts too. Hardy, tough vegetables will grow until the temperature is as low as 20 degrees, but those that aren’t as strong will just be able to grow through light frosts. Recall that if you have root and tuber plants and the tops are killed by a freeze the edible part can be protected if a big amount of mulch is used.
When fall gardening, make sure and pick the vegetables with the shortest growing season so they can be fully grown and harvested before the frost arrives. Most seed packages will be labeled “early season”, or you can find the seeds featuring the fewest days to maturity. You may want to go after your seeds for fall gardening in spring or early summer; they are normally not kept in stock towards the end of summer. If they are put in in a cool and dry location they will preserve until you are set to plant.
In order to know precisely when the best time to begin fall gardening, you have to know about when the first hard frost will arrive at your area. One of the best methods to tell this is by a Farmer’s Almanac. They will contribute accurate dates and are seldom incorrect. You will also need to know on the dot how long it is going to take your plants to ripen.
To get your ground ready for fall gardening you have first to take out any remaining spring/summer crops and weeds. Crops left over from the last season can finish up passing around bacteria and disease if left in the garden. Spread a few inches of compost or mulch over the garden area to increment the nutrients, still, if spring plants were fertilized heavily it may not call for much, if any. Till the top layer of soil, wet it down, and let it set for about 12-24 hours. Once this has been done, you are set to start planting.
Many gardeners will run from fall gardening so they don’t have to manage with frosts, but if tough, sturdy vegetables are planted they can resist a couple of frosts and give you some fantastic tasting produce. Fall gardening gives you the opportunity to enjoy your vegetable garden for at least a little bit more time.
