How to Grow a Fall Vegetable Garden

Lettuce revives in the cool of autumn.

Growing a vegetable garden doesn’t have to be just a summertime activity. You can start vegetables in the late summer for fall as well. You can extend the growing season and have fresh, homegrown vegetables late into the year. Planting a fall vegetable garden takes planning, but the effort is worth it.

Things You'll Need

• Seeds
• Trellis
• Bricks
• Row covers
• Cloches
• Polyethylene blankets
• Milk jugs
• Old towels or sheets

Instructions

1. Choose vegetables that can tolerate cooler weather, such as leafy greens, root vegetables and those in the cabbage family. These vegetables thrive without the heat of the summer sun. Good vegetable plants for fall include carrots, peas, kale, lettuce, broccoli, turnips, radishes, cress, arugula and chard.

2. Plant seeds that are cold hardy and mature quickly in early August as your summer crops begin to taper off. Cool-season crops prefer cool soil, so water the garden bed and cover the soil with straw a few days before you plant. When you are ready to plant, remove the straw, mist the ground with water and plant the seeds. In the late summer, plant the seeds deeper than you would in the spring so that they stay cooler and moister.

3. Keep the ground shaded and moist so that the seeds stay cool until they germinate. Cover the garden bed with a piece of trellis propped up on bricks to provide shade. Remove the trellis once the plants are established and the weather is cooler.

4. Watch the weather forecasts each night for early frost warnings. Protect your plants from frost with row covers, cloches or polyethylene blankets. You can make your own frost protective covering by cutting the bottoms out of milk jugs and placing them over the plants. Or cover the plants with old towels or sheets. Remove the covering once the temperature warms up. The weather is usually warm for several weeks after the first frost, so you should have plenty of growing time left.

Tips & Warnings

• Buy your vegetable seeds in the spring so you have plenty of selection.

• Store the seeds in a cool, dry place until you are ready to plant.

References

• NC State University Extension: Growing a Fall Vegetable Garden
• Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service: The Fall Vegetable Garden