Tips to Plan and Plant a Fall Vegetable Garden

Use these tips for a successful fall vegetable garden - a second crop of spring vegetables to harvest in the fall by sowing seeds June through August.

Welcome to the final installment of the Vegetable Gardening 101 series, all about fall gardening!

Did you know that the time to plant a fall vegetable garden is in the summer months? And by "fall garden," I'm really talking about a second, or succession crop, of spring vegetables that you can grow for a fall harvest (versus the spring-sown vegetables that continue to produce into the fall like tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, etc.). I've found that you really need to think about it and plan, though, because we gardeners get so caught up in maintaining and harvesting our spring and summer produce that the window of planting for fall can slip by.

Why would you even think about a second harvest of spring vegetables? Well, wouldn't it be nice to have lettuce or spinach to go with all those tomatoes that ripen in September and October? Or to have an almost continuous supply of carrots and beets? And snow peas in the fall are just wonderful to add to stir-fries along with zucchini and peppers.

Harvests like these are possible not only in climates like mine in Western Oregon, a hardiness zone 8, but in zones 5 through 11 since their last frost dates are all after October 15th. And even zones 3 & 4 can plan for some quick-growing lettuce and spinach that will be ready to harvest before September 15th (but of course this can be extended by using season-extending covers, too).

Tips to Plan and Plant a Fall Vegetable Garden

Source: Farmers Almanac

Find Your First Frost Date

Your first step to planning your fall vegetable garden is to determine your first frost date (the time your area receives it's first light frost). Here's an article that will help you find your frost dates - you can also call your local extension office. After you've determined your dates, this Farmers Almanac article about fall gardens includes the downloadable PDF that I show above. It's a great chart that allows you to find your last frost date across the top and then lists the last "plant by" dates below.

Our Western Oregon last frost date is between October 15th and the 31st, depending on the local area (and where you're getting your information!) and with a little planning, we can fill the holes in the garden left by spring vegetables with fall ones and be able to continue harvesting into December!

Note: If you are in the Pacific Northwest, see my Organic Vegetable Garden Checklist for specific times and varieties for fall planting (I've also heard from others that it's helpful in other regions as well in the north with just a few alterations).

Start Some Seeds Indoors

I've never had much luck direct-seeding things like cabbage, kale, and cauliflower at the height of summer - it's warm and hard to keep them wet enough (though I am sharing a few of my tricks to get seeds to sprout that HAVE to be started outdoors like carrots and beets below), so starting seeds indoors is the way to ensure you can control the environment a bit more.

Here's an example list of the seeds that you can start in June/July to transplant out in 4-5 weeks:

• Cabbage: Melissa and Chinese
• Pac Choi: regular and baby
• Broccoli: Packman and Purple Sprouting
• Cauliflower: Cheddar, Graffiti, Early, and Arbon for overwintering (grows through winter to harvest early spring)
• Brussel Sprouts (I like to time these for Thanksgiving - they're actually sweeter after light frosts)
• Kale: Curly
• Lettuce: Romaine and loose leaf

Note: if you're later sowing or planting according to the checklist or other resource you're using, you can look at the "days to maturity" on the seed packets and choose varieties that will mature faster.

Tips to Sow Seeds Outdoors

Out in the garden, you'll need to direct-sow seeds for hard-to-transplant vegetables like carrots, beets, parsnips, and kohlrabi. The carrots pictured above were sown the first week of July. Thinned lightly now, we can still harvest small carrots during a mid-season thinning before harvesting the majority of the roots in October.

Provide Shade

Tender little seedlings and hot summer sun don't get along well, so I've developed a couple techniques that work to give them some shade (note: affiliate links included for clarification-if you use them, thank you for supporting this site!):